Marshall County CSD

It is very important that we all do our part to help ensure we are able to maintain in-person school and slow spread. So far families and staff are doing great at staying home from school when not feeling well. Thank you as that protects everyone. If you are not sure, you are always welcome to contact the school and we will help you. We need our families to follow precautions on evenings and weekends outside of school time as well. The neighboring state of North Dakota has the highest per 100,000 active case count in the country. Minnesota in recent weeks has also seen an uptick in cases as well. Several schools have had to change learning models in recent weeks. Please stay home if you are sick, social distance, take precautions if you have to travel, avoid unnecessary travel, wash hands, wear masks when in public. Our children need school in person as it is the best way they can learn. Please continue your efforts to help with this!

Material from the softball dugout that blew over in summer storm is available for sale on sealed bid to district resident. If interested in the material, please turn in bid in sealed envelope marked Dugout Material Bid by 3:00 p.m. on October 16. Bids will be opened at the October 20 school board meeting. Winning bidder responsible for payment and pick up. Material available is purchased as is. Bench is not included. There are some damaged boards due to storm damage and from removal. Nails/screws are exposed where it was taken apart.

Dear MCC Parents, The purpose of this letter is to notify you about an adjustment we need to make to better serve our students and families. Starting October 21, we will be having early release days on Wednesdays each week. Viking Elementary will dismiss at 12:25 p.m., Newfolden Elementary will dismiss at 12:50 p.m., and MCC High School will dismiss at 1:00 p.m. The reason for this adjustment is that we have seen more absences and many exclusions of students due to them or a family member having symptoms or being a close contact of COVID-19. Luckily in most cases, students were able to return to school earlier than the full exclusion period. In planning, we were hopeful we could handle meeting these extra needs but we need to make this adjustment to accommodate everyone better. The early releases will help our teachers and school staff by providing additional planning time, preparation time, communication time, and time to make adjustments. Paraprofessional staff will work their normal hours to assist teachers with these extra efforts. Freeze Kids will be available to families that are using the service at no additional charge. We know this may be of inconvenience to some families so we wanted to give plenty of notice. We tried to come up with a way that supported our needs without creating too much difficulty for families. Wednesdays were chosen because this is the day that will be dedicated to assisting with distance learning if we are in a hybrid model. It works best for our Head Start/Preschool Schedule. There are no junior high sports on Wednesdays. Before October 21, please take time to assess your needs to make this work for your family. Call the school office or transportation office if you need to make any transportation adjustments. Thank you for understanding that we have to make adjustments from time to time. Our key goal is to be able to safely provide in-person education as this is the best way our students learn. This adjustment will help our teaching staff and support staff serve our families better under the circumstances. Sincerely, Jeffrey Lund Superintendent

Parent Teacher Conference dates are set. All conferences this fall will be held either by phone or using Zoom. Newfolden Elementary and Marshall County Central High School will be holding parent/teacher conferences on Monday, October 12 from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Tuesday, October 13 from 3:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Viking Elementary will hold parent/teacher conferences on Monday, October 26 from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Tuesday, October 27 from 3:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Preschool Conferences will be November 4th and 5th. Patty and Sarah will arrange an elementary conference time for all students and send home a note with your date/time. High school conferences will be available to those that call in to request a conference. Please call Missy to make conference appointments.

We are in still need of substitute paraprofessionals, substitute teachers, and substitute bus drivers. If you are interested in any of these opportunities we encourage you to go to: http://www.newfolden.k12.mn.us/o/mccsd/page/job-postings--41 and complete application. If you have any questions, please call Sue in our district office (218) 874-8530.

Reminder: October 1 is an important deadline for turning in Free-Reduced Lunch forms to the district. We need families that may qualify to turn in these forms as it helps those families and helps the school district. We receive between $120,000 - $150,000 annual in compensatory aid based on our free-reduced lunch count. You can apply online at: https://www.lunchapplication.com/ or you download/print paper form here: https://bit.ly/3cwbwya

Material from the softball dugout that blew over in summer storm is available for sale on sealed bid to district resident. If interested in the material, please turn in bid in sealed envelope marked Dugout Material Bid by 3:00 p.m. on October 16. Bids will be opened at the October 20 school board meeting. Winning bidder responsible for payment and pick up. Material available is purchased as is. Bench is not included. There are some damaged boards due to storm damage and from removal. Nails/screws are exposed where it was taken apart.

Here is the slide show from last night's Operating Referendum Informational Meeting: https://bit.ly/35XPAe3. We also created a web page to help provide some additional information: http://www.newfolden.k12.mn.us/o/mccsd/page/referendum-information--7 If you have any questions please reach out to Superintendent Lund: jlund@mccfreeze.org or (218) 874-8530.

Today the MSHSL Board approved the start of Volleyball and Football for the fall. The official start of the season will begin September 28. This will allow 11 weeks of Volleyball and up to 6 games of football. They are allowing the training week that was organized to continue this week. During the training window our coaches will emphasize safety measures and continue getting our students acclimated to the regular season with conditioning and basic skills. We are waiting for official expectations from MSHSL but know the following: Season starts September 28. There will be a practice period before games can begin. Volleyball will consist of no more than 2 contests per week. 14 games during season maximum. No fans will be allowed in attendance per MDH guidelines. Only essential personnel will be allowed. No tournaments will be allowed. Season starts September 28. There will be a practice period before games can begin. Football will consist of up to 6 games. There may be room at the end of season for a two week section/regional playoff window. Fans will be allowed for football but numbers will be restricted. We do not know how this affects the spring sport training window or the start dates for winter/spring seasons. MSHSL will have action on this during its October 1 board meeting. We are busy now getting prepared now that we know our students can play!

MCC Community: We are hosting a presentation/meeting about our upcoming Operating Referendum on Tonight (Monday, September 21) at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom. The district is asking the community to revoke $176.89 in authority that expires after taxes payable next year and revoke $529.83 in authority that expires after tax year 2024 and replace it with new authority totaling the same amount securing this revenue for 10 years. This will also save future election costs by not having to run two elections. Mr. Lund will conduct a short presentation and answer questions participants have. Link to meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84586703904... Meeting ID: 845 8670 3904 Passcode: 61D4gA

MCC Community: We are hosting a presentation/meeting about our upcoming Operating Referendum on Monday, September 21 at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom. The district is asking the community to revoke $176.89 in authority that expires after taxes payable next year and revoke $529.83 in authority that expires after tax year 2024 and replace it with new authority totaling the same amount securing this revenue for 10 years. This will also save future election costs by not having to run two elections. Mr. Lund will conduct a short presentation and answer questions participants have. Link to meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84586703904?pwd=NUVQMGxKOG9XU1ZTNUROK2ZvaWJnZz09 Meeting ID: 845 8670 3904 Passcode: 61D4gA

Brief update on Fall Sports: The MSHSL is meeting on Monday to discuss allowing Football and Volleyball to move back to fall for a shortened season. They gave schools the opportunity to complete a survey yesterday. We participated in the survey after consulting with board members, Tri-County Schools, Kids, and Coaches. We also heard from several parents and community members. We responded that Fall is the right time for these activities and that we were able to maintain safe practices during summer and will continue that now. Sports are a positive thing for our students providing something to look forward to, helping some even do better in school. They promote leadership which we really need in times like this. We also asked the MSHSL to provide schools with key information and expectation as part of their decision. There is a lot of context we do not know yet but we will definitely cooperate with the MSHSL decision and move forward if they allow. Please know health and safety is a priority and so is maintaining school. If we have to shift settings, sports like other things may require a pause and we need everyone to be patient. It's a balancing act for sure. Please know we did not get a "vote" in this but we did share our voice! The MSHSL will make their decision Monday.

Nurse Julie created a helpful form parents can use if their child has COVID like symptoms and wondering about when they can return to school: https://bit.ly/2H7dTeZ. This is a little simpler to follow than the MDH COVID Decision Tree. If you are ever unsure we encourage you to call school and school office staff or Nurse Julie can help you.

MCC Schools held its regular board meeting last night (9/15/2020). You can view the board brief here: https://bit.ly/3bO777x. In the board brief there is a link and password that will allow you to view audio/video recording of the meeting.

MCC Families, We want to remind families to keep safety a priority as we approach the weekends. This weekend is Newfest and later in the month Middle River hosts Goosefest. While it is important to support our local communities, we must remember to do it safely. Maintaining six feet distance, wearing masks in crowds, hand washing, and staying home if you do not feel well are ways we can protect ourselves and keep others safe. Recently northwest Minnesota including Marshall County have seen a rise in positive cases. In order to ensure we maintain in person school, we need everyone in the community to do their part.

The school board will meet in regular session on Tuesday, September 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the high school library. The agenda is posted: https://5il.co/kxbe. We are holding meetings at school, but are limiting access due to StaySafe MN emergency orders. If you would like to attend meeting via Zoom, please contact Superintendent Lund (jlund@mccfreeze.org) prior to 3:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting and he will send you invitation. If you have any items that you would like addressed by board at open forum, please send those items in writing by 3:00 p.m. September 14 to Superintendent Lund (jlund@mccfreeze.org). Thank you.

Update on Free Meal Options: A letter went home about this with students today but we heard some good news since then. The state opened the application process and we will submit ours tomorrow (Thursday). Starting Friday our meals will be free for all students through December 31 or when program runs out of funds. Important Note: This program is great, but we still need families to complete our Free-Reduced lunch forms. Once the program ends, we'll be back to the regular system. We receive between $130,000 - $150,000 in additional school compensatory aid that is based on our free-reduced lunch count. These funds help keep our class sizes small and supports paraprofessional salaries for Title I and other student assistance programs.

We wish everyone a great first day back!

MCC Families: We are very excited for the first day of school! Please review the first day of school letter we sent home in mailings. If you missed it, it can be viewed on our Back to School page: https://bit.ly/319RWDM. Parents dropping off children: You may bring your child to the entrance of the school but only your child can come in. We surely want to be inviting but it is for everyone's safety. We want to finish with a big thank you to our staff and parents for their help in the preparation process. The survey data and phone calls with questions, meetings with staff and their hard work, and final dialogue at the board meetings helped us get everything ready. It is definitely a community wide team effort and we appreciate your support! Enjoy the Labor Day Holiday. Stay safe by washing hands often, social distancing, and wearing masks! We look forward to seeing our students back going to school on Tuesday! #mccstrong

MCC Families: As we are gearing up for school, we highly suggest taking time this weekend to be sure to help your children practice wearing masks to help them prepare for the first week of school. Wearing masks for longer periods of time can take some adjusting and we want to make sure your child is comfortable. Please review our Tips for Mask Wearing found on our Back to School Web Page: https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/873585/Mask_Tips_for_Kids.pdf