04/01/2020 School Update Transcript
Good afternoon Hamblen County School Family. Today is April 1, 2020. We will continue to broadcast to help our community stay informed about important school events during these challenging times. Please contact Kellie Smith if you have any questions or concerns. Her contact information is included at the end of this broadcast.
1. Just a quick reminder that we are preparing meals for all children in Hamblen County at five locations. We will prepare and distribute meals at West High, Fairview-Marguerite, Manley Intermediate, Hillcrest Elementary, and Russellville Intermediate School. Parents may pick up a meal at any of these schools between the hours of 10:00AM and 1:00PM. In addition, we will run limited bus routes to provide meals to high density areas within our community where we have determined there is a great need. We have posted the times and addresses for these stops at the end of this broadcast. You may contact Kellie Smith if you need meals delivered to your home. We may not be able to accommodate every request, and we encourage everyone to make the effort to come out to one of the feeding sites, but we will do everything within our power to ensure students receive a daily meal if possible. I would like to personally thank every teacher, bus driver, cafeteria worker, volunteer, principal, and school staff who helped with the lunch program this week. Yesterday, we distributed over 7,000 lunches and breakfasts to students in our community. A special thanks to Jennifer Buchanan, supervisor of school nutrition, Rodney Long, supervisor of transportation, and Tammy Webb, field coordinator for school nutrition, for their leadership in making all of this happen.
2. We are excited to announce that one of our teachers, Dr. Hannah Hopper, has advanced to the next level for recognition as a regional Teacher of the Year. She is one of 27 teachers now eligible for the State Teacher of the Year. Dr. Hopper is an ESL teacher at Fairview-Marguerite Elementary School. This is a significant accomplishment, and we are extremely proud of her.
3. We understand that many parents had placed deposits for student trips this spring. Of course, many of these trips have already been cancelled and future ones may be cancelled. We are currently working with all vendors to recover these deposits. We will create a plan and work with parents to return your deposits. However, this may not be a quick process. Some of the vendors are reluctant to return deposits, and they are hoping we can still have these trips at another date. We appreciate your patience while we are attempting to recover these funds. You should have been, or will be, contacted by a school official about your specific trip.
4. We also understand there are still many questions that parents may have concerning a wide variety of topics. Unfortunately, we may not have answers to all of these questions at this time. However, we want you to know that we have not forgotten about these issues, and we will inform you as soon as we know something. Many are still questioning the issue of the prom and graduation. As we have stated in the past, we hope to provide some type of prom and graduation experience for our students at a later date when it is safe to have this type of ceremony. It is much too early to make any concrete plans on the prom and graduation. We will involve students and parents at a later date to create some type of experience which will be meaningful and safe.
5. We are currently communicating with our local colleges and the state department on the status of dual enrollment credit, state and local dual credit, college credit, and Niswonger credit. Of course, all of these credits can be highly complicated, and we need additional clarification before we provide a definitive answer. However, it is extremely important that every child enrolled in college class or online program continue to complete assignments. These students are not exempt from completing college or on-line classes simply because Hamblen County Schools are closed. Parents are encouraged to communicate with their children about these important issues.
6. Some community members have expressed an interest in getting this information in a Word document so they can take the time to read items that may be of the most interest to them. It is also easier to translate the documents into Spanish. In addition to the broadcast, we will also begin making plans to place a corresponding Word document for our citizens. This is simply one more way in which we want to help.