March 24, 2021
Good afternoon Warren Students, Families, and Staff,
We have a few important updates:
Friday, March 26th will be our last day of school prior to our 1 week spring break, next week. Due to the 1 week spring break, ALL Warren families are invited to participate in our Tuesday, March 30th food distribution at Moorhead Community Resource Center from 8:00 - 9:30 AM and 4:00 - 6:00 PM. Families will be able to pick up 5 breakfast, lunch and dinner meals per student. School will resume on Monday, April 5th.
At our March board meeting last week, our school board approved the recommendation that we finish the 20-21 school year under our current learning models. K-5 students will continue to be IN-PERSON with a 100% VIRTUAL option. 6-12 students will continue to follow the HYBRID schedule and will also have the 100% VIRTUAL option. I believe one of our best strategies in having access to our students and providing a safe environment for our students and staff has been our consistency. There are still some risks for spread, particularly after Spring Break and in large group settings. These models will allow us to be responsive to any spike in cases.
Yesterday, governor Holcomb shared some important information related to COVID. Beginning Wednesday, March 31st, all Indiana residents 16 and above will be eligible for the COVID vaccine. Additionally, beginning Tuesday, April 6, the mask mandate becomes a mask advisory with a few exceptions. One of those exceptions is the school setting. Warren will maintain our mask requirement for students and staff as well as our social distancing and handwashing expectations for the remainder of the school year.
We are excited to host Kindergarten Kick Off for the class of 2034 on Monday, April 19th from 5:30 - 7:00 at all of our elementary schools. This kickoff event provides our newest students and families to tour their school, meet our teachers and ask questions about the upcoming school year.
As a result of the impact that COVID has had this past year and to prepare for supporting our students and staff moving forward, the federal government has passed three bills that will provide public schools with additional funding to address social emotional needs, teaching and learning needs, and infrastructure needs. I have been working with our teams to help identify areas of need for these one time dollars. I would like to invite our students, families, and staff to submit their comments and suggestions for us to consider as we plan for the upcoming 2021-2022 school year. Your input can be provided by completing this anonymous form, bit.ly/MSDWarrenInput
I hope you have a great rest of your week and that you and your family have an enjoyable Spring Break. Thank you for your continued investment in Warren students and schools.
Dr. Tim Hanson, Superintendent of Schools for MSD Warren Township