COVID-19 Updates

March 25th at 2:00 PM

Parents and Families,

During these unprecedented times, I want to take a minute to thank our families and staff who are supporting each other and adapting to frequent changes.  Please see the attached document with up-to-date information.

Thank you,

Jenny Starck

March 25th at 1:00 PM

Parents and Family Members,

During these unprecedented times, I want to take a minute to thank our families and staff who are supporting each other and adapting to frequent changes.  

Safer At Home
Due to the Governor’s order we will continue to operate with essential staff, but staff will be encouraged to work from home or remotely when possible.  We will still provide the food service meals for families beginning March 30th.  This is free for any child 18 and under.  If you haven’t signed up and are interested, please complete this form.  Our school buildings will be closed to the public with the exception of deliveries and maintenance vendors/contracts.  If you need to contact someone you can use email or phone to leave a message.  

Online Learning Survey
We are working to develop plans to provide remote learning and connection opportunities with our students.  Please complete this Technology Survey by April 1st to better assist us in developing appropriate plans to support students and families as we move forward.
 
Student Senior Scholarships
If your Senior has scholarships to submit, please mail them to Student Services, ATTN:  Deb Yeager, 426 Myrtle St. Cadott, WI  54727.  They must be postmarked by the due date.  They can also be submitted via email to Deb Yeager at yeagerdj@cadott.k12.wi.us.  They can contact Deb at that email or by phone (715) 289-3795 ext 4541 with any questions.  Do not drop them at the high school office.

The information below has been shared previously but is included as a resource:

Spring concerts
These concerts are recorded and available on our website at these links: (available until March 27, 2020)
Junior High Spring Choir
High School Spring Choir
Treble Choir
Junior High Band
High School Band
Jazz Band

There are also online resources through the school library site available to families.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Starck

March 20th at 3:30 PM

Food for children during school closure

We will be providing a grab and go type lunch and breakfast for any children 18 and under during the school closure.  This is free for everyone and not limited to families in free and reduced lunch status.  This will begin March 30th after spring break week. Please complete the survey so that we can plan to meet your needs.  We will have pick-up available at the Jr/Sr High school commons.  We will also be delivering to areas of the district and homes as we are able.  More information will be shared once we know the delivery areas.

Online learning capacity

On March 17th the Governor extended the school closure indefinitely.  We are working to provide learning opportunities for families in a structured way.  We will be sending a survey to all families to determine your ability to access online content in your home.  Once we have that information we can determine next steps to provide access and opportunity for all students.

Spring concerts

These concerts are recorded and available on our website at these links: (available until March 27, 2020)

Junior High Spring Choir

High School Spring Choir

Treble Choir

Junior High Band

High School Band

Jazz Band

There are also online resources through the school library site available to families.

Thank you,

Jenny Starck

March 18th, 2020 at 2:00 PM

Dear Parents & Guardians,

The Cadott School District will be providing bagged breakfast and lunch meals to children 18 or younger during the upcoming school closure.  Meal service will begin Monday, March 30^th.

If you have interest in participating please respond to the survey below by Monday, March 23^rd, 2020.

Bagged Breakfast and Lunch Meals Survey

Thank you,

Jenny Starck

March 17th, 2020 at 3:36 PM

This afternoon the Governor implemented more restrictions on groups and bars/restaurants.  In addition, he removed April 6, 2020 as the reopening date for schools and they will be closed until further notice.

We received specific clarification from DPI that there was not a change in the closing date of schools which continues to be March 18, 2020 at 5:00pm.  We will still plan to be in session tomorrow. As of right now, there are still no cases in Chippewa County. We are working closely with Chippewa County Department of Health as we make these decisions.  School tomorrow will allow us to finish up instruction and provide some optional activities for students during the closure.

As a parent, you have the ability to excuse your student from attendance if you are not comfortable sending them to school.  

Thank you again for your understanding and patience in these ever-changing times.

Sincerely,

Jenny Starck

Superintendent

March 16th at 5:59 PM

We know that there are some confusing messages from other districts around the Governor ordering the immediate closure of schools.  This specific question was asked of DPI and this is the response.

Does the March 16 order from DHS prohibiting mass gatherings for 50 or more people require public or private schools to close immediately?

No. The DHS order issued on March 13 specifically closing public and private schools as of 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 18 continues to apply.  Schools may remain open regardless of the number of pupils and staff present in a school facility until 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 18. At that time, public and private schools must close both for instructional and extracurricular purposes, and may not host mass gatherings of 50 or more people for any purpose.

Monday, March 16th at 3:35 PM

Parent/Staff/Community Update:

We have some answers as we move forward in these unique times.  There are still areas where we will be working to provide clarification. 

School this week

As of our meeting at 9:00am this morning, Chippewa County did not have any confirmed cases of Covid-19.  We would still plan to have school through the end of the day on Wednesday, March 18th. Beginning March 18th all after school and extra-curricular activities are cancelled.  Parents have the option of excusing their student(s) if they are not comfortable sending them to school.

Building Availability

For staff, the building will operate similar as during a break or summer, other then no availability to outside groups during the closure.  Year-long staff will continue to work or they may use accumulated leave time. We are not to have any instruction or extra-curricular activities during this closure.  We will plan to still have the School Board Committee Meeting on April 6th, but will move the location from the Conference Room to the Jr/Sr High School Library. We will plan to re-open on April 6th to a regular instructional schedule unless we receive further direction from the state or county health department.

School lunches

We are working on a plan to have school lunch available for any students beginning March 30th.  Parents please watch for a survey regarding your family participation in this.

Online Instruction

We will not be requiring students to participate in online instruction or work that is sent home.  We are encouraging teachers to send learning activities via paper or online for students to try and keep students engaged during the time they are not attending school.  We do not have enough reliable online access for our families to insist on this participation. In addition, for students with special education needs, there might not be a way to effectively address their IEP goals with online instruction.  For students in an online course through eSucceed, we are working on clarification with them.

Required Hours/Minutes of Instruction

The Cadott School District intends to apply to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) for a waiver of instructional minutes due to the required closure of schools and the difficulty in meeting instructional requirements virtually.  The DPI has initially indicated that these waivers will be approved. If the state closure extends beyond April 6th we will work with the school board to determine if we are able to meet graduation/curricular requirements with the remaining time, or need to add some additional days.

State Testing

There is support at the state level to request the federal government for a modification of required state testing this year due to the timing of these tests and the difficulty in completing them in the required window.  Students will also not have the opportunity for instruction in the immediate time prior to test administration. As we have more information on this, we will share it with everyone.

Due to the increased number of emails and calls with questions, suggestions, and input, we are not able to individually respond to each person in a timely fashion.  We are compiling these questions and will share information with everyone when we are able to.

Sincerely,

Jenny Starck

Friday, March 13th at 8:08 PM

Dear Parents, Staff and Community Members,

Friday evening we received the following order from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services:

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services’ Secretary-Designee Andrea Palm, under the direction of Governor Tony Evers, issued an order closing schools effective Wednesday, March 18 with an anticipated reopening on April 6. Additionally, Secretary-Designee Palm’s press release goes on to clarify the order goes into effect at 5:00 p.m. on March 18.

Given this update, the Cadott Schools will plan to be in session for Monday, March 16th through the regular school day on Wednesday, March 18th. We will be closed beginning with any after school activities Wednesday, March 18th. This is subject to change if there would be a change in the advice of our local Chippewa County Health Department. School will resume in session on April 6th unless the guidance on that return date changes.

As a reminder when schools are closed, all after school activities and facility use by outside activities is also closed. This includes home and away practices and competitions. There are questions that we will be working on early next week which include if there will be any flexibility in state required hours of instruction.

There are also questions about options of virtual learning. This is a difficult barrier for us to meet as many of our families do not have high speed internet access at home. We will continue to provide updates as we have more information.

Sincerely,

Jenny Starck

Friday, March 13th at 1:32 PM

Dear Cadott Parents and Community,

We have continued to work closely with Chippewa County Health Department and monitored updates from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) and Department of Health Services (DHS). As of today, there are still no cases confirmed in Chippewa County or our surrounding counties. We are implementing increased cleaning protocols and modifications in instruction to minimize touching and close contact.

On March 12, 2020 the DHS recommended that any unnecessary gatherings of more than 250 people be cancelled or rescheduled. Based on this recommendation, we are cancelling the music concerts next week at the elementary and secondary level. Music teachers are working on a video recording that we will be able to share. We will consider events sponsored by others on a case-by-case basis. If an event is held and you wish for your child to not participate, you may decline their participation without penalty.

We are not anticipating closing school at this time. The DHS recommendations around gatherings involve outside participants, possibly the elderly, sitting close together for an extended period of time. We have made cleaning and instructional modifications in conjunction with Chippewa County Health recommendations and the CDC to minimize exposure.

Thank you for your understanding and patience. This is an ever evolving issue with frequent updates and we will be responding accordingly. Please watch the banner on our website for the more current information.

Sincerely,

Jenny Starck