Glendive Public Schools

The Glendive Public Schools nurses wish to advise parents that COVID-19 testing will NOT be a part of your student's routine screenings. As always, please call with any questions or concerns. We are looking forward to a safe and healthy school year!

On August 29, 2020, Glendive Public Schools was notified that a Student at Lincoln tested positive for COVID-19. According to the Dawson County Health Department, some of the Lincoln staff and students were in contact with the student during the period of possible exposure. However, because of how we have structured the classes/schedules to mitigate possible exposure, only a small amount of the students and staff came in contact with the student. The student was at school on 8/26/20. Contact tracing has been completed and those individuals who were considered close contacts have been identified and notified. Glendive Public Schools will continue to take safety precautions to make sure all students and staff are as safe as possible. If any staff or students are at risk of exposure, the Dawson County Health Department will be in contact with that person to determine a safe and appropriate course of action. It is still recommended that any person who feels sick or ill, seek out their medical provider for specific instructions. Glendive Public Schools is following the Dawson County Health Department and CDC guidelines to clean and disinfect our schools every day. School administrators will continue to monitor the situation and will provide further information if and when it becomes available.

Beginning Monday, August 31, Glendive Public Schools will offer breakfast and lunch meals for children to take home for their offsite days. A meal count will be taken in each homeroom/1st period, first thing each morning. On Monday and Tuesday, children may sign up for an onsite lunch for that current day and for a breakfast and/or lunch meal to take home for the following day. On Wednesdays, “A day” students may request meals for Thursday and Friday breakfasts and/or lunches during meal count. Thursdays “B day” students may request meals for Friday and Monday breakfasts and/or lunches during meal count. A staff member will be in a designated area to distribute the requested meals as students leave school each afternoon. Please do not hesitate to contact Food Service Director, Anne Sadorf at 377-2555 if you need assistance or have any questions.

Please click on the following link to see the GPS Active COVID cases. Check back as we will update the document once we get more information. You can also go to www.glendiveschools.com to find this link and get the updates. GPS Active COVID cases: https://rb.gy/50iklu

On August 26, 2020, Glendive Public Schools was notified that a teacher at Jefferson tested positive for COVID-19. The positive test was confirmed on August 26, 2020. According to the Dawson County Health Department, the District's students were not in contact with the teacher during the period of possible exposure. However, the teacher last worked in person-to-person contact with fellow staff on August 21st, five days prior to the teacher’s diagnosis. This teacher took precautions and did not have any contact with students. Glendive Public Schools will continue to take safety precautions to make sure all students and staff are as safe as possible. If any staff or students are at risk of exposure, the Dawson County Health Department will be in contact with that person to determine a safe and appropriate course of action. It is still recommended that any person who feels sick or ill, seek out their medical provider for specific instructions. Glendive Public Schools is following the Dawson County Health Department and CDC guidelines to clean and disinfect our schools everyday. School administrators will continue to monitor the situation and will provide further information if and when it becomes available.

We are so excited to have students in our buildings again. Below is some information that might help you out for this first week.​ Face coverings: Please remember that students/staff will be required to wear face coverings on school property at all times except for the following circumstances: where social distancing can be maintained, at recess if the groups/cohorts are less than 50 students, consuming food and drink, and while engaging in physical activity. This applies even if we drop below 4 active cases in Dawson County. Our plans were in place before Glendive had enough cases for the Governor's order to go into effect based on guidance from our Health Department and the CDC recommendations. Online: If you have opted out of Face-to-Face instruction you should be getting information from each school on when your student will start. If you still haven't seen anything, please call the school that your child goes to for more information. Offsite: With this being the first week of school, we will not be doing the offsite days. We want to make sure that we have everything set up. Next week, we will be starting the offsite days with all students. Your student's teachers will be sending work home or in their online platform for the students to complete. Recess: Each school is set up a little differently with how recess will work this year. Each school is trying to set up times for students to be outside without their masks. The general rule is that students can be outside without their masks if they are grouped with fewer than 50 students and they are outside for less than 15 minutes. There will be times where this is not possible (i.e. mornings when all students come to school on the playground). Please know we will continue to try and create opportunities for students to be able to take off their face coverings. Please help us by encouraging your students to follow these procedures so that we can continue to try and offer these opportunities and keep our schools healthy. Food Service: This week we will be offering Breakfast and Lunch for onsite students only. Next week, we will start offering the opportunity for students to also request Breakfast and Lunch on their offsite days. Please watch out for more information coming out this week about how the offsite process will work along with the process for students that are online.

The following is guidance and protocols developed by the Dawson County Health Department to help mitigate the risk of COVID-19 spread at Glendive Public Schools. Please check out the following link. We will also be sending out a Frequently Asked Questions sheet developed by the Health Department in the next couple of days. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gBmrDjKhix4AThfhBR41dIhbb0uYmphHKze8Hqc4YX4/edit?usp=sharing

RE: GPS will NOT be charging the Tech Fee for 20-21 school year Thank you for your patience as we travel to new waters for Glendive Public Schools. Recently it was announced that parents were going to need to pay a $30 rental fee for the Chromebooks and Ipads that the students will be receiving this year. After last spring, we heard from many parents and staff members that the online learning was difficult for many reasons. Some of those reasons had to do with not having the proper devices, not being able to keep their student on task, not being able to control what their student was doing, etc. We heard loud and clear and were able to purchase Chromebooks for all students grades 3-12 and IPads for students grades PK-2. Not only were we able to get a device for every student, but we also wanted to make sure that they meet all student privacy requirements and applicable technology laws. In addition, we wanted to make sure that we were able to control all aspects of the device at school or at home for their offsite days. We have received many emails and have talked to many parents over the last week about the rental fee. We will NOT be charging this fee this year as we agree that it was announced too late. If you have already paid the fee, the school will be contacting you to give your money back. We understand that grants were used to purchase this equipment. The school district will need to find a way to help make this sustainable moving forward. There will still be a device checkout sheet that will need to be signed so parents are aware of the process for checking out the device. If you have any questions about this, please contact your student’s building administrator. We are really looking forward to having students start back in the schools tomorrow. Again, thank you for your patience and grace throughout this difficult time.

Governor Bullock's Clarification on Face Coverings for Schools PDF: https://5il.co/k123

Info on Transportation: With the A/B Hybrid Schedule, Glendive Public Schools will have busing available for all students that need it! Busing will be available starting the first day of school. Here is the new bus schedule for the 20-21 school year. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rhUUChgIlVbDlDstRJtI5yyXN-KGAUgD1dnrGMmk-6E/edit?usp=sharing

Thank you for your patience and grace in this difficult time. We have been working on a document to get out to our staff, parents, and community. Below you will find a link to the GPS Reopening Plan 20-21. This is not intended to be an all encompassing document, but a resource that you can go to for some information about reopening our schools for the 20-21 school year. Please also check out our website where you can find additional information and who to contact if you have questions or concerns. http://bit.ly/GPSReopeningPlan20-21

This year we will have different schedules to accommodate all the changes that need to be made. Below you will find the start and end times for each school. Please note that these can be changed as new information arises before the first day of school. Students will not be allowed to be onsite at the school before 7:45 a.m. JES - Start time: 8:00 a.m. - End Time: 3:20 p.m. LES - Start time: 8:00 a.m. - End Time: 3:05 p.m. WMS - Start time: 8:00 a.m. - End Time: 2:46 p.m. DCHS - Start time: 8:00 a.m. - End Time: 2:46 p.m. Thank you for your patience with this. There have been so many changes and we could not finalize these times until we had everything set. Please check out our Frequently Asked Questions Sheet for more information: https://bit.ly/GPS20-21FAQ

Glendive Public Schools is hosting a substitute teacher training on 8/21/20 at 9 am in the DCHS cafeteria. All current substitutes are required to attend along with any new subs. The district is in dire need of substitutes and encourages anyone interested to apply online at www.glendiveschools.com (click on menu - employment - current openings - then scroll to the bottom and click on apply - left hand column (vacancies- substitute) - apply!) A degree in education is not required but applicants must be able to pass a background check and have a desire to be a positive influence in the lives of our students. https://www.applitrack.com/glendiveschools/onlineapp/default.aspx?Category=Substitute

GPS Reopening 20-21 Frequently Asked Questions Updated: 8/14/20 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1melu61KH_WWSEBcEiiDpls-c6HZ-xxg1Yq2ug3Io3xk/edit?usp=sharing

With school just around the corner, please check out our communication sheet. The best way to get immediate and accurate information about what is happening with Glendive Public Schools is to download our app. (see sheet for details). Thank you for your patience as we work out everything that will help us have a great start to the 20-21 school year. PDF Version: https://5il.co/jkm3

GPS Reopening 20-21 Frequently Asked Questions Please check back frequently as we will be changing this document as more information comes out. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1melu61KH_WWSEBcEiiDpls-c6HZ-xxg1Yq2ug3Io3xk/edit?usp=sharing

Just a reminder that if you would like to opt your child out of face-to-face instruction for the start of the 2020-2021 school year, please complete the form below. Today is the last day to do it. Opt out Form: https://forms.gle/ZTnrrTsWPoPh7rmS9 Thanks!

Kindergarten registration is now open for the 2020-2021 school year. In order to be eligible for kindergarten, your child must be 5 by September 10, 2020. If your child fits this criteria, please click on the following link to register electronically. This is our first time registering online, but we are giving it a go! https://mtdecloud3.infinitecampus.org/campus/OLRLoginKiosk/glendive

Kindergarten Registration Information: Please watch out for information about how to register your Kindergarten Student by Tuesday, August 11th. We are working on a way to register your student online.

GPS is working on getting the A and B student groups finalized for each school. If your child’s last name starts with an A-K they will be in the A Group that will attend onsite Monday and Wednesday of each week. If your child’s last name starts with an L-Z they will be in the B Group that attends onsite Tuesday and Thursday. We know issues may arise with this split because of things like families with different last names, childcare, work schedules, etc. If this is the case for your child/family, please take the following survey with as much detail as possible. We will do our absolute best to accommodate everyone’s request but will also have to make sure the groups are evenly distributed to allow for social distancing and an optimal learning environment. Priority will be given to make sure that children in the same household will stay on the same schedule. Class Lists will not be released until this information has been collected, reviewed, and staff able to make adjustments. This survey is due at the end of the day on August 10th. PLEASE DO NOT MOVE FORWARD TAKING THIS SURVEY IF YOUR ASSIGNED SCHEDULE WORKS FOR YOUR FAMILY. Survey Link: https://forms.gle/iifUymSqU1BaQXV59