SDMA Update 3-18-2020

SDMA Update 3-18-2020
Posted on 03/18/2020

Hello SDMA Families and Staff,

All school buildings in the School District of the Menomonie Area are now closed to the public.

The Administrative Service Center will remain open for business at this time, but for the health and safety of our staff, we ask that traffic in the ASC be limited to essential services.  Any information requests or other non-emergency items should please be taken care of with an email or phone call if at all possible.

Yesterday, Governor Tony Evers extended the order to close schools to an indefinite time period "for the duration of the public health emergency or until a subsequent order lifts this specific restriction". It is likely that schools will remain closed much longer than the date on the original order (April 6).

With spring break ending on Sunday, much of the ongoing planning in the SDMA will begin to take action.  Families can expect the following:

  • Free meals for students will be available beginning on Monday, March 23 (please click here if you have not already signed up and would like to add your children to the list).
  • Teachers will be establishing systems for communicating/collaborating with each other, reaching out to students/families, and preparing for the possibility of providing virtual instruction. 
  • Teacher priorities for early next week will include re-connecting with students via phone or internet, communicating available district services, and training on virtual tools.
  • Teacher priorities for the end of next week will include offering recommendations to students/families for daily schedules and providing age-appropriate enrichment activities.
  • With school district buildings mostly out of use, school custodians and district maintenance personnel will be deep cleaning school district facilities and working on projects that typically cannot be done when school is in session.

The school board meeting originally scheduled for March 23 has been canceled, but please know that school board members continue to maintain appropriate oversight of school district activities while district administrators are working hard to manage this challenging situation. Planning is underway for the possibility of offering virtual public access for school board meetings in the future.

That is it for today's update. We will continue to communicate with families and staff as more information becomes available, but please look forward to hearing from a classroom teacher next week.

Yours truly,

Joe Zydowsky