Wednesday, August 5, 2020
The Raccoons are ready to reunite!
It has been just under five months since our community has been
together and while I do not want to wish away the warm weather, long summer
days, and time with friends and family, I am so excited to begin the new school
year with each of you! The last five months have taught us all so many lessons,
especially the fact that we cannot take for granted the opportunities that
exist in the 704 days that make up the high school journey. So, while we might
not be able to predict the challenges we may face this year, let’s seize this
opportunity to recognize that each class period, practice, rehearsal, game,
concert, competition and, most importantly, relationship, contributes to making
OHS a special place!
We have an incredible team of teachers, support staff, administrators,
and coaches who are ready to guide our students as they set new goals and
follow through on their commitments this year. Our upperclassmen are ready to
welcome 445 new Raccoons to the family who will join us from many different schools from across the area,
and our dozens of community partners stand ready to support each Raccoon’s
career exploration. Together, we are united in our goal to ensure this is truly
the best school year of your life!
Outlined below are several important announcements and reminders
as we work toward the reopening of school in September. While we are committed
to continuing many traditions, we will have to adapt and change many events and
practices to ensure school stays open and we prevent an outbreak of Coronavirus
at OHS. Please check out the information below, and as always, feel free to
contact me at CurtisJ@oasd.org.
I can’t wait to see everyone soon! Go Raccoons!
Jason
Jason
School Scheduled to Reopen in a Hybrid Face-to-Face
Instructional Model
Last night, the School Board voted to start our 2020-2021 school
year in a hybrid model, in which students report to campus on alternating days.
This model prioritizes social distancing by reducing class sizes to 15.
Students will be assigned to a Purple (Last name starting: A-K) or Gold (Last
name starting: L-Z) cohort based on last name and report to school for
face-to-face instruction on specific days and engage in online learning the
other days.
You can click
here to view a summary of our Hybrid model. A complete calendar will
be shared later this month.
Last week, we held face-to-face and virtual meetings discussing
all three of our reopening instructional models. A recorded video outlining our
mitigation strategies, hybrid model, and online programming options is
available below:
Grounded, Committed, and Accountable
We are entering this year with many unknowns and uncertainties.
However, regardless of our instructional model, role, grade level, or
connection to OHS, we have to stand united in our vision to ensure every
Raccoon is career, college, and life ready! Whether you are just starting your
high school journey or graduation is only 9 months away, it is important that
we immerse ourselves in our core values of being grounded, committed, and
accountable.
First and foremost, Raccoons are grounded in our personal
values and purpose. To do this we will:
- Continue
our Raccoon Prep program in which freshmen work with upperclassmen and
staff advisors to discover their interests, beliefs, and passions. In
addition, we will launch our sophomore program, in which we will work in
teams to self-reflect on our identity and values and how we represent
ourselves and interact with others who have different backgrounds,
experiences, beliefs, and identities other than our own.
Once a Raccoon sets a plan, they commit to it! This year,
we will continue supporting students in the development of their academic and
career plans by:
- Finding
unique ways to conduct job shadows and career exploration experiences when
many organizations and partners are forced to limit the number of visitors
and events they host for students.
- Setting
up a more streamlined and more thoroughly developed web-based learning
management system and learning expectations just in case someone becomes
ill or needs to work remotely for a period of time. While we recognize
online learning is not ideal for most of us, we are better prepared for an
individual or large-scale switch to online learning than we were in
March.
In order to achieve our goals, we need to remain accountable to
ourselves and each other! This year, we will:
- Recommit
to our Community Commitments to ensure we limit distractions and stay
engaged in class. I will share these commitments with everyone on the
first day of school.
- Develop
new procedures and routines to slow the spread of Coronavirus, or any
illness, and maximize student attendance and face-to-face learning. If we
stay safe, we can stay open! We are still working out the details, and I
will share the list of our mitigation measures in late August. We will
have new procedures around:
- Lunch period routines
- Sanitation practices
- Hallway expectations
- The limiting of large-scale gatherings and
assemblies
- You
can click here to review all our mitigation
strategies we plan to have in place to start the year.
Welcome to Our New Staff
We have a couple of new teammates joining our staff this year!
Please click
here to learn more about the newest members of our community.
Material Pick-Up & Picture Day
Thursday, August 6 (9:00am-7:00pm)
On August 6, students should sign up for a time to come to the
Field House to receive their 2020-2021 student ID, drop off any medications,
retrieve any supplies they ordered through the Webstore, and pick up their
parking permits. We are allowing 85 students to sign up for each half-hour
window. Click
here to sign up.
Traditionally, students could pick up yearbooks and walk around
school. However, this year, yearbooks will be available in December. We delayed
the publication so we could include the August graduation ceremony in the
book.
Schedules Posted on Wednesday, August 19
Your final schedule will be visible on Family Access by 12pm on
Wednesday, August 19. If you have any questions, you should contact your
counselor.
The release of schedules is about two weeks later than normal. In
June, we had to restart the scheduling process in order to build student
schedules that aligned and balanced class sizes to support a possible
implementation of the hybrid Purple/Gold model outlined above. In addition,
there are some scheduling and staffing impacts that come from students opting
to enroll in the Oconomowoc Virtual Learning Community. Those numbers will not
be finalized until August 11. Therefore, we will not be able to finalize
schedules until next week.
Impact of COVID-19 on Extracurricular and Athletic Events
Student activities and school traditions may be modified because
of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some initial specific details are outlined below:
Extracurricular Activities
You can click
here to view the meeting structure and expectations of each
extracurricular activity. Please contact Jose Frias at FriasJ@oasd.org if you
have any questions.
Athletics
The Soccer, Football, and Volleyball seasons will now start on
Monday, September 7. While the Cross County, Girls Tennis, Girls Golf, and Swim
will start on August 17. Coaches will be in touch with specific details.
Contact Kevin Flegner at FlegnerK@oasd.org if you
have any questions.
Open House, Freshmen Orientation, and Homecoming!
Typically we include information about Open House and other
beginning of the year traditions like Freshmen Orientation and Homecoming.
However, we are still working on final details given the need to change some of
our routines and structures. Watch for another update in mid-August!