Looking to the future
As the winter season comes to a close and our days become longer, we are looking forward to an early spring. The hallways are buzzing in the building as we are on the verge of finishing up a successful second trimester and are ready to start the last trimester of the year. The year has gone very well so far, and I would like to thank our staff, students, and parents for all their efforts to make Loyal Public Schools a great learning experience.
The Board of Education updated our COVID-19 operational plan, which consists of optional masking and quarantine for those who are close contacts in school. Household positives and individuals who are positive in school will have to quarantine for five days. Household close contacts will also have to quarantine for five days. We have had low COVID numbers throughout the year and are currently at zero positives and zero close contacts in the building. The Board appreciates all the effort from everyone that has been put in to making sure our doors stay open and that our students are in the classroom.
The district has several maintenance projects that we will be tackling this summer. Using the federal money (ESSER funds) the district will be replacing and updating nine original air handlers throughout the building. These air handlers are in both gyms, both libraries, both offices, the band and music rooms, and upstairs in the middle school. Another project will be replacing the exterior paneling on the east and west sides of the elementary building which will increase the R-value of the walls involved. Also, the District will be looking at the replacement of many interior doors and a couple of exterior doors. We will continue with replacing uni-vents in different classrooms for both heating and cooling.
The next item that I wanted to talk about is the referendum question that the electors of the district will be voting on come April 5. The Board and administration spent more than two years on the process of identifying what facilities needed to be updated. A community- wide survey provided information on what was important to the parents and electors of the district.
There were two wellattended community meetings where the discussion focused on what was identified as needs for the students.From the staff and community meetings and survey feedback, the district worked to put together the existing plan. To provide more information to the community, there will be two open house nights on Monday, March 7, and Monday, March 21, from 7-8:30 p.m. to answer any questions on the referendum. Building tours will also be available during that time. Board members and I will also be attending township and civic meetings in the next several weeks. Please vote on April 5.
Also, I am excited to announce that we will be hosting a Career and Technical Education (CTE) open house on Thursday, March 31 from 7-8 p.m. in the Middle/High School gym with CTE project displays and area tours available. On Monday, April 4, we will be hosting a Fine Arts open house in the Middle/High School gym from 7-8 p.m. There will be student art exhibits, student musical performances, and tours of the art and music departments.
I would like to thank the community for the continued support of our staff and students at Loyal. Everyone working together has made our school an awesome place to be part of. Thank you to everyone.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.
