SENECA EAST LOCAL SCHOOLS

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FCCLA and SADD will be collecting the following items for Ronald McDonald House: Light bulbs, paper towels, cleaning products, gallon size trash bags, napkins, hand soap,granola bars, fruit snacks, chips, pretzels, popcorn, bottle water. You can take them to Mrs. McGathey's room.

Good Monday morning. We just learned that Google services are currently out world wide. This can effect just a simply search to trying to login into your account. Please be patient. We will update you when the service has been restored.

December 10, 2020 Dear SE Families and Community, I want to inform you that we received word of a staff member who tested positive for COVID-19 today. No students were in close contact with this staff member. We continue to work with the Seneca County Health Department for every case of COVID-19 involving the school community. Again, we ask that students who have symptoms of COVID-19 stay home from school and isolate themselves from others. We also require that students stay home from school if anyone in the household is waiting for test results from a COVID-19. Thank you for your continued support! Laura Kagy, Superintendent

December 7, 2020 Dear SE Families and Community, Today we learned of a staff member who has tested positive for COVID-19. If your child was identified as close contact with this individual, you have already been contacted by Amy Ferres, the school nurse. If you have not received a call, your child is not impacted by this positive case. As a reminder, close contact is defined as being within 6 feet for 15 minutes. This notice should serve as a reminder that COVID-19 is present in our area. As members of the Seneca East community, we need to take steps to ensure our own safety and the safety of others. If your child is sick, please have him/her stay home, and if anyone in your household is waiting for COVID-19 test results, please keep your child(ren) home from school until a negative test result is confirmed, even if symptoms improve while you are waiting for these results. Thank you for everything you have done and are doing to reduce the spread of COVID-19 at Seneca East. Every week we can keep Seneca East's level low is another week we can be in school full time with face-to-face instruction and maintain sports and activities. Thank you for your continued support and patience through his pandemic. Respectfully, Laura Kagy

The 7th Grade boys basketball game this evening at Buckeye Central has been cancelled. However, the 8th Grade boys basketball game is still on and it will start at 5 p.m.

The volleyball team is raffling a 50” UHD 4K Roku Smart TV HDR. Tickets are $5 each and can be purchased from any volleyball player. You can also send an email to asaylors@se-tigers.com if you are interested in buying one. The winning ticket will be drawn at school Friday, December 18!

Remember to support the Senior Class tomorrow night at Chipotle from 5 pm to 9 pm!

The SE Baseball team is raffling off a Garmin vivoactive 4 GPS Smartwatch (https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/643382). This wouyld make a great Christmas gift!! If you would like a chance to win, or just support the baseball team, tickets are $10 each or 3 for $25. See a baseball player or contact Mr. Bowerman at rbowerman@se-tigers.com if you are interested.

Dear SE Families and Community, As you know, we returned from Thanksgiving break under a Hybrid learning model. This was in response to the growing number of COVID-19 cases and quarantines in our area heading into the Thanksgiving holiday. I want to thank the families, students, teachers, and staff for their flexibility this past week. I am happy to share that the number of positive cases and quarantines at Seneca East is much better now than two weeks ago when we announced the switch to Hybrid. At that time we had 71 students under quarantine, 4 positive student cases, and 1 positive staff case of COVID-19. Today we have 10 students and one staff member quarantined due to a positive exposure within their families. We also have 2 students who are members of the same family who are positive. They were exposed by a family member over the holiday and have not been in school to contact any other students or staff members. Today Amy Ferres, our school nurse, and I talked with Beth Schweitzer, the Seneca County Health Commissioner, regarding our case numbers and what they see at the county level from the Seneca East attendance area. Commissioner Schweitzer was comfortable with Seneca East returning to all students in school 5 days a week. We plan to have all students back in school 5 days a week from December 7th until December 18th which is our last day of school before Christmas break. We must follow all of the COVID-19 safety protocols and procedures that we have had in place all year: Students and staff will be wearing masks. Social distancing will take place as much as possible. Students will need to wash and sanitize their hand frequently. The building and classrooms will continue to be cleaned and sanitized. It is critically important that students stay home from school when they are not feeling well or when they have symptoms of COVID-19 including a new cough, difficulty breathing, loss of taste/smell, fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle weakness, headache, or sore throat. We also require that students stay home from school when any household member is awaiting COVID-19 test results. Furthermore, when a family is waiting for COVID-19 test results, the family should quarantine as if there has been a positive case. Doing this reduces the spread within our community. If you are unsure if you should keep your child at home, PLEASE keep them home and then call the school nurse to discuss your questions. At this time, we are allowing sports to continue for our student-athletes and their families. Some counties and schools have postponed their sports seasons but we are working hard to keep our seasons going. However, continuing sports means additional restrictions at this time. Attendance is restricted to immediate family and those family members who attend should be seated as a group and separated from other family groups. Furthermore, everyone older than age 5 in attendance MUST wear a face-covering AT ALL TIMES even when seated with family. Anyone unable to wear a face-covering even for a medical reason should not attend the contest. All N10 schools will be requiring anyone not wearing a face covering to leave the contest. If it becomes necessary to halt sports because spectators do not comply with this requirement our student-athletes will be heartbroken. The students wear face coverings all day while at school and now they need the adults to wear face-covering for them. We need your cooperation if our sports have any chance of continuing. As you know, this year is full of uncertainty and situations can change quickly. If we need to transition back to Hybrid or even go fully Remote, we will continue to update you as we go. Thank you again for your flexibility and support. We will see all students back in school five days a week starting Monday, December 7, 2020. Go Tigers, Laura Kagy

Great News from the Senior Class of 2021! We will be having the Annual Chipotle Fundraiser on Saturday, December 5 from 5-9 pm at the Tiffin location. Either stop out and be sure to tell the cashier you are supporting the Senior Class of 2021 or, new this year, we CAN order on the app and pickup! If ordering from the app, just insert the code below in the "promo" field during the hours listed above. The code is: 3VEL8F6 Share this will all your friends and family!

This evening’s JV/Varsity Boys Basketball game with Plymouth has been cancelled. It has been rescheduled for tomorrow evening.

Support the Senior Class at Chipotle this Saturday, December 5th, between 5pm and 9pm!

Some students have asked about what work is due for hybrid students who were not scheduled to have class today (Dec.1, 2020). In general no one has class today either in person or remote. Students should check their Google Classroom and student email for updates from their teachers if they have questions.

Seneca East will be closed tomorrow, December 1,2020 due to the winter storm. There will NOT be a meal puck up tomorrow.

Elementary Families: If you have not already done so, please take time to complete the Covid-19 Internet Survey located on the district website. This is a District Assessment for family access to reliable broadband internet in their homes. We want to be prepared and ready to help families needing internet access in case our school moves to remote learning at any point in the school year. Contact Brad Powers at 419-426-1854 (office phone) or bpowers@se-tigers.com if you have any questions about the internet survey.

Picture Retakes/PLP Picture Day - Due to the hybrid schedule SE will be following the week of November 30th - December 4th, we have added another picture retake day to accommodate both of our cohorts. If you are a student in grades 6 - 11 and are in the Monday/Tuesday cohort (who, during the week of Nov. 30, will be actually attending on Tuesday/Wednesday), your retake day is Wednesday, December 2nd. Middle School retakes are from 8:00 - 8:15, and High School retakes are from 8:15 - 8:30. If you are a student in the Thursday/Friday cohort, your picture retake day will be Thursday, December 3rd following the same times above. If you are a virtual PLP student, we need your pictures for the yearbook, too. You may come to school between the hours of 8:30 and 9:15 a.m. on EITHER day to have your pictures taken. Please enter the gymnasium lobby doors, wear your mask inside the building, and maintain your six foot spacing from anyone else who may be in line with the photographer at the time. If you are ordering from LifeTouch online, the code for both sessions will remain the same. Extra order forms that we re-ordered should be in the main office by Tuesday, December 1st. That website for ordering is mylifetouch.com, and the online order code is EVTZ6FRT7.

Lifetouch Picture Retake Days for Grades K-5 will be Wednesday, December 2 and Thursday, December 3. K-2 pictures will be scheduled for 9:25 - 9:40 AM and 3-5 pictures will be scheduled for 9:40 - 9:55 AM. Note: Elementary PLP students may come in for pictures on either of the days from 9:55 - 10:45 AM. Picture forms are available to be picked up on the office entrance table.

Students in Grades 3-6 will bring home chromebooks on Friday, November 20. Students have been given padded envelopes for the chromebooks and chargers, but they may use computer cases from home if you have them available. Reminder: Seneca East students in Grades 3-12 will return to school after Thanksgiving break on our hybrid plan. Please make sure your children have their chromebooks charged and ready to go on the days they attend classes. Contact Brad Powers if you have any questions about computers or the hybrid plan for the week of November 30 - December 4. Office phone number: 419-426-1854. Email: bpowers@se-tigers.com.

November 19, 2020 SE Families and Community, We received word late this afternoon that a student at Seneca East Elementary has tested positive for COVID-19. Upon learning of this positive case, we have conducted contact tracing and reached out to the individuals who had close contact with the positive student. Additionally, we have contacted the Seneca County Health Department and shared the contact information for the families involved. If the school has not contacted you, you are not directly involved with this exposure. The families of the students who are required to quarantine have all been contacted. As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday, please take precautionary measures to lower the spread of COVID-19 in our community. We are already planning to return to school on December 1, 2020; under the Hybrid plan, our ability to safely return to school after the holiday and the continuation of the winter sports season is totally dependent upon the rate of infection in our community. This notification should serve as a reminder to all of us that COVID-19 is present in our community. Thank you for your continued support during this very challenging time! Laura A. Kagy Ed.D. Superintendent Seneca East Local Schools