Update on Soft School Closure March 27, 2020

Hi families, 

We appreciate your support and kindness during these tough times. We truly miss the kids!! Our hallways are too quiet! I'm so proud to be your principal, we have amazing families, parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents and friends helping each other. You have stepped into a different world with homeschooling, and you are doing it wonderfully!! Give yourselves a lot of credit for  all that you are accomplishing!! Take it slow, and enjoy the memories you are making with the kids, that's the most important part of all of this. 

PARADE: We are going to do a drive by parade tomorrow Friday March 27th, to celebrate our students and to kick off a much deserved Spring Break for Students, Staff and Families!! Please open the attachments to see the parade route. We will begin around noon, please stay in your cars in the large parking lots to limit exposure to each other. We will be honking, waving and celebrating with you!! Tomorrow is School Spirit day too, so wear your RED, and wave as we drive by. If we are not driving down your street, please feel free to park along the road or in the larger parking lots along the route and wave to us from your cars, we don't know the exact times we will be driving by, but we are starting around noon, listen to the horns honking and you'll know we are coming. Staff members have made posters and a lot of school spirit will be shared!!! We even have Corby our Cougar riding along in a vehicle to say HI!! 

Here are some important changes for the next 4 weeks: 

Lunch and Breakfast: 

Beginning April 6- May 1, buses will no longer be delivering meals to bus stops.   

Starting April 6th- We will be serving lunch and breakfast (for the next day) at the same time from 11:00-12:00 each day. It will still be drive-up in the carpool line, grab and go style. Children 0-18 must be present to take the food bags. We can serve any child, from any school and any district!! :)  So, no longer will we have breakfast at 8:00, it will be included in the lunch grab and go. Those with special diets will need to contact Candace Parr one day in advance at, candace.parr@besd.net. These meals can be picked up at Young and Harris Intermediate schools between 11:00-12:00. 

NEW SERVING LOCATIONS- Meals will be available at the following locations curbside. Please remain in your car and have your student(s) with you to pick up the meal.  Having your child with you is a Federal Food Program requirement.

·  Discovery

·  Mountain View

·  Three Mile Creek

·  ACYI 

·  Box Elder Middle 

·  Box Elder High

·  Century

·  McKinley

·  Garland

·  Fielding

·  ACHI

·  Bear River High  

·  Snowville   

·  Park Valley (Monday - Thursday)

No Food Services will be available during Spring Break!

Packets: We are limiting the packets being picked up as it's not the most sanitary means of implementing the quarantine, and the online learning will be  a richer learning experience for the students. We will do packets if after all means are exhausted, like, getting the internet set up, needing more devices for your household etc. **If your family needs another Chrome book please contact the school. Then, a packet will be available for your child. You do not need packets if you don't have a printer at home, as most of the work can be done on scratch paper, through answer blocks on canvas, online quizzes, and video responses the students send back to the teacher. I'd hate to imagine a child doing packets for 20 days of school, this is not the most effective form of instruction. Online, their teachers are posting videos, having group hangouts with class members, and still being able to implement interventions to help students who need more support. Please contact me if you need further help to get online. Our teachers have done a wonderful job reaching out to families, helping guide through the mud of online learning too. I appreciate all the work they have done to support families while they are learning too. 

School office hours: 7:30-12:30 everyday

Teachers' hours 9:00-2:00 p.m. everyday (online contact only, email the teacher)

Help to access online learning or frequently asked questions: please visit www.besd.net for more information to help guide you.

SPRING BREAK March 30th- April 2nd : No food services during the break and the school will be closed. No one will be in the office. 

We miss you all so much, and know we can do this because McKinley Cougars are STRONGER TOGETHER!

Hugs, and High Fives, 

Mrs. Arehart 

Utah School Spirit Week

Observer Account in Canvas for Parents

Parents,

During the soft school closure we will be using Canvas for assignments.  Canvas has a convenient way  for you to see what your child sees. It’s called an “observer” account. You can set up one up yourself by following these steps.

1.  Have your student generate a “pairing code”
          Log into Canvas,
          click on Account,
          go to Settings,
          click on the link: Pair with Observer
          Write down the code it gives you then sign out or open another browser.

2. Search for besd canvas.  Make sure it says Box elder school district on the page.  Click on the link       that says "parent of a Canvas user."

3. Enter the details, including the pairing code

4. Customize the things you want to see by going to account and clicking on notifications.
Please help you r student keep up on their assignments. 

At Home Recess

Playworks is ready to step up to the challenge of continued learning at home. We want to help families play at home by leading fun and active games that kids can play along with indoors and without equipment. Please join McKinley Elementary and Playworks coaches on our Facebook Live every day for a recess break starting TODAY at 10 AM, 12 PM & 2 PM MDT! Virtual recess will be held Monday through Friday at 10 a.m., 12 p.m., and 2 p.m., MDT. We hope to see you there!

PS. As a valuable school partner, we also suggest sharing our online Game Library allowing your school community access to explore hundreds of games by group size, available space and equipment, appropriate ages, and developmental skills.

More Instructions to Login to Canvas

Click on image to view larger or 

click HERE to open and view as a PDF.

McKinley Curbside Lunch Menu

Curbside Hot Lunch Menu

Wednesday, March 18th
Hamburger

Thursday, March 19th
Chicken Sandwich

Friday, March 20th
Crispy Calzone

Monday, March 23rd
Hot Dog

Tuesday, March 24th
Chicken Sandwich

Wednesday, March 25th
Hamburger

Thursday, March 26th
Hot Dog

Friday, March 27th
Chicken Sandwich

Menus are subject to change.

If you choose to go to one of the bus stops or other stop locations, the lunch box will be the option to pick up there.

Canvas Instructions

Please click HERE to watch/view instructions on how to use Canvas which is the online system we will be using for classwork due to the soft school closure in Box Elder School District.

When you try opening the file, it may ask you to download the file in which you need to download the file and it will put a box at the bottom of your screen and you can click on that to open and watch the file.

Please call the school with any questions.

Thank you.

McKinley School

More Info on School Closure

Hi Families, 

Boy do we miss you! Please send our love and warm wishes to the students. School is empty without them here!! Going forward with this new uncharted territory, here is some important information. There is an email, as well with lots of info. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN EMAIL FOR YOUR FAMILY ON ASPIRE. OR CALL THE SCHOOL TO ADD IT. IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM YOUR TEACHER ON HOW WE ARE GOING TO DO ONLINE SCHOOL WILL BE THROUGH YOUR EMAIL AND CLASSROOM APPS. PLEASE KEEP CHECKING YOUR EMAILS CONSISTENTLY. We don't want to miss anyone. 

We have a few updates: 

If your family needs a chromebook to check out- Please send one adult, no children- please come to the school Wednesday morning starting at 9 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. or 12:00-1:30 p.m.  Please follow the signs and arrows to make this a smooth process and to keep our lines to groupings of 10 or less. 

**There is a contract you will need to sign to check out the chrome book. (Click HERE to read and review.)

1. Chromebook per family unless discretion is needed based on the number of students in the family. 

2. We are serving breakfast and lunches grab and go style starting Wednesday March 18th. MEALS are FREE to all Children 0-18. 

*Breakfast 8:15-8:45 in the carpool line in front of the school. Stay in your car. Students have to be present to receive their grab bag. Any student in the district is welcome to grab their food from any grade level school.  This includes preschool aged children. No adult meals will be provided. 

*Lunch 11:00-11:30 in the carpool line in front of the school.  Stay in your car. Students have to be present to receive their grab bag. Any student in the district is welcome to grab their food from any grade level school.  This includes preschool aged children. No adult meals will be provided. One meal choice a day. When we know what we can serve each day we will post it on our school Website. 

**The district will be sending out a notice on meals for all students in the district including other pick up locations. Please call the district by 3 p.m. the day before for special dietary meals and pick up locations. 734-4800 

3. Teachers will be sending out information via online learning, and packets, including office hours 9:30-10:30 for students and parents to contact the teacher for help on assignments. 

4. All online materials will be online via Canvas. You can access Canvas through our district web site www.besd.net  Click on the student tab, and canvas comes up first. You will need your students ID # and then their password is their birthdate. Teachers will be sending out student ID #'s via private email, classroom communication apps, etc. today. With further instructions. 

5. For those who do not have online access, or limited access- There will be Daily/ bi-daily packets that may be needed- WEDNESDAY- PICK UP AT THE EAST DOORS (due to chrome book check out) 8:30 a.m- 3:00 p.m. OTHER DAYS- Pick up at the front doors of the school 8:30-3:00 p.m. Look for your grade level, then teacher, and sign the clipboard to get your packet. To turn your packet back in, put it in the drop in crate. It will go to your teacher. New packet materials will be put out, and teachers will be in communication with you to let you know there are new materials. All of the packets correlate to what is online in canvas too. 

Thank you and we miss you, 

Mrs. Arehart 

Update on School Closure

Families: Monday and Tuesday are days for all staff to prep, disinfect, and prepare for Wednesday delivery of curriculum via online tools for our students. 

Our Food Director is having a meeting with all the kitchen managers on Monday. We will know more about breakfast and lunches with grab and go on Monday. Grab and go will begin Wednesday. 

School is closed for students for the 2 weeks, and then for spring break too, unless they forgot something at the school and can come in a grab it quickly. 

All of our staff are meeting at 8 a.m. Monday, for a planning meeting and q&a. As we get more info we will continue to keep you updated.

Please take the survey for online options by clicking HERE. Our building level Tech and coaches are attending a meeting on Monday on how we are going to deliver information to families for students learning. 

Thank you for your patience!! 

Mrs. Arehart

Corynn.arehart@besd.net

Free Internet for 2 Months

Effective Monday, March 16, 2020, Comcast is offering 2 months free to new Internet Essentials customers in response to recent and anticipated emergency measures associated with the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Click HERE to get more details.

Soft School Closure for 2 Weeks

Dear Parents and Guardians, 

Under the direction of Governor Herbert and State Superintendent Sydnee Dickson, the school district will have a soft closure for two weeks beginning Monday, March 16-27. BESD will have Spring Break from March 30-April 3. This school closure is a preventative measure to decrease the spread of the coronavirus. A soft school closure means that students will be dismissed from school, but facilities would be kept open, and staff will continue to work. 

Beginning on Wednesday, March 18, students will be learning at home via an online curriculum. We have developed a survey to collect data on who has internet connectivity and the number of devices that students could receive an online curriculum. Internet connectivity is often defined as being able to stream Netflix on two devices without any buffering occurring. For students that do not have devices at home, families can check out a Chromebook to be used during this time. For families that do not have internet access, teachers will develop a curriculum that can be picked up at the school or delivered via US Postal Service. Please click on this link to take the survey. Click HERE for survey.

Our Food Service Director, Candace Parr, will work with all kitchen managers and building administrators to provide breakfast and lunch services during the school closure. Beginning on Wednesday, March 18, breakfast and lunch will be available in grab and go bags and be available for pick up during the school's regular scheduled times for each site. 

All extracurricular practices and activities will be canceled during the two-week school closure. 

We appreciate the community working together to minimize any spread of the coronavirus throughout the district. As a district, we are encouraging all parents to limit large group gatherings during this time. 

Steven E. Carlsen 

Superintendent Box Elder School District