Magnolia Middle School

MAGNOLIA SCHOOL DISTRICT CONTINUES SEAMLESS SUMMER MEAL PROGRAM The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced the extension of the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) through December 31, 2020. The SSO allows school districts to provide meals at no cost to children 18 and younger. The purpose of the extension is to assure that children have access to nutritious meals while the nation recovers from COVID-19. During the pandemic, USDA has continued to provide flexibilities for the purpose of assisting families and assuring that children are fed whether they attend school in a classroom environment or as virtual students. The Magnolia School District will continue this program starting Tuesday, September 8. This program allows the District to provide meals at no cost regardless of the student’s eligibility status and outside the typically-required group settings and meal times. Parents and guardians may pick up meals at the East Side Elementary cafeteria from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. starting September 8. Although students will receive meals at no charge through December 31, 2020, it is imperative that parents continue to work with the Magnolia Food Service Department in completing and submitting free and reduced meal applications. Families who have not completed a meal application are strongly encouraged to do so. Families are also encouraged to check their email regularly for updates and announcements from the food service department. For questions, please call 870-234-2677.

Thank you Magnolia Junior Charity League for providing books for all 6th graders at MMS!

At this time all Magnolia Public School campuses will be open tomorrow. Currently, the transportation garage is without power. This could cause a few delays if this remains the case through Friday.

Magnolia School District will not hold fact-to-face classes tomorrow, Thursday, August 27, 2020. The National Weather Service has issued a tropical storm warning for our area. Hurricane Laura is expected to bring rain and high winds to Magnolia tomorrow. All classes will be virtual. We are aware that some of our onsite students do not yet have a device at home. Any student who does not have access to a device, or the internet, will not be penalized and will have opportunities to complete their assignments. Decisions about Friday will be announced tomorrow. We realize this is a late announcement and apologize for any inconvenience.

Boys and Girls Club Fall Sports Registration is underway! Please see schedule below!

Band Parents: Those who are interested in sewing a mask for your child in band can find mask patterns at this website! http://www.unitedsound.org/mask?fbclid=IwAR1VgtLCbCw4O046EJgSDFLoIrq8piTGYG6UwiofxoFOknI1XUej80WS4wE

Students/Parents: Please help us mitigate the spread of infectious disease by using the self-screening health questionnaire prior to coming to school each day. If a student shows unexplained symptoms (i.e. cough, difficulty breathing, sore throat, or loss of taste or smell) or has a fever of 100.4 or higher, they should not come to school. Completing this screening prior to coming to school is more effective and efficient than screening upon arrival to school and will allow our teachers and staff to focus time on instruction and provide a more normalized educational experience. It will take all of us doing our part to limit the spread of COVID-19. This survey can easily be saved to your home screen on your phone and will take only a few seconds to complete each morning. We appreciate your willingness to help. The link for the screener is as follows: https://bit.ly/34iSqta

Attention all Magnolia Middle School Virtual Students and parents: For those that could not make today’s required laptop pick-up, tomorrow, August 20th, we will be handing out the rest at the Magnolia Middle School cafeteria from 8am to 12noon. If your Magnolia Middle School Virtual student has signed up for the virtual option, and did not pick up their laptop today, it must be picked up tomorrow between these times. Please Note: The student AND parent/guardian must both be present. Thank you!

Please. When dropping off students at MMS, do not let them out on McNeil St. at the back of the school. McNeil St. is for Bus Drop Off only. Thank you.

Please see the link below for updated information regarding this year’s Magnolia Schools Virtual learning option. The enrollment deadline has been extended until August 9th at midnight. **Note** If you have already applied for the Magnolia Schools virtual option, please do not sign up again. We simply are extending the deadline after posting updates information. https://www.magnoliaschools.net/o/msd/page/district-re-entry-plan All items with updates are as follows: Virtual Options Revised and Updated 2020-2021 School Calendar Updated MMS Arrival-Dismissal/Breakfast-Lunch Updated Eastside Arrival-Dismissal/Breakfast-Lunch Updated

7th Grade students (boys/girls) wishing to play sports this year need to have physicals completed and turned in by Friday, August 7. Forms can be can be found in the filing cabinet on the front steps of MMS. There is also a drop-box where completed forms can be returned.

There have been some additions and updates to the re-entry plan added on the Magnolia School District website and Campus-specific sites. They include: ACDA Guidelines Added AAA Guidelines Added Face Coverings Guidelines Added MSD Blended Learning FAQs Removed/Replaced by Blended Learning Guidelines Virtual Option FAQs Added T-Chart Comparing Blended Learning/Virtual Option Added General FAQs Added MSD Health & Safety Guidelines Updated MSD Transportation Health & Safety Guidelines Updated Walker Pre-K Arrival-Dismissal Updated Walker Pre-K Breakfast-Lunch Updated Deleting browser history/cookies may be required if Updated documents won’t load. The magnolia schools website address can be easily viewed by clicking this link: www.magnoliaschools.net Thank you!

Per Coach John Rich: Athletic physicals for 8th and 9th grade football are due by August 3 and should be turned in to the coaches. Thank you.

MJCL Sets "Cram the Bus" Date

School Supply List for 2020-21

LETTER FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT Students and families, We appreciate the patience you have shown while waiting on our plan for returning to school. Our teachers, administrators, and numerous other stakeholders have worked countless hours to develop a plan for a safe environment for our students and staff. Their work and dedication to Magnolia Public Schools is sincerely appreciated. The documents are located on our district website, www.magnoliaschools.net, under the tab “Re-Entry Plan”. At the top of each school’s page, there will be a tab where more specific plans for that campus can be found. Please understand this document could change from day to day as we continue to receive guidance from DESE and ADH. Our initial plan is to begin school on a regular schedule, but that could change throughout the year as needed. We have developed plans for complete on-site instruction, a modified schedule, and remote learning. In addition, we realize that some parents may choose for their child to receive a complete virtual option for instructional delivery. That option is available, and the document for enrollment is located under the “Re-Entry” tab on the district website. We realize that this plan is not perfect; there is nothing perfect about this pandemic. We all want to return to normal. In order to effectively limit the spread of any communicable disease, we need your help in screening your child before sending him/her to school. We realize this is an inconvenience for many parents, but it is impractical and ineffective to screen students after they are at school or already on the bus. We will be providing an easily accessible screening document on our district app and ask that you screen your child daily before sending him/her to school. Most importantly, please do not send your child to school if they are sick. Again, we will continue to update this document. However, we hope this answers many of your questions about how we plan for a safe return to school for our students and staff. John Ward Superintendent Magnolia School District Website: www.magnoliaschools.net

Dear Athletic Parents & Guardians: The Arkansas Activities Association will begin using DragonFly MAX for all sports and activities. DragonFly makes sports and activities more organized with an easy-to-use platform for digital forms, health records, and team communication tools. Each athlete will be REQUIRED to have an account for sports participation. Please use the link below for step by step instructions on creating your account. Thanks! https://5il.co/i8ea

Parents: if you have not already, please take a moment to fill out this quick survey to give your input on the upcoming 2020-2021 School Startup by clicking the link below: https://rb.gy/3jkhif Deadline to submit is today, and we’ve had over 750 entries so far. For all that have submitted, THANK YOU! It only takes a few minutes, and we appreciate each and every entry. Thank you so much! #PANTHERPROUD

Governor Hutchinson is live now providing COVID-19 Updates https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rrzU1zVtuc Important information : the start date for the 2020-21 school year has been delayed and set as August 24th. Additional clarification and information will follow soon.

MJCL Receives King Foundation Grant to Support the Dolly Parton Imagination Library Magnolia Junior Charity League has been awarded a $1,000 grant from Arkansas Imagination Library and the Carl B. and Florence E. King Foundation in Dallas, TX. Grant funds will be used to purchase Imagination Library books in Columbia County, which is one of 28 counties in east and south Arkansas where the King Foundation focuses its grant making. “We are very appreciative for the $1,000 grant from the King Foundation to the Magnolia Junior Charity League. Their support allows us to continue providing the children in our community the opportunity to participate in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and receive books month after month. Currently, 437 children receive books and that would not be possible without supporters and donors like the King Foundation.” -Anna Smith, MJCL 2020-2021 President Every child enrolled in the Imagination Library program receives high quality, age-appropriate books in the mail – one book per month until a child’s fifth birthday – at no cost to families. Parents or guardians of children under age five in Columbia County can enroll their child in Imagination Library by going to https://imaginationlibrary.com/usa/find-my-program/ Currently, almost 40,000 books are mailed to Arkansas children each month through independent Imagination Library affiliates operating in all 75 counties in Arkansas. Since launching in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has become the world’s preeminent early childhood book gifting program. The Imagination Library mails more than 1.5 million high quality, age-appropriate books each month to registered children from birth to age five. The flagship program of The Dollywood Foundation has mailed well over 100 million free books in Australia, Canada, The Republic of Ireland, United Kingdom and the United States. The program’s impact has been widely researched, and results suggest positive increases in key early childhood metrics. Penguin Random House is the exclusive publisher for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. For more information, visit https://imaginationlibrary.com/.