Quick News: Grain Valley Schools Announces Temporary Transition to 100% Virtual Instruction

     In a recorded phone message and subsequent email on November 16th, Grain Valley Schools Superintendent Marc Snow informed district parents that effective Wednesday, November 18th, all schools will temporarily transition to 100% virtual instruction. Below is the transcript of Snow's message and additional details provided in the district email:

“Good evening,
This is Marc Snow, Superintendent for Grain Valley Schools. I call you tonight with an important update that affects families at all of our schools.

Our ability to staff our schools and programs has only gotten worse since my letter to you last Thursday. Today, only 58% of our absences were filled by substitutes, down from 73% last week. The projected sub fill rates for the rest of this week does not show improvement. Therefore, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily shift to 100% virtual for all schools beginning this Wednesday, November 18.

Elementary and early childhood students will return to in-person learning after Thanksgiving, but our middle schools and high school will remain 100% virtual through the Christmas Holiday. Middle school and high school students will return to the hybrid model beginning January 4.

Our Valley Kids program is available at Prairie Branch (for Prairie Branch and Matthews students) and at Sni-A-Bar Elementary (for Sni and Stony Point students) through Tuesday, November 24. This program is available for current Valley Kids families who absolutely rely on it, but we encourage families to utilize other daycare options if available.
The virtual instruction our students receive in the days and weeks ahead will look very different from what everyone experienced last spring. Our teachers have scheduled class times that students are expected to call into and the work students are engaged in will reflect the new content they would have been learning had they been in person.
This is not where we wanted to be and we did not want to go full virtual, but having so many staff out and with not enough subs, gives us little choice. We have held on as long as we could.

More details are being sent to families and staff in an email yet tonight and each family will receive their child’s virtual schedule from the school tomorrow.

Thank you for your patience with us during this time. We know our families are facing difficult challenges and I wish to assure you that our teachers and staff remain committed to working with you to continue to make the most of a tough situation.
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Thank you and good night.”


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

1. Each school will share additional information with families tomorrow (Tuesday) morning regarding what to expect during virtual instruction for Wednesday through Tuesday.
2. Tomorrow, elementary students will each be issued a Chromebook device for distance learning for November 18-24. 
3. In-person tutoring at our middle schools and high school is canceled this week but will start again after Thanksgiving.
4. Middle school and high school students who participate in the Life Skills programs will continue with full in-person learning after Thanksgiving break.
5. Meals are available for any interested family, for pick up only from North Middle School on Pink Hill Road, Monday through Friday between 11:00-11:30. No delivery is available but families may designate someone else to pick up their child’s meals. You can sign up for meals using this form. 
6. Extra-curricular activities continue.