Saturday Morning Letter from Unit 40 Supt Mark Doan

Effingham Unit #40 Superintendent Mark Doan released an updated letter of information for District residents in the wake of Governor J.B. Pritzker's "stay at home" order on Friday. 

Here's Superintendent Doan's letter:

EFFINGHAM UNIT #40

COVID-19 UPDATE

UPDATE MESSAGE ON CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) TO UNIT #40 FAMILIES

March 21, 2020 at 11:00 a.m.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

     Thank you for your understanding and cooperation during this difficult time. Updates can be located on the District’s website at https://www.unit40.org/emergency_information. Unit #40 will continue to seek guidance from the Governor’s office, IDPH, Effingham County Health Department and ISBE as we move forward. Here are some updates:

• On March 20th, Gov. Pritzker enacted Executive Order 2020-10 that required all schools to stay closed and all individuals living in Illinois were ordered to “stay at home or at their place of residence” from March 21st through Tuesday, April 7th.
• Unit #40 lunch service will continue as planned at all five existing sites. Lunches will be available each weekday from 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

• The Governor made it clear that this is serious and social distancing needs to be followed. He also shared that residents will still be able to work, shop at grocery stores, put gas in their cars, and get medication from the pharmacy.

• Unit #40 is committed to providing online extended learning opportunities for students. These can be found on the Unit #40 website at https://www.unit40.org/emergency_information.   If you do not have internet access, hard copies of the extended learning opportunities will be available for pick up at the lunch locations.

• Unit #40 has received feedback that reliable internet may be a problem for many in the District. In order to gain additional knowledge, Unit #40 plans to send out a survey to help determine both the level of both device(s) and internet connectivity. Please look for this survey next week.

• At this time, the Unit #40 Board of Education meeting scheduled for Monday, March 23, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. is still scheduled to occur. The meeting will be held at the Board office at 2803 S. Banker St. beginning at 6:00 p.m. The Unit #40 board meeting will be streamed live on Youtube.  Please use the following link to access the meeting: https://youtu.be/GGoDKuGvNDM

• The District wishes to share that it has been notified of possible free internet access opportunities being provided by Consolidated Communications, AT&T, Spectrum, and Comcast. Please reach out to these businesses if interested.

• Special Education: There are resources for parents to help children with disabilities under the Continued Learning Opportunities on the Web Page.  They can click on the tab for Special Education for resources to assist with students' IEP identified needs.   Mrs. Seachrist is consulting with staff on conducting Individual Education Plan meetings in alternative manners, such as phone conferences, FaceTime, Zoom, etc...

• Dual Credit: consultation is ongoing with Lake Land College regarding guidance on EHS students presently enrolled in dual credit courses however, no final decisions have been at this time.

• EHS Graduation: it is the District’s intent to hold a Graduation ceremony. No direction/feedback has been provided by ROE #3 or ISBE regarding determination of grades or graduation.

• Below is a list of food banks in Effingham/Fayette Counties. There may be more options than those listed as some local Churches have started providing food as well.

Effingham Catholic Charities

Agency Type: Food Pantry
Address: 1502 E. Fayette - Teutopolis, IL

Phone: 217-857-1458
Hours of Operation: Monday, Wed. & Friday - 9am to 11:30am & 12:30pm to 4pm

Enduring Freedom Ministries

Agency Type: Food Pantry
Address: 304 South West Street - Shumway, IL

Phone: 217-240-0059
Hours of Operation: Tuesday - 1pm to 6pm; Wednesday 12pm to 2pm; Last Saturday of the month - 8am to 12pm

Fayette County CEFS

Agency Type: Food Pantry
Address: 517 W. Gallatin - Vandalia, IL

Phone: 618-283-2631
Hours of Operation: Wednesday & Thursday - 1pm to 4pm; Friday 9am to 12pm

     The health, safety and well-being of our students and staff are our top priorities. With the recently elevated discussion regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the news, we wish to reinforce preventive safety measures. We encourage our students, staff and families to be mindful of key preventive measures. The CDC offers some tips on its website that can be useful in avoiding the spread of this and other illnesses. Further, current IDPH resources can be accessed at

http://dph.illinois.gov/topics-services/diseases-and-conditions/diseases-a-z-list/coronavirus

     Students, parents, and school personnel can protect themselves and others by taking every day common sense actions (from IDPH):

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Stay home if you are sick.
• Students need to be fever free for 24 hours before returning to school after an illness.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.
• Consult with your health care provider about getting an influenza vaccination if you haven’t already done so.

Over the last week, I've received and read many emails of positive thoughts and found this note from Angela Watson stood out. I feel it is a good message and recently shared with Unit #40 staff and wished to pass along:

From Angela Watson:

I’m sure you’re hearing lots of advice right now about how to stay healthy — wash your hands, maintain a social distance, and do not touch your face. All valid strategies, of course.
But there’s a critical aspect of this “stay healthy” thing that I think we’re not hearing enough about...We need REST. When we are stressed out, anxious, and sleep-deprived, our immune system weakens. We are less able to fight off infection.
So if our primary goal as a society now is to keep everyone healthy, then managing our anxiety levels with downtime and not trying to force ourselves to be super productive is imperative. You can’t accomplish what you normally accomplish, because your world is not functioning as it normally does.
Of course you’re distracted and panicky and unfocused at times. The solution for that is not to work harder and get more things done, but to give yourself grace and leniency. Allow yourself time to adjust to a different pace of life and altered routines.
As you think about supporting your students during school closures, ask yourself, what would this look like if it were easy? Pick simple, flexible options that are going to reduce stress for you, your students, and their families. Our families are dealing with a lot right now, and the last thing they need is pressure to ensure kids are completing hours of schoolwork each day at home. We don’t need anybody stressed out right now. We need folks to be healthy and rested and strong.
My hope is that this forced slower pace this unprecedented period in which the world as we know it shuts down, and we have no choice but to go inward both physically and mentally can be a tremendous time of healing.
Rather than trying to keep our frantic pace and be productive like nothing has changed… What if we use this time to rest? What if we use it to disconnect from the outside world, and reconnect with ourselves?
What if we use some of this time to do absolutely nothing with our children? What if we let them play and have a bit of unstructured time to create and imagine and make their own decisions about which activities to fill their days with? What if we give them and ourselves time for sleep and rest and relaxation and downtime? What if we stop pushing ourselves and our kids 24/7 and keep trying to accomplish more, and instead have some time to just be together for a while? What if we read and play games and cook and take naps and talk and just … be? That’s certainly not possible in every situation, of course. But let’s not overcomplicate anything right now. Stay focused on what matters most. Choose whenever possible to prioritize what we ALL need in order to stay healthy: more time to rest physically, mentally, and emotionally. (End of the letter)

I truly believe this is great advice for us all. Let’s heed this advice and help others around us during these unsettling times. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Mr. Mark E. Doan, Superintendent

Effingham Unit #40