Skip to main content

The Approach to Public Concern Over Corona Virus

Gibbon Nation,

I am confident you have had several opportunities to listen to multiple news reports on the Coronavirus Outbreak, and I am also confident folks have many questions about how your school district is responding to this crisis.  This version of SUPTs On is intended to share the district’s approach to this public concern.

This past Sunday, every superintendent in the state of Nebraska participated in a video-conference call with the Commissioner of Education to learn more about the outbreak, specifics associated with the virus, and how school districts across the state of Nebraska are responding to a particular incident.  These conference calls will occur each Sunday until we have weathered this particular storm.

Today, superintendents from school districts across Central Nebraska, met at Educational Service Unit #10 in Kearney to visit with Jeremy Eschliman, the Health Director at Two Rivers Public Health Department.  During this meeting, I recommended that area superintendents (Kearney, Gibbon, Ravenna, Shelton, Wood River, Ord, Loup City and many others) participate in a weekly video-conference to stay abreast of recent developments connected to the virus itself, hear how the virus has impacted their respective school district, and discuss how each district intends to respond to every case involving COVID-19.  We agreed, that by keeping each other informed, we will collectively make better decisions for the entire region.

In Gibbon, we are taking the following actions –

• Attempt to maintain a sense of normalcy for our students, staff, and community,
• Monitor news reports and follow the spread of Coronavirus,
• Collaborate with Twin Rivers Public Health Department, and other school districts, for the purpose of staying abreast of recent developments and learn more about the impact of Coronavirus,
• Encourage folks to take steps to protect themselves (those can be found in the link provided below),
• Urge that students and staff stay home when they have symptoms that include fever, shortness of breath, coughs, and sneezes, and
• Share information and coordinate response with Lonna Pickel at Little Buffs Adventure Center.

Please go to the following links to learn more about Coronavirus, COVID-19

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

https://www.education.ne.gov/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Professional Development

Providing ongoing training for educators is absolutely critical to building knowledge and skill in the use of technology, curriculum development, instructional practices, classroom management, and keeping abreast with changes to federal and state accountability measures. Time is required to provide training experiences so educators can build these skills, and time is necessary for teachers to collaborate with their peers on effective practice. Gibbon Public School’s has implemented a concept called Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) to provide that needed time. Experts and researchers have identified PLCs as a powerful school improvement strategy that improves student achievement, increases the level of academic performance expected for all students identifies interventions to help students who struggle, and provides enrichment opportunities for students who have already experienced academic success. Implementing PLCs is a journey and Gibbon Public Schools has begun our jo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Safety and Security

We take safety and security seriously in Gibbon Public Schools.  A sign of this behavior is reflected in our efforts to stay abreast of best practices and current trends, and enhancing our ability to respond to potential threats made to students, staff, guests, and our school district. Gibbon Public Schools utilizes an “Operations Team” that focuses on four areas – Safety, Security, Medical Response, and Tragedy Response.  Members of the Operations Team are divided among these four areas and develop plans to improve procedures and protocols.  For example, we review the number of individuals on our staff trained in CPR and we use that information to design the necessary training.   Members of the Operations Team include – Samantha Schemer (Nurse) – Medical Response Amy Danielson (Classroom Teacher) – Security Deanna Stall (Technology) – Threat Assessment Ed Oden (Technology) – Threat Assessment Troy Lutz (Secondary Principal) – Secu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Update from the Superintendent

Gibbon Nation, The school district has closed a history-making end to the school year, and it is important that we celebrate all that was accomplished in response to a monumental challenge called COVID-19.  Teachers were thrown into an alternate learning environment with little time to prepare, students were thrown into an environment and asked to manage their own time while attending to academic requirements, and parents were asked to monitor learning while they also tended to the needs of their families.  OUR collective response has been overwhelmingly positive and I wish to thank students, parents, teachers, and our community for their tremendous effort. What can parents, students, and the community expect for the start of the 2020-21 School Year? We are hopeful that we can start school in a “normal environment” with students arriving at school on August 12th.  However, news and conditions associated with COVID-19 changes daily requiring us to consider a number o...
Post a Comment
Read more