2 positive students and 4 staff COVID-19 cases at UCS
Community, News, Panther's Corner August 14, 2020BLAIRSVILLE, Ga – Union County Schools (UCS) released coronavirus, COVID-19 numbers on Friday, August 14. Currently, two students and four staff members have positive cases.
27 students and 17 staff members are currently under quarantine for possible exposure.
Students and faculty return to in-person instruction on August 17, and the students and faculty under quarantine or with positive cases won’t be in attendance. According to school policy, only those who test negative for COVID-19 can attend in-person class.
According to the school’s policy, anyone who tests positive can’t return for “at least 10 days following the onset of COVID-19 symptoms or receiving a positive test result AND be fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication AND have an improvement in respiratory symptoms.”
Quarantined individuals must stay home for at least 14 days even if symptom-free. If they develop symptoms, the quarantine may be extended from symptoms onset. Also, students with a confirmed diagnosis in the home will be quarantined an additional 14-days from when the family’s quarantine time ends.
If hospitalized or severely immunocompromised from the virus, students must stay home “at least 20 days since symptoms first appeared AND be fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications AND have an improvement in respiratory symptoms.”
While quarantining from home, students can participate in the online learning program.
UCS will be providing a weekly COVID-19 update concerning positive cases and possible exposures. These updates aren’t meant to alarm but provide public information.
Face masks are highly recommended for all students and will be available to students and faculty on campus. Students will be required to wear face masks during class changes, school nurse visits, and safety drills.
Each week the school buildings will be deep-cleaned over a three day period.
To review UCS’s reopening plan, follow the link, here.
As for closure, UCS is following Georgia’s Department of Education (GaDOE) District Decision Tree.
L4GA grant brings literacy to all local children
Board of Education, Community, Panther's Corner July 29, 2020
BLAIRSVILLE, Ga – The Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) awarded Union County School System (UCS) $3.2 million over five years to advance literacy efforts.
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Paula Davenport was instrumental in UCS receiving the L4GA grant.
As a recipient of the Literacy for Learning, Living, and Leading in Georgia (L4GA) grant, UCS will focus on creating plans for children from birth to 12th grade. Additionally, the school will partner with the community to effectively reach all local children.
UCS was at the top of the list to receive the grant, according to Assistant Superintendent Dr. Paula Davenport.
GaDOE considers “the poverty level of a community, the percentage of students reading below grade level, the recent rate of growth in the number of students reading above grade level, and whether a school is identified for support from the Department of Education’s School Improvement team.”
From a GaDOE release on the program:
“Introduced in 2016, L4GA is a unique approach to improving literacy that pairs community-driven action with research-proven instruction. In its first round, funded by a federal Striving Readers grant of $61.5 million, 38 school districts partnered with early learning and care providers as well as community organizations to implement community efforts and improve classroom instruction. By working together, schools, early learning providers and caretakers, and community leaders are moving the needle on literacy – in 2019, third-grade students showed significant gains in English Language Arts and grade-level reading.”
UCS has developed a slogan for the program “literacy is for everyone” or “LIFE” for short. Assistant Superintendent Dr. Davenport explained the school will develop tailored programs to meet each child’s interest from digital books to picture books and graphic novels.
“Whatever it takes to get a child to read,” she added.
Davenport also spoke about how literacy is more than just reading; it’s drawing, listening, and writing. Each area of focus will help children gain a holistic understanding and appreciation of literacy.
The public library, daycare programs, families, and businesses will play an essential role in granting greater access to materials. For instance, parents will be encouraged to read bedtime stories to their children.
With the first planning meeting this week, the initial implementation of the L4GA program will probably be adaptable due to COVID-19. The first year might become more digital to protect the health of everyone involved.
UCS students have scored highly in literacy in the past, but low in writing. Davenport hopes the holistic approach of the L4GA program will lead to an improvement in writing scores as well. Typically, the school uses Milestone test scores to judge students’ abilities, but currently, the most recent data is from 2018-2019. Georgia canceled the Milestone tests for 2019-2020 and could do the same in 2020-2021 because of COVID-19.
L4GA brings together the entire community to support the whole child.
Teams from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgia State University will be collecting data from L4GA districts to document positive practices and gauge the overall impact of the L4GA Project.
A total of 23 schools received the grant for 2019. The award total was $22,101,554.
L4GA 2019 Grantees: Burke County Schools, Butts County Schools, Charlton County Schools, Clayton County Schools, Cook County Schools, Elbert County Schools, GaDOE State Schools, Glascock County Schools, Grady County Schools, Haralson County Schools, Lanier County Schools, Liberty County Schools, Newton County Schools, Paulding County Schools, Pike County Schools, Pulaski County Schools, Rockdale County Schools, Terrell County Schools, Toombs County Schools, Treutlen County Schools, Troup County Schools, Union County Schools, Vidalia City Schools.
“School districts selected for the first round of L4GA funding made great strides in student literacy learning,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said. “I’m eager to see the progress made by our new grant recipients in the coming years. Making sure students are reading on grade-level remains mission-critical, top-priority work for the Georgia Department of Education, and we continue to seek all possible opportunities to support that work at the school and district level.”
Families receiving free or reduced school meals eligible for P-EBT
Community, News, State & National June 23, 2020BLAIRSVILLE, Ga – The Georgia Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS) and Georgia Department of Education (DOE) received approval to operate the new Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program.
Update: As of July 22, Department of Human Services stated the applications for P-EBT would be available in late July. Distribution dates for eligible SNAP families will be released once final dates are determined.
P-EBT will provide 1.1M children, who normally receive free or reduced meals, and families with assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the DFCS website, families will receive a one-time allotment of $256.50 in total P-EBT benefits per child based on the number of school closure days.
It’s a no-cost program that should begin in July and benefits are non-transferable. New information is being added to the DFCS website as details are finalized.
DFCS secured approval for $5.07 per day for the 45 days children missed school in Georgia. The program will work in conjunction with other services and benefits available to families during the pandemic. Families should continue to take advantage of local school and community meal sites.
The current designated allotment amounts from one child and up.
All children accepting free or reduced school meals, “if not for their school closure due to COVID-19, are eligible to receive P-EBT.” Due to the mandated school closures, these children and families can now obtain a P-EBT card to cover the costs of meals. The P-EBT card works at approved Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) EBT retailers to purchase food items.
If families are already on SNAP benefits, they do not need to apply for P-EBT. Eligible SNAP benefits will receive a preloaded P-EBT automatically on their existing EBT card.
Everyone else, who qualifies for free or reduced lunch, must apply, and complete the entire application to see if their child is eligible. Applications are processed in the order that they are received. If approved, these families should receive a P-EBT in the mail within three to four weeks along with instructions on how to use it. The card will be mailed to the address listed on the application.
“Families receiving a P-EBT card will need to create a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to activate the card. Applicants may log into https://www.connectebt.com/gaebtclient/ or call 888-421-3281 to complete this process. If a P-EBT card is not received from the vendor, recipients can email [email protected] for assistance.” – DFCS website.
The distribution dates for SNAP families will be released once final dates are determined. P-EBT benefits will roll over from month-to-month but must be used within 365 days. Any unused P-EBT benefit after 365 days will be removed from the account.
The program was approved by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) to aid families with children that have lost access to free or reduced school meals during the COVID-19 pandemic. DFCS and DOE collaborated on the program. DFCS utilized May 2020 data from DOE to determine eligibility and enrollment in the school meal program. Students must have participated in reduced meals during the 2019-2020 school year.
Children in charter and private schools who receive free or reduced meals through the National School Lunch Program should be able to receive P-EBT benefits too.
Homeschooled and Pre-K children should also be able to receive P-EBT if they partake in a federal free or reduced lunch program.
Headstart children aren’t eligible for P-EBT. Families not eligible can contact 211 for assistance from food banks, food pantries, or other resources, as well as visit: https://www.unitedway.org/our-impact/featured-programs/2-1-1.
Foster parents need to sign up for their foster children currently in their care.
Since DFCS is finalizing the program, expect updates. Fetch Your News will adjust this article as details are released.