Adena Local Schools

District Update from Superintendent John Balzer These are definitely “trying times” for all of us as we try to find our way through the COVID 19 pandemic. We want to give you a general update on what we are doing as we prepare to have school in August. First, we have to put aside all politics, social media myths, debates (and occasional rants) to examine the real science of this virus and determine what we need to do in order to provide a safe environment for our students and our staff while they are at school. Safety always has to be the first priority. Remember, we also have to think about students’ families- many caregivers are grandparents who are in a high-risk category. We have to remember that some student’s parents or siblings may be undergoing cancer treatments or have pre-existing health conditions that place them in high risk groups. We must remember that when we bring all the kids to school, we also set up a situation where viruses can be distributed throughout the community in a highly efficient manner. It’s up to us to see to it that if we have school all are protected and we do all we can to prevent the spread of COVID. We are working with the Ohio Department of Education guidelines established by the Governor’s office. We have the guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics. We are working with the Ross County Health Department as well. It is our goal to provide five days per week instruction for all students who wish to attend. We are developing an online school program for students who wish to learn from home until there is a sanctioned vaccine available. At this point in time, we believe that students need the opportunity to attend school for the social benefit and to receive the needed instruction along with the benefits of participating in the extra-curricular activities that balance out the overall educational program in order to create a well-rounded student. The focus each day should easily be learning and socialization with safety practices quietly in place in the background of day to day operations. In order for the district to provide the opportunities our students should receive, we will need the support and cooperation of parents, caregivers and the community. The politics removed, we have to create a safe environment that is practical, manageable, and doesn’t cause unnecessary stress to, or frighten our children- especially our little ones. If we can work together to accomplish the necessary safeguards that would enable us to bring all 1200 students back to the building, we can offer our students something very close to schooling they experienced prior to the arrival of COVID. Now that we finally have the Ohio guidelines, our next steps are to establish the needed plans for operations in large congregate settings like lunch, transportation, hallway traffic, playground and extracurriculars. We have to implement extra sanitation practices with the custodial staff. There will be stricter limitations on access to the building from the public. We believe we can accomplish this if we can get all stakeholders to cooperate and support our efforts to reopen. We need to hear your voices. We will be sending an important survey out in the coming days to get your input. Please help us by taking the time to sit down and participate in the process. Remember, nobody is going to be completely happy about how things will look going forward. It is complicated, it is frustrating and it is sometimes very tense. We owe it to our children to leave them out of all of the politics and turmoil that only create fear and unrest in their minds. I think we as a community can come together and establish common ground over what are appropriate and acceptable precautionary measures that will allow us to safely resume school- the one thing that keeps our children feeling like things are pretty “normal.” The Village has always come through for the children in the past, and I have no doubt we can do that in this situation as well. Together, we will find a way to work through what might be the most important issue of the pandemic. When our kids look back at this part of our history and tell their children about it, let’s hope their response will be that, “We were Warrior Strong and worked to make sure we all got through it together.” As the district leader, I sincerely appreciate your interest and support in the school system. I look forward to working with the community to accomplish this very important work. Stay well and do your part in helping keep the community safe!

This message is for parents of current students enrolled at Adena Local Schools. Tomorrow, July 1, you will receive an account confirmation email from Final Forms. If you do not receive it please check your junk mail. Please click the link in the email and follow the steps to login and access your student(s). Final Forms allows you to complete and sign enrollment, back-to-school and athletic participation forms for your students. You may review your data at any time to verify it is current. Documentation can also be found at https://tinyurl.com/yacczquk This process will replace the majority of back to school paperwork you normally fill out at the beginning of the school year.

Prom will be Saturday, July 18th at the Sunroom at the Brick. Dinner will start at 7 p.m. with the dance immediately following until 11 p.m. Tickets are $5 for MADE members that can show their card and $10 for non MADE members. Tickets are presale only and can be purchased Monday, July 6, Tuesday, July 7, and Wednesday, July 8 from noon to 2 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in front of the school. There was a dance waiver and a Southern Ohio Axe Throwing waiver sent to the juniors and seniors through their school email. Both forms must be signed by a parent and turned in at the time of ticket purchase. Please print those and bring them with you when you come to purchase your ticket or bring a parent with you to sign the forms. No exceptions! Thanks and I can't wait to see you all when you purchase your tickets. Ms. Tara Mess

The Adena Local Schools would like thank Mr. Carvel Simmons for generously volunteering to pay off all outstanding lunch charges for all students. The generosity and kindness of the local community makes Adena a great place to live, learn and grow. Thank you Mr. Simmons for your care and concern. Thank you for your civic leadership, Mr. Simmons. Together, we are Warrior Strong!

We are very excited to announce that the Adena Local Schools has partnered with FinalForms, an online forms and data management service that will be replacing the majority of our paper forms. FinalForms allows you to complete and sign enrollment, back-to-school and athletic participation forms for your students. The most exciting news is that FinalForms saves data from season-to-season and year-to-year, meaning that you will never need to enter the same information twice! FinalForms also pre-populates information wherever possible, for each of your students, saving you time. You may review your data at any time to verify it is current. You will be required to sign your forms once per year and after any update. On July 1, You will receive an account confirmation email from FinalForms. Please click the link and follow the steps to login and access your student(s). We will have documentation that will help you with any issues/questions that may arise. That documentation will be sent out prior to July 1. We will also be available for assistance inside the building if you have problems.

Please follow this link for pictures of the Adena High School Graduation Ceremony. Courtesy of Cassidy Dawn Photography. https://cassidydawn.pixieset.com/2020adenagraduation/

Only students that borrowed a chromebook in Pre-K-8th grade will need to return their chromebooks this afternoon. All HS students excluding graduating seniors will keep their chromebooks over the summer. Curbside dropoff is from 3-6 PM this afternoon in the front of the building.

Please see some important information below concerning Free and Reduced Lunch: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eRM1vKsUfsj01TJj95me5nX8GQjqWZw0/view?usp=sharing

Parents, If you would like additional professional pictures to be taken of your senior or of the family with the senior our photographer will be staying at the school to do those after the parade! Just drive back to the school after the parade and park in the back parking lot by the marching band practice field. We will come to you in your car and let you know when it's your turn for pictures!! Those pictures will be available to purchase from Cassidy Dawn Photography. Mrs. Lewis

Adena Elementary Students! If you were given a Chrome Book to use at home, we are collecting those on June 1st from 3:00 - 6:00. Please pull up in front of building and someone will be collecting your Chrome Book and charger. Thanks!

Our graduation ceremony will be live on our Facebook page at 4pm on Saturday. The FM radio station the ceremony can be heard on will be 98.1 for those in attendance. The PA also carries very well after testing it today. The parade route will be the following: We will turn left out of the school .The parade will follow 550 into Frankfort and continue to the intersection at Main St. We will turn left on Main St. At the intersection next to the gas station, we will continue forward down N. Main St. and turn left on to Adena St. We will then turn right on County Rd. 87 and follow it to Clarksburg. Once in Clarksburg, we will turn left onto 138 and follow it out of town. The parade will disperse from there. Enjoy your evening, Mr. Jones

If you know any Adena Local School District community member who has a child who will turn five years old on or before August 1st, 2020, and who missed our kindergarten registration, please let them know that they must register their child by June 15th! Please ask them to call the elementary school office for registration information.

It's unfortunate we were unable to celebrate the 8th grade class today as they transition to high school. I would like to personally congratulate all the 8th graders on their accomplishments! Click the link below to see the Adena 8th Grade Completion Ceremony video. https://youtu.be/SmELo88zuSI -Mr. England

This is Dustin England, Adena Middle School Principal, with important announcements about the final week of school. The final day for an assignment to be sent to the teacher for grading purposes is Thursday, May 28th. Make sure your child has completed the assignments posted to Progressbook. Final end of the year grade cards will be posted to Progressbook the following week. The 8th grade completion ceremony video will be posted at the end of the week. Your child will also receive a copy of the video in their email for your viewing pleasure and it will be posted to our social media outlets. Finally, the Chromebook return has been set for Monday, June 1st from 3-6 p.m. Every middle school student who borrowed a Chromebook during the time of the pandemic will need to return Chromebook on this date. It will be a drive by drop off set up out front of the MS/HS entrance. Please return the Chromebook and charger during this time. Though the school year is not ending the way we would have hoped it would have, I can truly say I am proud of the efforts of the students during this challenging time. As I have said before, contact us if you have questions or concerns. Have a good evening!

Students and Parents, The Adena High School Graduation Ceremony will take place Saturday, May 30th at 4 p.m. The entrance will open up at 3 p.m. Prom is still scheduled for July 18th at The Brick. All assignments you haven’t turned in, need to be submitted by 3:25 p.m. on Thursday. Grade cards will be uploaded into ProgressBook on Monday, June 1st. We are very proud of what you have accomplished this nine weeks under the circumstances. True Warriors! Have a great last week! Mr. Jones

Final pick-up of elementary student materials will be Thursday. May 28 from 4:00-6:00. All grades. Items must be picked up to avoid being discarded.

2020 Pre-School Completion Ceremony. Go Warriors!! https://youtu.be/Di1Z_G5ZIMo

Good Morning, Below is the link to our 33rd Annual High School Academic Awards Ceremony. I speak for our staff, when I say thanks to all the parents and students for what we have accomplished this nine weeks. I want to thank our staff for adjusting quickly, with no preparation, to keep up with their curriculum as much as they could while going online and learning new teaching strategies to adapt to the situation. This nine weeks, we will end up with well over 90% participation online in the end and that is contributed to the resilience our students have shown. I have told the students many times in emails that this is like a marathon. It has been a daunting task, but now we are seeing that finish line. We have kept stepping forward and we are getting through this! Our seniors last online day is this Thursday, May 21st and everyone else will conclude this school year on Thursday, May 28th. Final grades for the 4th nine weeks will be calculated and input into Progressbook by Tuesday, June 2nd. Mr. Jones Stay Warrior Strong! https://youtu.be/Dg47E-nj13Y

Publication that focuses on Coping Skills: https://preventionactionalliance.org/advocate/newsletters/know-to-examine-your-covid-19-coping-skills/

Although the Class of 2020 and their parents can't gather together for our annual Senior Night this year, we want to continue the tradition as best we can by sharing their scholarship awards, high school staff video, and Senior Memory Video. Following the traditional Senior Night program, we start with the Scholarship Awards. The high school staff appreciates all the organizations who generously provide these scholarships each year. Congratulations to all the scholarship recipients. https://youtu.be/12m7zJad8-k Next, we have the High School staff video for the Class of 2020. https://youtu.be/xCA25W3UPRs Finally, we end with the Class of 2020 Senior Class Memory video. https://youtu.be/5krP4qFcZJE Congratulations to the Class of 2020!