Quail Call

Moscow School District will remain closed while the air quality continues to be hazardous. Because we are mostly remote learning we will continue to stay open and offer onsite childcare. There will not be any bus transportation or hot lunches while Moscow School District is closed.

1. Students who are remote yet connected will have remote school tomorrow as planned. Please plan to follow your regular schedule for remote learning (Canvas, Seesaw, etc.).

2. The building will be open for students who attend learning on-site. However, MSD busing and lunch will not be available. This means that families must provide transportation and a bagged lunch for students coming to the building.

3. For student health reasons, we will not be able to go outside for lunch or recess tomorrow, and students will not be able to take breaks from masks while they are at school.

   
   

PPCS’s HVAC system is currently circulating and filtering air from inside the building, not taking in air from outside. This helps our inside air stay less smoky.

Given these considerations, families should make their own determination as to whether or not to bring students to the school building. Please let the school know by 8:30 am what you plan to do by emailing office@palouseprairieschool.org or calling us at 208-882-3684.

Families - thank you for your attention and flexibility in the midst of these ongoing challenges.

We will be following the guidance from the Health Department regarding hazardous air quality (see below). We are currently in the unhealthy "red" category. You can find learn our current air quality status by visiting this website. Due to the current air quality, the school is doing the following:

• Wednesday meet-ups will be canceled until we are in the yellow category.
• Recess and P.E. for on-site students will be indoors until we are in the orange category.

Stay healthy and safe!

Dear families --

My plan is to write regularly to keep families updated on the PPCS Board’s priorities and plans, and to communicate about our school. Today, I wanted to clarify a few questions that might have been on your minds:

• Why does PPCS operate differently from the Moscow School District?

• What happens if an in-person teacher needs to take a day off?

Why does PPCS operate differently from the Moscow School District (MSD)?

Palouse Prairie Charter School is technically its own school district! We are chartered by the state of Idaho. We have a friendly and collegial relationship with the MSD, and we contract with them for various services, including busing and lunch. As a result, and knowing that many families have children in multiple schools, we try hard to keep our schedule aligned with that of the MSD. We always follow MSD’s lead when it comes to winter-weather school closures.

At the same time, we do have flexibility that the MSD might not always have. This allowed us to decide to use the remote yet connected learning model. It also enabled us to start our school year earlier and continue with learning plans when MSD cancelled school this week.

While this hazardous smoke continues, we will continue to offer remote learning and in-school learning and care, as we have communicated. However, shutdowns of the Moscow School District and University of Idaho have an impact on PPCS, including on our busing and lunch (which we don’t get when MSD doesn’t operate).

What happens right now if an in-person teacher needs to take a day off?

If a PPCS teacher who ordinarily teaches in the building is not able to be at school due to illness, childcare, or other issues, we are not currently able to find and sufficiently train substitute teachers to maintain our required levels of safety and instruction. This means that if a teacher takes leave, their students will need to learn remotely on that day. We are working hard to solve this problem by hiring and training more staff, and finding and training reliable substitute teachers.

We appreciate your resilience and flexibility in the face of so much uncertainty, and are so glad you are part of the PPCS CREW! If you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for the PPCS board, you can send them to me at jbearman@palouseprairieschool.org .

warmly,

Jessica

Jessica Bearman

PPCS Board Chair

Calling all PPCS Parents! Come to our first Parent Crew meeting of the year, on September 24 at 7 pm. You can meet other parents, share your ideas for how to make our school even better, and volunteer for activities!

Parent CREW Mentor Program

The mentor program pairs new families with returning PPCS families to help with questions about our school and community. Enrollment is currently low, so please consider signing up! You can do so by emailing ppcsparentcrew@gmail.com.

The Co-op has selected PPCS as one of their recipients to receive donations for our playground! Now through the end of November, for each reusable bag shoppers bring in, they will be able to donate their dime to Palouse Prairie Charter School, so spread the word to your friends and family. (Please note, cashiers have a lot to remember and sometimes forget to ask, so customers should feel free to remind them where to donate their dime!).

The amphitheater is almost complete! Tomorrow they will continue to work on the climbing logs. Juan Albaitero has been hard at work sanding and finishing the logs out in the parking lot. We are so grateful for the time and hard work he has put into pushing the playground forward, but there is still a lot to do. If you would like to help out, contact Juan at juan_bernardo@albaitero.com.

Also, we have not yet reached our goal! We need to raise enough funds to be able to add a ball court and swings. Please, spread the word to neighbors, friends, family. Every little donation counts. You can find the link below.

Email: office@palouseprairieschool.org
Website: https://palouseprairieschool.org/
Location: 406 Powers Avenue, Moscow, ID, USA
Phone: 208-882-3684
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PPCS.org/