Falcon Flyer

OTMS Families,

One week from today the school year will officially come to an end. While this is not the 4th quarter any of us could have imagined, I appreciate your grace, flexibility, hard work, and support. Despite the end of the school calendar, we still have a few things to consider before we officially close out the year. Please take some time to carefully read through this week's Falcon Flyer. It is packed with important information about student item pick up, registration for next year, and much more.

As always, be well!

Dr. Stern, Proud Principal of OTMS

At the end of each semester, courses in Canvas will conclude and will no longer be visible on the Canvas app. Courses for this semester will conclude at the end of day on May 22nd for Middle School and High School. All student work should be submitted by midnight on May 21st! unless otherwise communicated by the teacher.

As communicated at the beginning of the quarter students will receive either their 3rd quarter grade or their combined 3rd quarter/4th quarter grade as their semester grade, whichever is higher. In addition, 4th Quarter Elective classes for all 6th grade students will all be recorded as a (P) for passing and will be automatically recorded in Synergy regardless of the grade in Canvas.

Families can view grades in ParentVue on Friday, May 29th at 3:00 p.m.

Middle school registration for the 2020-21 school year is open and online now. Registration is required annually and is the time to update your child’s information.

Important registration details

• NEW! Partial payment option will be available this year to provide needed financial flexibility for families.

• Fee payment will be extended to July 30, 2020, to help families with changing financial situations.

• Families have access to pay all required and optional fees with the exception of the following fees. Stay tuned for information on these fees later this summer.

• Middle school activity programming fees

• Middle school course fees

• Student and/or family activity passes for 2020-21 school year

• Flexibility will be provided for families needing to upload updated immunization records and sports physicals as stay-at-home orders have impacted access to healthcare providers.

Completing registration now confirms that your child will attend school in August. Thank you for providing important information and parent permissions as part of the registration process. For more information about registration, visit www.bluevalleyk12.org/registration

Or you may contact the OTMS registrar, Melanie Rockers, at marockers@bluevalleyk12.org.

OTMS families,

Thank you for your patience and understanding as our team at OTMS developed a plan to allow you to pick up your student’s personal items from the 2019-20 school year and return any school items.

Schedule

In order to maintain proper social distancing and mass gathering guidelines, the district has established the following schedule (see below):

If your family is not able to pick up items during your scheduled time, please contact Dr. Trent Stern or Dr. Lisa Stolper to arrange an alternate time. However, we do ask that you try to adhere to the schedule as we have roughly 600 students to accommodate. Thank you for your understanding.

Process

We have established a process for pick-up/return of items while staying in your car and maintaining social distancing guidelines.

• Come prepared! Gather library books, uniforms and school-owned instruments that need repair. Students not returning to Blue Valley and need to bring their Google Chromebook, case and charger to turn in as well. Eighth graders continuing to a Blue Valley high school will return their devices in the fall.

• TIP! If you are turning in your Google Chromebook, you will lose access to files stored in the Cloud. Consider saving those files to a personal device to access in the future.

• Place a sign in your front passenger window with your child(s) name and grade.

• Follow the signage for entering the car line, dropping off and collecting items.

• Staff members will retrieve your child’s bag of personal items and collect any items you have to return. Please pop your trunk or unlock your passenger side back seat so staff members can place your child’s items inside the car and collect school-owned items while maintaining social distance.

Important reminders

We plan to follow these important steps:

• Staff members are encouraged to wear gloves and face masks.

• If you are currently under quarantine, please do not expose our staff. Please make arrangements to retrieve items at an alternate time.

• Stay in your vehicle. Do not exit cars for the health and safety of families, students and staff.

• Elementary and middle school pickup times were coordinated for the convenience of families. Please have patience with us if multiple cars are in line.

• OTE & OTMS will be using the normal pickup loop in front of the schools. We ask for you patience and safety as we complete this process.
  

• If you have questions, please contact Dr. Trent Stern or Dr. Lisa Stolper.

We are excited to see some familiar smiling faces in our car line as we close out the school year!

Dr. Trent Stern & Dr. Lisa Stolper

Proud OTMS Admin Team

Due to the pandemic, our yearbook publisher's operations were shut down which delayed the completion of yearbooks for OTMS and many other schools. As a result, yearbooks will not be distributed until next fall. Our apologies for the inconvenience. Please watch for more information regarding the distribution process late summer/early fall.

School Supply Preordering Information

Would you like the convenience of purchasing your student's school supplies in advance and supporting PTO? This option is available to you through EPI, and supply kits will be available for pick up at Falcon Takeoff (tentatively August 6th, stay tuned for more information). Click here to order. Early deadline is June 14th to guarantee delivery by Falcon Takeoff. Deadline has been extended through July 7th to ensure delivery by start of school year. Please use school ID: OVE021

Note: we can not pre-order for elective classes (see separate list for details; we recommend waiting until August to purchase supplies for elective classes). Kits do NOT include a mouse for the Chromebook (optional) or headphones/earbuds (required).

PE (gym) Clothes and Spirit Wear Preordering Information

Students are required to wear approved shorts and t-shirts for PE at OTMS. These can be purchased through our PTO spirit store and will be available at Falcon Takeoff. Generic options are also available at select local grocery stores (more information will be sent out through the summer).

Please note: ALL students are required to take PE but may not have it until 2nd semester. It's ideal to order now but we will work with you throughout the year. Please visit the OTMS PTO Spirit Wear Store and scroll down for PE clothing options. OTMS PTO Spirit Store (PE Uniforms and more) closes at midnight on July 19th.

For more information about supply lists, please visit our school website. Please pay attention to ordering deadlines.

KSHSAA and Blue Valley require a completed physical and athletic participation packet in order for students to participate in middle school athletics. The physical must be dated AFTER May 1st, 2020. The district is in the process of updating this information and we hope to make this available to you by next week. Additional information can be found here.

Thank you for your patience.

The end of the school year is approaching, which will mark the completion of middle school for your child. As much as we would have hoped to celebrate these eighth graders as planned on May 21, we could not end this school year without recognizing and celebrating their success in middle school. We plan to share a special video on May 21 to recognize our 8th grade students. We wish this class success in high school and wanted them to know how special they are to Overland Trail Middle.

Looking to recognize your 8th grader as he/she completes middle school? Support a local business and consider purchasing a yard sign to celebrate your child. Click here for details.

THIS IS NOT A FUNDRAISER AND IS NOT OFFICIALLY AFFILIATED WITH THE SCHOOL. However, it was a neat idea shared by a parent who thought others might be looking for a way to honor their child.

If you will NOT be attending a Blue Valley School next year please email our registrar, Melanie Rockers at marockers@bluevalleyk12.org to let her know.

If you are moving and plan to leave prior to June 1st, we will need to collect your child's Chromebook and any other school property that has been checked out to him/her. Please include this information when contacting Mrs. Rockers.

Each year the state of Kansas requires 7th grade students to have certain immunizations completed. Due to this current pandemic, we recognize your ability to schedule these has been and possibly will be affected. However, at some point these will be required for the 2020-2021 school year so we wanted you to have this information. Please see the attached pdf.

If you have questions, please contact our nurse, Brittany Petrich, at brpetrich@bluevalleyk12.org

OTMS Families,

Thank you for your continued patience regarding school refunds. I have included some important information regarding this topic below. Should you have additional questions, please reach out directly to Lori Freeman, OTMS bookkeeper at lfreeman@bluevalleyk12.org or feel free to contact me at tstern@bluevalleyk12.org.

Middle School Refunds/Credits

· Transportation: Blue Valley Schools is working with Durham School Services to manage prorated refunds for bus rider fees. Stay tuned for more information coming your way soon.

· Fourth Quarter Course Fees: Fourth quarter course fees will be first applied to any unpaid district fees then the balance transferred to the student’s food service account.

· Trips: We are working diligently with travel vendors on refunds from the canceled St. Louis music trip involving band, strings and choir students that was scheduled to go to Six Flags and Music in the Park. As we receive funds back from trips, we will work to process refunds. Refunds will be made via check by the end of May. Please know we will process these as quickly as possible.

· Relocating? Please email Food Services at mdhollenbeck@bluevalleyk12.org if you are moving and need to request a food service account refund.

We thank you for your patience as our team processes these refunds and credits over the coming weeks.

Dr. Trent Stern

As promised, we are here to help you! BV Well is so excited to invite these popular presenters back to offer us help and hope when we all need it the most. They will each be joining us LIVE on Zoom the next 4 Wednesday evenings from 7pm-7:45pm. Please register and join us live for their 30 minute interactive presentations followed by Q&A time. This is free & open to the world! See you next Wednesday!

• Wednesday, 4/29, 7:00 PM: Dr. Michelle Robin: motivation, health and wellbeing
• Wednesday, 5/6, 7:00 PM: Kirk Martin from Celebrate Calm: keeping calm when our strong-willed kids and teens are struggling
• Wednesday, 5/13, 7:00 PM: Bren Tally, marriage/family therapist: processing the feelings of loss and grief during a pandemic
• Wednesday, 5/20, 7:00 PM: Julie Gettings, clinical social worker: helping our younger kids cope and connect through play
• 
  

Click here to register https://bit.ly/2Sezs07 Zoom link will be emailed to you!

Hello OTM Parents and Students,

Please reach out if you need us. Be well and have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Your OTMS Student Services Team

The Blue Valley ITS Department is committed to providing the best technology support possible to Blue Valley families during this period of Continuous Learning. Our dedicated support team will be available to provide support Monday through Friday, during the hours of 8:00am to 4:00pm.

There is no telephone support during this period. All help for technical issues must be requested through the BV CARE online technology help system.

Parents can submit a BV CARE “Technology Help” form by going to the Continuous Learning website page, www.bluevalleyk12.org/continuouslearning, then click on “Technology Help” under Useful Links. It is also available under the “I would like to…” dropdown menu at the top of the page.

We know the closure of school buildings for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year has prompted questions from students and families. We’ve collected some of the most frequently asked questions (and answers) on the district website. Find answers to some of your top questions like “My child has a district-issued Chromebook/MacBook that is not working. What should we do?” to “My child has a personal item they left at school, can I get into the school to retrieve it?” and more.

· General FAQs

· Elementary School Continuous Learning FAQs

· Middle/High School Continuous Learning FAQs

Share your thoughts

As we are all learning how to adapt to the impact COVID-19 is having in our community, Blue Valley needs your input. Join our online ThoughtExchange! Share your thoughts/questions and assign stars that reflect your agreement/disagreement with thoughts shared by others. Thoughts/stars are confidential and new ideas are added daily, so return to participate often.

Don’t forget! Blue Valley is offering a grab-and-go breakfast and lunch service available weekdays from 10:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. at four locations across the district. Visit the district website, download the Nutrislice app or check out the BV Schools app for more information. www.bluevalleyk12.org/grabandgo

The best way to contact OTMS staff is via email. If you or your student need to set up a time to virtually meet with a staff member, please reach out to set something up during their office hours. Click on the following link to see this time.

Staff office hours