New Salem/Almont School District #49

NSA COVID-19 Plan

Posted by on Mar 30, 2020 in Announcements, Slider | 0 comments

NSA School District’s Educational plan was submitted and approved by the state.  You can find it here.

Counselor Information

Posted by on Mar 23, 2020 in Announcements, Slider | 0 comments

If you or your child(red) need to talk to our School Counselor, Mrs. Wald has created a ‘Counseling Referral form’ so she can check in and contact you as soon as possible.

https://forms.gle/GK6v68C6z5iYN13s6

Download (PDF, 2.12MB)

Download (PDF, 568KB)

NSA COVID-19 Educational Plan-Week 1

Posted by on Mar 13, 2020 in Announcements | 0 comments

My name is Brian Christopherson and I am the Superintendent of New Salem-Almont schools.  I wanted to give you an update on what will be taking place starting Monday.

Parents, we have always worked together to help educate children.  In the past you have read to your kids, helped with homework, and played outside with them.  What we are asking you to do now is much more than that; we are asking you to team teach with us. Team teaching takes a unique relationship that centers around communication.

Today, our district submitted our alternative learning plan to the state that we started working on early last week. So starting this Monday, we will go live with our alternative learning plan.  The goal for the first week is to help students learn how to communicate with each teacher and how to send and receive assignments. For many students, this will not be a problem but we want to make sure all students can communicate effectively with teachers. This is our main concern for this first week.  We are not worried about everything getting completed the first week but it is essential that we all have a good line of communication before we move forward.  Please communicate with us if too much work is coming home or too little.

We understand that some students may be watching siblings, helping families with babysitting, or helping on the farm or ranch. If some students are looking for more to do, we will be providing additional education materials such as virtual tours or various fun projects, plus we always encourage free reading.  This information will be located on the school’s website and Facebook site.  We look to you (or your child when age appropriate) to contact teachers for questions or additional instruction, we ask that you understand that there will be some bumps in the road, and we want you to know that we will be flexible throughout this process. We are all in this together!

It’s important to understand that the New Salem-Almont school is no longer an 8-hour day, we have become a 24-hour education institution. That is why we have weekly lesson plans rather than daily lesson plans. It is our pledge that we will provide students with lesson plans by Sunday at 4:00PM for the upcoming week and students have until Saturday to complete them the best they can. We do not want students to be working 8-hour days. We don’t want students OR parents to become too overwhelmed. All teachers will have office hours listed on their plan,  which will help with immediate feedback. However, please note teachers will also be available throughout the normal school day.All families should have what they need in regards to devices, books, and supplies. If you need another device, we have a select few left.  If you are missing something or a school device is not working properly, please contact the office.

Besides education, we will be providing meals, free of charge, to ages 1-18 in our school district.  We will post the weekly menu on Sunday. Please contact Sherri at 843-7823 before 9 a.m. on Monday to let her know if you are interested in picking up a “to go” meal.  If possible, we would like to know if you are going to be picking up meals for the whole week. This allows us to better plan our meal preparations and food orders. There is more information about our meal plan on the schools’ Facebook site or contact the school office.

Seniors, your last quarter is usually your busiest, therefore please reach out to Mrs. Wald who will have information on our school website. She will be posting scholarship information, office hours, and other pertinent information that is extremely important during this time. Just because you won’t be in school, doesn’t mean you can’t complete the necessary steps to take advantage of some great scholarship opportunities.  As we have all learned, with the fluid situation regarding Covid-19, things could all change.

Major announcements will be sent via our Alert system. If you have not been receiving alerts, contact the office.  Other announcements will be made via the school website and school Facebook site.

The New Salem-Almont staff have done a wonderful job to develop our plan. Staff started working this past weekend on how they could provide an alternative education and came to school on Monday to share their thoughts. We understand that this plan will have some bumps in the road.  We will be flexible and look for ways to improve our new learning program. Please be smart, stay safe, and thank you to those that will be helping us make the best of this situation.

Thank you

Mr. Brian Christopherson