Northwest School District Homes For Sale

Northwest Superintendent Dr. Desi Kirchhofer sent a letter to Northwest families Thursday night. To read the letter, visit https://www.northwestschools.net/coronavirusinformation.

We are happy to announce that as of today, Sept. 15, 2020, all children ages 1 to 18 years old will receive free breakfast and lunch in the Northwest R-I School... District. This is an extension of a state-funded program to feed children that will be available until state funds run out or through Dec. 18, the last day of school before winter break, whichever comes first. The program is retroactive to Aug. 31, 2020, so meals purchased on a student’s account between Aug. 31, 2020 and today will be credited. Please allow four to six weeks for the credits to appear on your student’s account. In an effort to support Northwest families, meal pickup is available to students who are hybrid, all-virtual, or children living in the district but not enrolled at a Northwest school, ages 1-18. To register for meal pick-up, please complete the form on the Northwest website at https://www.northwestschools.net/foodservice. Students who are in school five days a week do NOT need to fill out this form; they will receive free meals at school. If you have not completed the Free and Reduced Lunch Application, we encourage you to do so. If you have questions about the program, please email [email protected] or call the Northwest Food Service office at 636-671-3554.

Supply Drive update!! Thank you to all those that have donated!! The school is going to be so grateful!

First Day of School!!! We hope everyone has a Fun, Smooth, and Stress Free day! School Supplies Donations are coming in!! If you would like to make a donation, supplies or cash, please reach out 314-378-3762. Northwest R-I School District will be handling the distribution of the supplies. Thank you to all!!

. This school year looks different, but the need to return to learning with the necessary to...ols remains. MAKING A DIFFERENCE IS EASY!!! Help the Maher Team support Northwest R-I School District by donating Wipes Facial Tissues Hand Sanitizer Dry erase markers Headphones (inexpensive ones) ( , ) /-/. #makeadifference #BackToSchool

August 12, 2020 Lion Nation, The start of the 2020 school year is fast approaching, and I want to keep you updated on our most recent planning efforts. While I ...hate to inundate families with updates, we promised to keep you informed as we get closer to the first day of school, and we continue to monitor our ever-changing situation. I know any changes can be very frustrating, but our overall goal continues to be to allow students to attend school in-person as safely as possible. When we started writing the back to school draft plan, there were less than 20 school-aged children in Jefferson County who had tested positive for COVID-19. Since that time, the number of cases from ages 0-19 in our county has grown to 179 as of today. As we continue to plan for the reopening of school, the biggest factor we must account for is how to maintain in-person school while adhering to increased social distancing guidelines. We need to do all we can to mitigate the spread of the virus and limit the number of students and staff from the possibility of being quarantined. We realize that opinions and views on the subject vary within our community, and we have done our best to give everyone options by offering both in-person and online options through OnLionEdu. As of this writing, nearly 30 percent of our families have selected OnLionEdu. In our elementary schools, we have over 700 students participating in OnLionEdu. In terms of numbers, this essentially makes the virtual option a new school. In order to continue a five days a week, in-person learning option at the elementary level, we need to invest in more staff to reduce the number of students in classrooms and to cover our virtual learning community. We are continuing to do all we can to support our families and serve as many students in-person as we safely can. At the middle school and high school levels, however, the schedules are built on individual student course selections which makes things a bit more complicated. While the enrollment in the OnLionEdu option has helped reduce class sizes and overall building capacities, it is still not enough to adhere to the distance guidelines that need to be followed. As a result, we need to make additional efforts to reduce our overall class sizes and student populations. Recognizing that the virus has spread more among teenagers and that high school and middle school schedules do not accommodate cohorting, we are preparing for a move to a hybrid model for the middle schools and high school, where students will partially attend in-person and partially in a virtual environment. The hybrid schedule is necessary as more social distancing is required. Students will be divided into two groups to allow for social distancing. While one group attends in person, the other group will attend virtually. Groups will be determined by splitting the enrollment in the schools, keeping households together and on the same schedule. In addition to helping reduce contact in the classroom, this model will reduce numbers of students in hallways during passing times, in community locations such as cafeterias, and reduce the number of students on school buses. The more contact is reduced, the more we can help control the spread of the virus. Not only will the reduction in numbers help mitigate the spread, it will help in contact tracing efforts if a positive case is identified. While this is by no means ideal, we believe it is the safest way to deliver an in-person education for our students to start the year. The high volume of students, the inability to cohort, and the recent rise in the virus’ spread among teenagers has to be considered as we move forward. As we continue developing the hybrid model for middle and high schools, details will be shared in a separate communication soon. As mentioned before, we have tried our best to offer options that would work for our community. Our goal has been, and continues to be, to bring our students and staff safely back to our buildings. This effort is not only about a safe return, but equally about safely remaining open. Please continue to help us in our efforts for a safe reentry to school. Stay safe and healthy, Lion Nation. Dr. Desi Kirchhofer Superintendent, Northwest R-I School District