CCS COVID Update – 12/03/2020

Good afternoon. I hope everyone had an opportunity to enjoy some much needed decompression time across the Thanksgiving break. It is December 3rd, and as promised, it is time for me to provide an update regarding our COVID numbers, school status and implications for the coming week.

School Programming:

If you recall, Governor Beshear’s executive order currently prohibits face to face instruction but allowed for elementary schools to reopen on December 7th if a county’s COVID incidence rate fell below 25 per 100,000 people. As you can see in the next section, we are still deeply in the red and therefore, will NOT reopen our elementary schools next week.

You will, however, begin to see buses run next week, to support the initiation of our targeted small group instruction program being provided to select students, as permitted by executive order. Under this provision, schools may have no more than 15% of the student population report for two-hour segments to receive remediation, therapies or to catch up if they are significantly behind or lacking internet access. The principal and staff at each school have reached out to those students who are facing the most pressing educational barriers in order to provide them support. This program will run until we can get students back in school. I know many may want their child included in this program, but it is being reserved for the most dire of circumstances. We also have to keep numbers really, really small in order to protect the health of staff, students and families.

In addition, our school principals are working to serve our preschool students. Next week, preschool instruction will be provided virtually to children of participating families. We are also scheduling therapies for preschool children and working with transportation to get preschool students back into school to receive related services on December 14th. More information will be provided by your child’s school next week.

Current COVID Numbers:

According to the KY DPH’s website, Campbell County’s incidence rate is 53.9 per 100,000 people. We have fluctuated between the 40s and 70s during the past two weeks. The state is still showing 20 COVID-related deaths for Campbell but, the NKY Health Department data shows 23, which I expect to be updated on the state site within the next few days.

Children’s Hospital Monthly update:

For those who have been following my updates, you know I pay close attention to the monthly school administrator forum presented by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Several of you have gone on to watch their videos and thanked me privately for sharing them.

This month’s video is equally as good. It shares excellent information about the coming vaccines and about student mental health. Dr. Lynne Merk provides mental health look-fors and advice for helping your child work through and cope with the consequences of virtual instruction and social isolation during COVID. I believe the advice is really good for some adults as well.

In addition, during the Q and A at the video’s end, Dr. Wong, Dr. Frenck and Dr. Kahn continue to articulate previous messaging about the importance and effectiveness of the prevention “bundle”, including social distancing, masking, disinfection, and hand hygiene. Please check out this month’s forum at this link.

Athletics and Extra-Curricular Activities:

This is a reminder that all athletic and school-sponsored extra-curricular activities continue to be suspended through at least Sunday, December 13th. I will revisit this issue in next week’s update, but honestly don’t expect much to change based on the current infection trends.

Food Service:

The meals keep coming!!! Because we are back to the all-virtual model as we were in the spring, we have expanded meal distribution to occur at each of our schools. Pickup continues on Wednesday evenings from 4-6 p.m. We are also adding a midday distribution from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesdays to accommodate those folks not available on Wednesday evenings. These meals are available, for FREE, to ANY child from birth to age 18. Please see the new schedule at this link.

All-Virtual Reminder for Changes: If you are the parent/guardian of a child who had selected the all-virtual model through December, but wish to move to the hybrid model when we return, please contact your child’s school. A quick questionnaire was distributed via email by each school for parents to make that change. We need to know this information so we can make adjustments within our student information database and bus routing. Call your child’s school if you have any questions.

Thank you for taking the time to read this update. As always, please feel free to reach out and contact me, or any of our staff members, if you have any questions or comments.

Sincerely,

David Rust, Superintendent

CCS COVID Update – 11/19/2020

Greetings Campbell County Schools’ Stakeholders,

Admittedly, I was not planning to start my weekly note to you with an operational response to an Executive Order requiring a district pivot to all-virtual instruction. But here we are. I want to be clear by saying, although I had been a strong supporter of operating our hybrid model as long as feasible and safe, I am NOT opposed to the Governor’s order. Our staff was being stretched really thin in order to maintain the hybrid and our county incidence rate continues to climb. However, I hate the hardship this will place on families and, as mentioned before, I hate taking students out of a face-to-face learning environment, even if we were only getting two to three days a week.

In addition, our district incidence numbers and quarantines continued to increase as well. In the past week, we finally had two staff positives that may have occurred due to close proximity with infected students with whom they were working. This, of course, gives me pause as the health and safety of our staff is a TOP PRIORITY!

Here is a quick review of our COVID infection data:

Our county incident rate is 60.6/ 100,000 people. The statewide rate is now 55.4/ 100,000. Today is the highest we have been and I believe this is the first time we have climbed above the state rate. I may be wrong on that. Additional information can be be found through this link.

Listed below are our local active infection numbers as documented by the NKY Health Department. The table documents 987 active COVID cases in Campbell County, which is 243 more than last week when I posted, and 21 deaths, which is one additional death (see yellow highlights).

The table below depicts our district’s current COVID-positive numbers. At this time, we have 18 students who are positive and 12 positive staff members. In addition, we have 292 students and 57 staff members currently in quarantine, again mostly due to external, family or community exposures to an infected individual.

Operational Changes Due to Executive Order:

I met with my district leadership team this morning after reviewing the Governor’s Executive Order. Here is the important information you need to know regarding our resulting operational changes that will occur in the coming week:

  1. Students kindergarten through grade 12 will move to all-virtual instruction beginning on Monday, November 23rd.
  2. Based on the executive order, elementary students may return back to school on or after December 7th, IF our county incidence rate falls below 25/100,000 and we shed our RED ZONE designation. We will evaluate this each preceding week and notify the community every Thursday, beginning on December 3rd, for a possible return on the following Monday.
  3. Middle and High School students may not return to in-person instruction until at least January 4th.
  4. Pre-school will be shut down until we are able to bring elementary students back into the building. I HATE this but due to the prevalence of infection in our community right now and due to the fact that preschool students do not wear masks, we must close the program down to protect the health of student and our staff since many young children are asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19.
  5. ALL athletic and extra-curricular activities will be suspended beginning on Friday, November 20th at 5 pm and will continue until further notice. We will monitor KHSAA guidance but will not consider a return to activity any earlier than Monday, December 14th. See the KHSAA’s notification here. High school competition has been postponed until early January. In all likelihood, if COVID incidence rates remain high, extra-curricular activities, including athletic programs will be idle as schools remain closed to in-person instruction. We will, however, revisit the situation on Friday, December 11th.
  6. We will continue our community feeding program and plan to distribute meals next Tuesday evening. We are working on a move to expand our pickup locations since everyone has moved to all-virtual. Our food service department will share updated information as it becomes available!

Additional Information to Share:

Were you planning to request the move of your child from your ALL-VIRTUAL declaration to HYBRID in January?? We’ve created a quick questionnaire for those families to request a change of their child’s assignment to the Hybrid model once we return back to in-person instruction. For those who wish to remain in the All-Virtual model, your commitment will be extended until the end of the third grading quarter, which occurs on April 2nd. This survey will be shared with you by your child’s school. Please contact your child’s principal with any questions.

I plan to conduct a TEST snow day call on Monday evening at 6 pm. Remember, this is only a test. I know it seems strange to conduct a snow day test call right when all students are going all-virtual but we will still have teachers and staff members who come into school to conduct the virtual lessons, and due to inclement weather, we could still delay a start in order to help them get to school, and eventually we will be back to our hybrid model (maybe as early as December 7th for elementary), and need to have our call lists updated. Please contact your child’s school on Tuesday if you do not receive a call to your preferred phone on Monday evening.

That is all for now. I know this is a lot of information and likely doesn’t answer all of your questions. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to your child’s school or contact me with questions. My goal is to help make this transition as smooth and painless as possible.

Thank you for your continued trust, flexibility, and collaboration!

Sincerely,

David A. Rust, Superintendent

CCS COVID Update – 11/13/20

Dear Campbell County Families,

Through community and parent request, I want to begin providing you with a weekly update on our COVID numbers and give you some insight into what I’m thinking as numbers and the circumstances continue to change. I would like to provide that information through my blog rather than through a formal letter every week. It is MUCH easier for me to reference content, post graphs, tables or pictures and provide links to additional information through this medium.

I will start with an update on our COVID numbers. Based on the numbers at the close of the day yesterday, the Campbell County Incidence rate is 48.8 incidents per 100,000 people, which has dropped from earlier in the week.

Our district team also provides me with a daily, internal, district-only update on our positive infections (isolations) and quarantines. As of yesterday, we had 22 isolated (positive) students and 7 isolated (positive) staff members, district-wide. We have 50 staff members who are in quarantine and 269 students who are in quarantine, the vast majority of whom are in quarantine due to virus exposures occurring outside of school. As I mentioned in Monday’s letter, we do have quite a few students and staff members who are quarantined due to exposure through athletic participation or coaching.

Listed below are our tracking of student and staff isolations, by day, for the month of November. It is still important to note that, to date, we have ZERO evidence of a single, confirmed, positive infection transmission that has occurred due to an in-school exposure. This is an important piece of information that I am following carefully. I also require our staff to follow up with those who have been quarantined because of a school exposure to find out if any go on to become positive. None have, thus far. As I write this, I did just find out that we will have to quarantine a grade level of students at one of our elementary schools due to a distancing exposure at recess and that will be added to our numbers later today. We will have to improve our procedures in response to that.

Many people have contacted me regarding our deviation from the RED status recommendation and, at this time, based on our internal numbers, I am sticking to our current instructional model status. We are finding that, although folks have had to be quarantined, our number of positives are very low and we are still not seeing any transmission of infection between individuals in the district. Remember, we have over 5000 students and 725 employees. I want to again refer you to the November 4th video of the Children’s Hospital School Administrator Forum. They provided the slides as well. Depicted below is an important slide from that presentation, where they suggested that we prioritize our decisions about learning, based on school infection and quarantine numbers BEFORE, and in addition to the community numbers. And please remember that Cincinnati Children’s Hospital is a research hospital and their information is based on a review of the changing nature of the epidemic. The 25/100,000 red zone guidance was defined in August, before we had any real school-based infection data to inform decision making, and has not been evaluated or changed since then. For community perspective, 25 incidents per 100,000 people is only 2.5 HUNDRETHS of a percent (.00025). We are almost double that right now… at 4.8 hundredths of a percent.

Listed below is our local community infection information, which is accessible through the Northern Kentucky Health Department Website. As you look at the data below, you will see that there are 744 individuals currently in isolation (contagious) throughout all of Campbell County and 20 deaths have been reported since they began tracking information. I believe there were 16 deaths listed in July.

I am trying very hard to remain as objective as I can regarding any move toward all-virtual instruction because I realize the burden it places on families, the community, and student learning. I receive email and phone calls on both sides of this decision nearly every day. I have to balance safety with our need to provide quality instruction, which is our mission. I am keenly aware of the benefits of our hybrid model and am VERY PROUD of our staff and our delivery of that hybrid instruction. Keeping students in front of teachers is REALLY important, even if it is only for a few days each week. There are just some things that are difficult to do online. For instance, my daughter is looking forward to dissecting a sheep heart next week in her Bio-Medical class and has been talking about it at home. They made origami hearts this week in preparation. See Ms. Powell’s tweet (@MRSPowellCCHS) about it:

In this Tweet, kids are learning remotely from home on the left. Students in class on the right.

This isn’t just about my kids. It’s about all of our kids, and I’m going to hold out as long as I can before moving to all-virtual. Any decision I make will be based on DATA… our School Data… not emotion, nor the state’s blanket red zone number. Safety is still my number one priority, and based on the data, we ARE still safe due to our strong and unwavering adherence to masking, distancing, disinfection and hygiene. We aren’t perfect and are still working to improve our practices, but by all indications, our virus mitigation strategies are working!

I want to take a moment to share a picture I took this week, when I showed up, unannounced, at the middle school, and found Glenda sanitizing desks in one of our classrooms. And for everyone’s information, in addition to desks being sanitized, every classroom is electro-statically disinfected EVERY night.

I want to conclude today by thanking our incredible staff, district-wide!! As I noted above, we have had quite a few staff members in quarantine. We have had to shift personnel to fill gaps to sustain our operation. This has been no small feat. If you see a Campbell County employee or know a Campbell County employee, regardless of job function, please take a moment to thank them for their dedication to our mission. They have gone above and beyond to provide instruction, a clean and safe environment and hot meals for our students, every day. This comes to an end if we have to go all-virtual. Our employees are our HEROES and our CHAMPIONS!!! Please thank them for their service!!!!!!

Mobile Carriers are Helping with Online Access

Here’s a quick note that I want to share with you regarding the effort by mobile carriers to support those working remotely at this time, including our students and teachers.

Although I haven’t reviewed all carriers and don’t endorse any one carrier over another, a few were shared with me by folks in our community in the past few days and thought it might be worthwhile for everyone to be aware.

So check out these prominent mobile carrier websites for more information:


AT&T: https://about.att.com/newsroom/2020/att_consumer_connected_together.html

Sprint: https://www.sprint.com/en/landings/covid-19.html?ECID=MA:EM:20200318-COVID-1:783230:4416408#faq-05

T-Mobile: https://www.t-mobile.com/support/account/covid-19-updates

Verizon: https://www.verizon.com/about/news/update-verizon-serve-customers-covid-19

Contacting Staff During Non-Traditional Instruction (NTI) Days

Greetings Families,

I want to take a moment to share with you our methods of contact with staff during NTI days, which begin tomorrow for Campbell County Students.  It is important to know that all of our schools and offices are closed at this time, but you can still contact us via phone or email and I know that some students have been instructed to engage their teachers directly through Schoology, Google Classroom and other online learning platforms.  I have required staff to be responsive during the day to whatever means of communication is being utilized.

1. By phone:  You can contact any school or teacher by calling either the school’s direct line or by calling the main district line which is 859-635-2173.  All incoming calls will now automatically route to the school or building you select based on the message prompts.  Once you know the prompts, you don’t need to listen to the entire message before you enter the number of your intended recipient location.  All messages are being routed as emails to the intended recipient by our secretaries, working remotely, so please speak clearly when you leave a message.  Staff members will receive an email with the content of your message.  Please indicate which staff member you wish to hear back from, a brief message, and the preferred phone number or email for a response back. 

​2. By Email:  ​You may also email our staff directly, which may be the quickest way to receive a response.  I would encourage you to utilize our Staff Directory to find the email of the person you wish to contact.  The directory is located at https://www.campbellcountyschools.org/Staff.  I would recommend that you bookmark this page and ask your children to do the same.  Included below are screenshots of our website to help you find the directory if you navigate from our homepage. The first picture is the District Home Page as it looks from a cell phone.  All you need to do is click on the pancake link at the top right of the page, then select Staff Directory from the resulting menu:

From a PC Browser, it is one step after you arrive at our website.  Just click on Staff Directory, which is a quick link at the top of the page, taking you to our directory, which can be manipulated with some simple inputs:

Campbell County Schools Expands Partnership; Adds Two Additional SROs!

I am pleased to share a vote occurring in last week’s meeting of the Campbell County Fiscal Court where they unanimously passed a resolution to increase their commitment to, and partnership with Campbell County Schools, to add two additional school resource officers (SROs) in coverage of the two elementary schools that reside within their jurisdiction – Grant’s Lick Elementary and Reiley Elementary.

As some of you may know, schools and local police agencies have been compelled through the Kentucky General Assembly’s passage of Senate Bill 1 (2019), to add SROs to each school as “funds and qualified personnel become available.” See excerpt below:

Campbell County Schools has been working with the Fiscal Court and Campbell County PD for nearly two years to expand the SRO program and last summer, we added a second SRO to Campbell County High School. This was initiated on the heels of the Marshall County High School shooting and a subsequent KY Safe Schools recommendation, noting that large high schools should have more than one SRO to provide adequate coverage. In addition to the SROs at the high school, we have an SRO at Campbell County Middle School through a shared agreement with the City of Alexandria.

Last week’s vote by the Fiscal Court allows us to move beyond our current SRO placements to add two additional SROs, one at each of our two elementaries that reside within the unincorporated, county jurisdiction. I am still working, however, to generate a similar type agreement with the cities of Alexandria and Cold Spring for the addition of SROs to our elementaries residing within their city limits. This is a complicated process that involves a new allocation of resources and the cities aren’t quite ready to commit yet. I have met and engaged in productive conversations with the Mayors and Chiefs of Police of both Alexandria and Cold Spring. They have been evaluating my request. I am waiting to hear back from them and hope to partner in a similar arrangement to fill the gap in SRO coverage that will exist at our city elementary schools.

In the meantime, I want to thank our Campbell County Board of Education which has committed to fund our half of the cost to place SROs at all of our schools. The Board recognizes the importance and significance of Senate Bill 1 and its focus on the safety of our students and staff, not just through SRO funding, but also through facility and security improvements. And, of course, I also want to thank the Fiscal Court for its commitment and the Campbell County Police for their ongoing partnership.

As for Grant’s Lick and Reiley Elementaries, the Campbell County PD is expected to advertise, hire and train the new SROs for assignment to those schools for the start of the 2020-21 school year. As a school district, we look forward to receiving and working with our new SROs next August!

Campbell County School Board Lowers Tax Rate and Approves Sweeping Facility Improvements!!!!

I am pleased to share that during the past two months, the Campbell County Board of Education has both lowered the local property tax rate and approved a significant number of facility improvements that have been on our district facility plan and internal needs assessment plan for several years.

The district’s financial position and outlook is good. Our property assessments have increased in past two years, therefore increasing the bonding potential of the district, while allowing the Board to lower our overall tax rate. In the fall of 2018, the approved tax rate was 65.7 cents per $100 of property value which equated to $657 of tax on a $100,000 of property value. This September, due to the financial position of the district, the Board of Education REDUCED the tax rate to 64.2 cents, or $642 for every $100,000 of value. You should see this reduction on your county tax bill this month!

Additionally, the Board has been fiscally responsible over the course of recent years and is in a position to dedicate funds to improve our facilities. Members engaged in a walk-through of facilities in June, evaluating needs and possible projects for investment, based on recommendations from the administration and our architect. Discussions occurred during succeeding months. At October’s business meeting, the Board approved the following projects and funding:

Campbell County High School Flooring – The board approved the Campbell County High School Flooring Replacement.  Carpet in the building is original to the high school construction in mid-1990s. Areas requiring replacement are in the library and administrative offices.  The indoor walking track carpet will be removed, and the concrete will be polished. 

Campbell County Middle School – Front Entrance/ Plaza – This project is for the renovation of the front entrance for CCMS.  A new entrance/plaza will improve ADA accessibility through the installation of new entrance ramps.  It will also improve safety and security through the replacement of door frames, doors, windows and hardware.  It will allow the building to have a more secure vestibule with improved access controls.  We will replace/add entrance sidewalks and steps, a weather canopy and signage.

Campbell County Middle School Stadium Renovation – This project consists of renovation, installation, and replacement of multiple items.

1.      Bleachers – the existing front portion of the bleachers are concrete.  This concrete is breaking off and cracking due to age and the lack of drainage.  The wall will be removed, installation of a new retaining wall, drainage system, back fill, grading, straw, and seed.

2.      Track – the rubber track is peeling off or has been worn off.  Lines and markings are missing or faded from the surface.  Track meets cannot be conducted at this time due to the condition. Some asphalt repair will be necessary in some areas.  We will repair asphalt issues, replace the rubber  track surface, and remark the running lanes.

3. Field Lighting – The lighting for the field/track does not meet current safety codes because the poles are wooden.  The poles must be replaced to meet current safety code.  This project also includes an update of the electric service to the lights and the installation of new LED lighting that is more energy efficient. 

4.     Football goal post – existing poles are old and rusting in multiple spots.  We will replace both football goal posts.

Cline and Reiley Gym Floors – This project consists of removing the gymnasium floors at both Reiley and Cline Elementary schools, which are original to their construction.  Each floor will be replaced with new synthetic flooring and striped to accommodate both curricular and extracurricular programs.  Moisture mitigation is included for Reiley Elementary.  This project also includes the replacement of the existing bleachers at both schools.

Cline Elementary Elevator – Cline Elementary school is a 2-story building without ADA accessibility to the 2nd floor.  The installation of an elevator on the backside of the building will provide the necessary ADA accessibility for the building.  It will also assist staff with moving equipment to and from the 2nd floor.

Reiley Elementary Gymnasium Air Conditioning – The gymnasium in Reiley Elementary does not have air conditioning.  This project will require the installation of a unit on the gymnasium roof.  The project also includes all structural and electrical modifications that may be necessary.

I also want to provide an update on Grant’s Lick Elementary. We are currently knee deep in the design phase for the new school which will be situated on the property recently purchased from Plum Creek. We are hopeful to be in a position to break ground within the next two years, depending on our bonding potential and any state assistance that we may receive. We expect the construction of a new Grant’s Lick to cost in the neighborhood of about $20 million. We are currently able to bond $16.5 million, so we are fairly close to our goal.

We know there are other projects to consider and more investments to make. We see the addition of a middle school being the next big project after Grant’s Lick but it will likely be another 6-8 years out before the bonding potential will be available to move forward. Meanwhile, we continue to make improvements to the current middle school such as those recently approved and the $300,000 in new furniture which had been allocated last year and put into service during the last six months.

Ultimately, we are excited about our continued work to improve the instruction, learning and co-curricular environment across the district. We continue to work, doing Whatever It Takes to provide a world-class education and opportunities for our students.

As always, I value your comments, suggestions and questions!

David A. Rust, Superintendent

Grant’s Lick and New Grading Scale

Happy Friday Everyone!

I want to take a minute this morning, on this last Friday of Summer, to share updates with you regarding Grant’s Lick Elementary and a new grading scale. I am pleased to announce that action taken by our Board of Education in regard to these two topics should have positive impacts on our district and students for years to come.

The first is the closing on the purchase of the Plum Creek Church property which was acquired as the site on which to construct a new Grant’s Lick Elementary. The Board purchased 85 acres adjacent to the current Plum Creek Church. In addition to providing land for a new elementary, the parcel is large enough to provide space for another school on that site when, and if there is a future need in the southern part of the county.

Timing for the construction of the new Grant’s Lick is still uncertain. We don’t have enough bonding potential yet to begin construction but are working on a site plan and the initial design for the school. Please stay tuned for more information on Grant’s Lick as we work through the planning process.

The second item I wish to share with you is the passage of a revised grading scale. We have reverted back to a 10-point scale, as have most other school districts in the Commonwealth. For several years, our high school students have been disadvantaged by our grading scale. They have received less Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES) money for college from the state and have competed at a disadvantage when applying to college and for scholarships due to our tighter grading scale and corresponding student grade point averages.

Realizing this inequity, the School Based Decision Making (SBDM) Councils from the high school and middle school both asked the Board of Education to amend the grading scale. The Board, acting quickly, was presented with a first read of the policy change in August and ratified it at Monday’s meeting. This action will place our students on a level playing field.

The new scale will be applied retro-actively to the beginning of THIS school year. Teachers have been applying numeric grades up to this point and updated letter grades following the new scale, will be posted as progress reports and reports cards are distributed from this point forward. Please see the new grading scale below and contact your child’s principal with any questions:

Grading/Reporting System

Each primary teacher shall provide parents with a comprehensive report that is based on samples of their child’s work and that includes a descriptive, narrative evaluation of all aspects of the child’s progress.

All schools shall utilize the following grading scale:

A+: 100–97 C: 76-73
A: 96-93 C-: 72-70
A-: 92-90 D+: 69-67
B+: 89-87 D: 66-63
B: 86-83 D-: 62-60
B-: 82-80 F: 59 and below
C+: 79-77  

Welcome Back and Bus Information!

I am excited to welcome everyone back to Campbell County Schools for the 2019-20 school year. This summer has been a busy one as we have worked to perform school maintenance, improve school safety and security, train staff on trauma-sensitive instruction, and incorporate Silver Grove students into our enrollment at Crossroads, CCMS and CCHS.

Most of you know, but in case you don’t, school begins for students on Wednesday, August 14th. Our staff will report on August 12th and I would like to warn everyone that our bus drivers will conduct PRACTICE runs, late in the morning on Monday, August 12th. Don’t panic when you see busses running on Monday the 12th.

In addition to the practice runs on August 12th, our Transportation Department has worked this summer to prepare “E-link” through their Versi-trans management software to provide access to parents so you can see the bus numbers, pickup/dropoff times and routing information for your children. We are trying to greatly reduce the logjam of phone calls to the transportation department like we experienced last year when school safety requirements mandated that we remove bus information, routes and bus stop information from our website. We have a solution that allows you access to this information, but through a password protected portal called E-link.

You should have received an email on Friday at about 3:00 p.m. through Infinite Campus, providing directions to access the E-link system for parents. E-link is accessed via your child’s state student identification number (SSID) and their birth date. The SSID is provided in the email you received. SSIDs can also be accessed through the Infinite Campus Parent Portal and on Schoology for secondary students. I would recommend that you keep your child’s SSID in your phone or anywhere else that you secure sensitive information. Be advised that the email you receive includes the SSID for only one of your children, if you have multiple children in school. For me, the SSID was for my youngest child and I had to use his birthday to login. Once you login using the credentials for one student, you can see all of your children and their transportation information.

As a parent of students in the district, the email notification I received for the E-link access looked like this and arrived at 3:06 p.m on Friday:

In addition, our transportation department representatives will attend the open houses and welcome-back meetings at schools throughout the next week to assist with your access to transportation information. They should be able to provide you with answers to any questions you may have.

As always, I want to ask for your patience during the first week or so of school as bus drivers and the department work to tweak/modify routes. Although we always have a good idea of ridership based on last year’s routes, adjustments always have to be made as the transportation needs of families change or as folks move into or out of a bus route. Please be patient. Busses WON’T run perfectly on time and adjustments will be made during the first few weeks. Please have your children out to the stop a little earlier in the morning and be prepared to wait a little longer than the posted time for drop off in the afternoon. Busses tend to run later in the afternoons the first week or so as our staff works to get students out of the building and on the correct bus at dismissal. This always takes longer during the first week of school. I want to thank you for your understanding.

Again, I want to welcome everyone back. Let’s work together to make this a great school year!!!!!

Thank you,

David Rust, Superintendent

Grant’s Lick Elementary – Here’s the Scoop!

Greetings,

I’ve been meaning to write about Grant’s Lick for some time but have been recently caught up in work related to the Silver Grove merger…. and enjoying a little basketball and academic team mania!

So, as many of you may have heard, the Campbell County Board of Education took action in February to approve a purchase contract for approximately 80 acres of land from Plum Creek Church for the future construction of a new Grant’s Lick Elementary. Yes, it’s true! We are planning for the replacement of Grant’s Lick. And no, we didn’t use money from the general fund or dollars for instruction, to pay for the property. We are only using funds that are restricted for building repair or capital improvement and a small amount of invested funds which had been previously set aside.

Why Now?? For years Grant’s Lick was not eligible for replacement because it was too small and enrollment wasn’t increasing. Finally, a synergy is occurring. The student enrollment at Grant’s Lick has increased from 280, three years ago, to 340 students currently. It is finally growing and teachers will tell you that it is beginning to get a little tight as there are no more spare classrooms. The second piece of the synergy comes from the recent evaluation of Grant’s Lick through the Kentucky Facility Inventory Classification System (KFICS), which placed it in the top five for needed replacement of all schools in the Commonwealth. Additionally, this ranking may also make us eligible for state money from the legislature to assist with the replacement, much like what happened in Fort Thomas for Johnson Elementary.

In speaking with local legislators, who helped bring state dollars to Fort Thomas for the renovation of Johnson, we were told that we needed three things to be eligible for state dollars. First, we must have a building that ranks near the top of the state in need of replacement or renovation. Second, we must have a shovel-ready project, with all the pre-planning and architecture done. And finally, we must be able to bond for or pay for at least half of the projected cost – with the state picking up the other half. We are working hard to have all three pre-requisites checked off the list before the next legislative budget session, which occurs in the winter of 2020. When the time comes, we may need your assistance to contact our legislators to advocate for Grant’s Lick. I provided a tour of the school for Rep. Joe Fischer last spring and he agrees that we need a new building.

The purchase of land from Plum Creek was paramount as the current Grant’s Lick school sits on about six acres, which if far too small for a current elementary school, especially one that may need room to grow in the near future. Our district facility planning committee had recommended, back in the spring of 2017, the acquisition of land for this purpose. We had been looking for the right parcel for nearly a year when this opportunity presented itself. The site, on US 27 between Nagel Road and Marl-Rich Lane, is a great one for a school, with a large, relatively flat footprint and straight line of site on the road approaches from north and south. Plum Creek Church will be a great neighbor and partner and we look forward to being next door.

What’s the timeline?? Well, if we are able to convince the legislature to split the cost of a new building, we will be ready to bond our half and break ground around the summer/fall of 2020. If we don’t get state assistance, then it will take a few more years to acquire the full bonding potential, necessary to complete the project on our own. We really want to secure the state’s support as we need to pivot next to work on a solution for the middle school . Originally, the middle school was prioritized as a greater need on our plan due to its size and continued growth, but it is not be eligible for state subsidy. We have to complete Grant’s Lick first to save half of the cost to our local taxpayers.

Some have asked about what will happen with the old Grant’s Lick property once a new school is built. This is an unanswered question at this time. We don’t anticipate a need for the building, once vacated, but we haven’t fully evaluated possibilities yet and it could still be a few years down the road. The local planning committee will have to review options and make recommendation to the Board of Education for that decision.

One thing I can say is, once we begin the design phase for a new Grant’s Lick, we will will require community input. We recognize that GLE is a community school and want to keep it that way. Even though it’s early in the process, there have been lots of suggestions about the cupola on Grant’s Lick and other design elements. Yes, I’m sure we will figure out a way to keep the cupola in the design, one way or another! I think I’ve had six or seven people mention that to me already.

Finally, I just want to reiterate that the process of school site selection, purchase, design, funding, and construction is a long and laborious one. I plan to keep you up to speed on this like I did for the high school fieldhouse, tennis court and parking lot construction. And at some point, I will likely reach out for your help with contacting the legislature to make this a priority! Please stay tuned for updates.

Thank you,

David A. Rust, Superintendent