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Ashley Kosmicki- Hershey Foundation April Student of the Month

Ashley is a student that approaches everything she does in a polite manner with a smile on her face.  She is always willing to help others no matter who it is and she displays a strong work ethic inside and outside of school.  In the classroom, Ashley is well rounded in her education and she is a leader that leads by example. She displays servant leadership in her interactions with others and is kind and caring of all of our students. 

News from Activities Director

The spring sports season has been indefinitely halted. We hope for a safe quick return to activities at the school. We highly encourage our student athletes to continue their physical development and school work at home. Hershey athletics and activities will return stronger than before and how we approach this time away from school will make all the difference. Be safe and make the most of your time.

News from Mrs. Davis - Superintendent     

I hope this finds your family healthy and maintaining a positive outlook with so many unknowns surrounding us as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a district, we want to thank all of our families for your patience and understanding as we navigate through this unprecedented time in public education.

Last week, we received new guidance from the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) and West Central Health Department. With this new information in mind, Hershey Public Schools announced on March 27^th that we will be physically closed indefinitely.   This means that it is highly possible that students will not be back in our building the rest of this school year for classes.  Beginning on Thursday, April 2^nd, the school will only be open to essential personnel.  If you need to come to school, please call and make an appointment.  Administration will be available. This closure will be periodically reviewed based on information from the health officials’ monitoring of COVID-19 and advice from the Department of Education and the Governor’s office.   If anything changes, we will let you know.  For now, all of our learning will take place online. In the elementary, classroom computers were distributed to our students last week so that our students and parents have needed Internet filters in place to provide a safe learning environment for our students.  I want to personally thank every person who worked tirelessly to make this happen in such a short time frame.  Prom is currently scheduled for May 2^nd and Graduation is scheduled for May 9^th   these events will be decided upon at a later date.

We do have plans in place to continue the educational journeys for each of our students through our Continuity of Learning Plan. As a district, we will continue to evaluate and evolve in the development of our Continuity of Learning Plan (CLP) for the remainder of this school year. The Department of Education is expected to provide us guidance in the near future that we can then communicate to each of you in regards to our CLP.  This has been a challenging and unprecedented event for all of us.  For now the guidelines that we have given to our teachers to provide student learning enrichment opportunities for each grade groups include the following:

K-2 Students – 1.5 hours a day

Grades 3-6 – 2 hours a day

Grades 7-8 – 3 hours a day

Grades 9-12 – 3.5 - 4 hours a day

For now, we encourage parents to continue interacting with their students and monitoring their work on these enrichment opportunities. All class work that students have been assigned will be marked completed or missing. The importance of these opportunities cannot be understated as we work to prepare students for their grade placement in the fall.  We appreciate your help in monitoring your child’s progress with the enrichment work that they are doing.  Hershey Public Schools is so blessed to have an amazing staff that have flipped their student interaction to online in a matter of days.  Everyone has done an amazing job.

We understand there are many questions raised with the realization that school will not resume its “normal” function this year. How will final grades be calculated? Will my student progress to the next grade level? Will my student graduate? All of these questions will be answered once we have received the necessary guidance from NDE and had time to work through such details. We can promise that we will make decisions in the best interest of students’ health, safety, and academic progress. Please continue to have patience as we develop those plans and share that information at the appropriate time. If you have any questions, please reach out to your student’s teacher(s) and/or principal. We recognize it is difficult to change the educational process in the middle of a semester and this can create feelings of anxiousness in homes. The ultimate goal is to support the student as much as possible in his/her academic journey, and the district wants you to maintain open communication with the individuals that can help achieve that goal.

Sincerely,

Jane Davis, Superintendent

News from the Elementary Principal.

Dear, Parents,

I hope this message finds you healthy and well.  We are nearing the third week of our school closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  As you are aware, Hershey Public Schools has closed indefinitely and have implemented our “Continuity of Learning Website”.  This platform allows the school district to provide clear expectations and norms for all patrons. I encourage you to check out the “Temporary Distance Learning Plan” tab located at the top of the “Continuity of Learning Website”.  This offers a magnitude of information such as: School District’s Roles & Responsibilities, Student’s Roles & Responsibilities, Parent’s Roles & Responsibilities, General Guidelines for Distance Learning, & Elementary Priorities.

If you have not done so already, try to encourage a daily routine with time set aside for academic learning, reading, as well as physical activity.  Here are some suggestions to support you in developing a successful routine that works best for your family during this time:

Elementary Priorities

• Learning will be mainly focused around prioritized content.

• Students will have both online and off-line learning activities.

• The primary tools for communication between teachers and families will be Remind, Zoom, Google Classroom, student email addresses, and parent provided email addresses.

• Teachers will provide online learning that will be recorded and made available to students to watch at any time. The online learning sessions will follow the provided schedule.

Total Distance Learning Time:  approximately 1.5 hours per day

Total Distance Learning Time:  approximately 2 hours per day

Thank you for your continued partnership and support as we continue to navigate through these uncharted times in history.  I am so thankful for our amazing teachers, parents, and students, who have poured endless hours of investment into continuing their child(ren)’s education!  Please know that the Hershey staff is here to support you in any manner. Please do not hesitate to reach out to any one of us for assistance and or resources.  We are all in this together.  

Be Safe & Be Well,

Jared Thomsen

Elementary Principal

(308) 368-5572

jared.thomsen@hpspanthers.org 

Empowering students to reach their full potential.

“Educating Every Student, Every Day, Every Way”

News from the High School Principal

My April newsletter is taking on a much different spin than it has in the past.  Normally I am talking about our upcoming testing schedule and the preparations that our teachers and students have made.  Now with school being closed indefinitely we will shift gears away from state testing and now our students are working on online enrichment activities.  

I do want to make sure that everyone keeps in mind how important the ACT test is for high school students.  With the Juniors not being able to take the school administered ACT this April we will wait to see what the state proposes for the Junior class.  If your child is a sophomore or junior and planning on attending college I would encourage you to visit ACT.org to look at taking the ACT this summer.  The next day to register for the ACT is June 13, 2020 and you must be registered by May 8.  Please remember that all of our students in grades 9-12 have access to the John Baylor On To College resources to help them study for the ACT.  If you need help accessing this program, please check with Mrs. Julius.  I would even encourage our freshmen that are planning on going to college to take the ACT this summer.  It will give them a good idea of where they are at and what they need to do to continue to prepare for scoring well on the ACT.  If you have any questions about your child and their success on the ACT test, please call Mrs. Julius or myself.  We would love to talk with you about your child’s future. 

I wanted to get an update out to parents as we work through our online enrichment for the 4th quarter.  Parents will be able to track their child’s progress through PowerSchool.  All class work that students have been assigned will be marked completed or missing.  We appreciate your help in monitoring your child’s progress with the enrichment work that they are doing.  If you have questions about your child’s work or their progress on their assignments, please e-mail their respective teacher.

We are still planning on hosting Prom on May 2nd.  Details about our rescheduled Prom will be available as we get closer to the date.  Graduation scheduled for May 9th at 10am is also still being planned on.  I’m sorry that I don’t have a definite answer on the details of Prom and Graduation, but much of it depends on the state’s requirements for the amount of people that are able to attend a meeting.  

As all of us navigate this historic time in our lives and most importantly our child’s life, please be thankful for positives that we have encountered.  I am very thankful that our teaching staff was able to begin creating lessons to post on our Continuity of Learning website that was created.  Students have the ability to interact with their teachers through a virtual classroom and they are able to continue learning.  I am also thankful that I see so much positive from our staff and students on social media.  In a tough time like this we all need more positive in our lives.  We will continue to stay strong and come through this and return to normal as soon as possible.  Thank you all for your patience and understanding in your child’s life and education.  

Jeff Steinbeck

Hershey High School Principal

March 27, 2020

Dear Parents and Patrons

Hershey Public Schools has been collaborating with West Central Health District, Nebraska Department of Education, the Governor’s Office, ESU #16 and area schools during this unprecedented COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.  Based upon information gathered, and recommendations from NDE and West Central Health, Hershey Public Schools is now closed indefinitely.  This decision will be reevaluated as conditions change.  NSAA has suspended all practices and competitions through May 1^st.  A rescheduled date of May 2^nd has been chosen for Prom   Graduation on May 9th is also still scheduled.  As we get closer to these dates, decisions will be made on these events.

The use of school facilities (gym, weight room, PLC, etc.) will also be postponed during this time.  Teachers will be able to enter the building to work in their rooms at this time or until they are instructed otherwise.

A sincere thank you to the families of our district for their trust, patience, and understanding during this time. We recognize the hardships it might create, but also appreciate their commitment to the safety and well-being of all our students and employees.

Sincerely

Jane Davis, Superintendent

Hershey Public Schools

Teachers and students will begin educational enrichment activities tomorrow, Tuesday, March 24th.  

To facilitate this, we have created a Continuity of Learning Website which will communicate information to students and parents.  Please locate this at www.hspanthers.org. Under Quicklinks, on the homepage.  Detailed information will be located at the top of the continuity learning website, which will give students and parents pertinent information regarding roles and responsibilities.

If you would like to order a 2019-2020 yearbook please send a $35 check to Hershey Public Schools. Include the name of the family/student that will be picking this up next fall. 

Please send check to:

Hershey Public Schools

Attn: YEARBOOK

PO Box 369

Hershey, NE 69143

Any questions please email rich.rolofson@hpspanthers.org

FINAL ORDER DATE IS MAY 20, 2020

K-6 Chromebook Pick-up Plan

Please refer to the schedule listed below for picking up your child(ren)’s Chromebook computer device.  

ATTENTION:  If you are sick, have any signs or symptoms of COVID 19, or are unavailable to pick-up your device(s) during the specific time, call the school district to make other arrangements.

Norms/Guidelines:

• Computers will be picked up in a “drive-through” fashion. 

• Parents are to stay in their vehicles until tended by a school representative

• If you have multiple children in different grade levels, you may pick up all devices at that time

• Parents will be required to sign an acceptable use policy form upon arrival  

  • DUE TO COVID-19 measures there will be no usage fee to utilize these Chromebooks.

• Tuesday, March 24, 2020  (Grades K-6)

  • Location: Jr./Sr. High Entrance - East Gym

    • Cars are to enter the paved parking lot through the west entrance and wait in line for further assistance.