Valliant Schools

6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Football Players, Coach Shamley would like to meet with you at 5:00 pm on Monday, August 10 at the stadium. Bring along your parent if you'd like. He wants to let you know what to expect and get ready to get started winning. It's a Great Day to be a Valliant Bulldog!

Help Needed! The Valliant High School Football Team is looking for HS students (boys or girls) that would be interested in serving as a Manager this year. If you are interested, please contact Coach Ken Rhoten at (580)478-8128. It's a Great Day to be a Bulldog!

Students and Parents, For several months now, your administrators and I have discussed and debated the proper course of action concerning return to school, plans for that return, and timelines for return. Throughout our discussions, there has been a consistent theme present, what is the right thing to do for our students, our staff, and our community. We have been extremely concerned with the continued unchecked spread of the virus in our own community. 4 weeks ago, the state unveiled a color coded mapping system to represent the spread of the disease in new cases per capita, and McCurtain County has consistently been listed in the Orange status which is the most severe. When the SDE released their plans and recommendations last week, McCurtain County was listed in the Orange 2 status. The recommendations that come with that status are very limiting. Our color status has not changed for the better in the last week. Those recommendations are that we start school using distance learning and that we limit our capacity of kids to no more than 25% on campus at any one time. The state also recommends the wearing of masks for all students at all times, restrict visitors, and curtail extracurricular activities. We have studied these recommendations and have consulted with other Superintendents and Principals at other county schools. We do not believe that starting the school year in Distance Learning is practical, although it will likely be necessary throughout the year. Many of the supplies that we need to start school have not yet arrived. Much as the supply chain has affected everyday items, it has affected items such as computers, disinfectants, and PPE. After much debate, we decided to take the following actions: 1. We will delay our Staff Development by 1 week. Staff Development will now begin on August 10 and continue through the 14th. HS Teachers may have to meet with the K20 Center as originally scheduled. 2. We will be notifying students and parents that classes will begin on August 24, but will be limited to 25% of the student population each day at the HS, MS, and in the 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. In the lower elementary, appointments will be made for the students and one parent. Teachers will reach out to parents to make these appointments and to notify students on their days for attendance. 3. Face to face instruction with all students will begin on August 31. Masks will be required for all students, teachers, and staff while we remain in the Orange 2 status and will be reevaluated as the status changes. 4. Virtual only students will begin instruction on August 24. 5. Extracurricular activities will continue however, additional safety protocols may be required. 6. Students attending KTC at Idabel will be attending virtually. Students attending KTC at Hugo will be attending in person currently. I am extremely saddened to be making this announcement today. However, we feel it is the most prudent decision we can make. Craig Wall

About Valliant Virtual Academy Although we did the best we could in the time we had to prepare, we know that the distance learning model we had in the spring needed much improvement for our students to have a successful experience. We were very particular about looking for a program to fill the need for a virtual learning environment knowing some students would not return in the fall for various reasons. As we were researching programs the focus was as follows: Meet the education requirements and needs of our students Easy to use and navigate for both student and parent Does not require the parent to be the teacher (minimal parent involvement) Allows our staff to monitor the progress and intervene if necessary Student Oriented / individualized instruction Acellus is the program that we chose that best addressed those concerns. Acellus is a learning accelerator. It uses video-based lessons with cutting-edge technology to accelerate learning, elevate standardized test scores, reduce dropout rates and transition more students into careers and college. Acellus has been providing a virtual setting for some time and has had great success. Here is a link that explains their program. https://www.acellus.com/for-your-school/ There are many options for virtual instruction out there but I recommend, if virtual is for your child, you give this a shot. This is the only option that keeps your tax dollars in our district - This program is free to our students. Your child will remain a Valliant student and have options to participate in extracurricular activities such as athletics, Etc. There will be a Certified teacher assigned to only virtual students allowing them to focus all of their attention on monitoring, providing intervention, and answering questions to our virtual students. Our traditional students will be using the same program on a regular basis and times when school cannot meet in person. This will allow virtual students to easily transition back into a normal classroom post covid if that is desired. We know that this is not an easy decision. If you would like more information or have further questions, please contact the building principals. Cpanell@vpsd.org - Elementary bfrazier@vpsd.org - Middle School rsmith@vpsd.org - High School

JOM school supplies should be ready for pickup this year beginning August 10th, the week before school starts. In addition to the supplies a padded backpack will be provided this year to carry a tablet/chromebook. When supplies are available a schedule and directions will be posted. If you are new to the district please bring a copy of CDIB card with you when picking up supplies. For more information please contact Linda Coffman at 580-933-7232 or lcoffman@vpsd.org. *****JOM School Supplies do not include a tablet or chromebook but students are reminded to visit the Choctaw Nation website and apply for the COVID-19 Technology Program Grant and the COVID-19 Student Assistance Program Grant for help with these items.

Parents, Students, Patrons, and Friends, Earlier today, the Oklahoma State School Board voted to accept some strongly worded recommendations for schools in Oklahoma in response to the Covid-19 Pandemic. These recommendations vary based upon the level of community spread in each county based upon the OSDH Covid-19 Status Map. McCurtain County is currently in the most severely affected status. At Valliant Schools, we are continuing to work on our plans for reopening. The administration will meet together on Monday and reassess how the recommendations approved today will affect our plans. We will notify you if and when our plans should change. We want to be in school face to face with our students. We need your help to make that happen. Please follow social distancing guidelines, wear masks when required, and do whatever you can to allow us to get back to normal. This is not about politics or conspiracies. It is about the health and safety of our kids. Craig

Parents, Students, Patrons, and Friends, Last week, we released plans in the form of FAQ’s detailing how we would return to school. Tomorrow, (Thursday, July 23) the State Board of Education will meet. At that meeting the Board will likely hear recommendations from the State Superintendent which details further restrictions in our ability to return to school. The recommendations made by the State Superintendent will likely be based upon the level of community spread in our county on a per capita basis. Right now our county is in an Orange status on the Governors Covid-19 status map. As a result, schools in McCurtain County are facing huge restrictions in our ability to return to school in a traditional manner. Limitations to the number of students, the requiring of masks, and prohibition of extracurricular activities are likely. While we DO NOT KNOW the full extent of the restrictions, we are confident that they will be severe. We have tried to emphasize that we need everyone’s help. Masks and social distancing are inconvenient, but our ability to return to school is going to be 100% dependent on you helping to prevent the spread of this virus. No conspiracies, no politics, we sincerely need your help, or our schools will never get back to normal. Valliant, we need you. Wear your mask and social distance. Our kids need to get back to school and we know that is what you want. #weareValliant

Parents, Students, Patrons, and Friends, We are releasing information today concerning our return to school. As you know students will be returning to school soon, and we are doing our best to take into consideration how we can return to school safely. We take our roles very seriously. The health and safety of our students, teachers, staff, and community is paramount. We are using our best judgement to make decisions that will allow us to return to school as safely as possible. While we are doing all we can, we desperately need your help. We want to start school and stay in school throughout the year. We need you to take every precaution you can to help us prevent the spread of Covid-19 in our community. If you help, we can be so much more successful. Today, on our website, we posted a set of Frequently Asked Questions that will hopefully address many of the issues that you may have. You can find that document at the following link. https://5il.co/ib4i Additionally, we are posting a document that will provide guidance for what we will do when or if we have an infection at school. We have been working with other schools to develop this plan with guidance from the State Health Department, the State Department of Education, and the Centers for Disease Control. You can find a link to that document here. https://5il.co/ib68 After you take a look through the documents, we would also like for you to complete the following survey concerning your choice of format for schooling for the upcoming year. It is important for us to get this information so that we can continue our planning. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeO You can access the survey at the following link. eRg1fDSLwW9Og6Lm_rMRTZTVMNIGYxEYurPHXDTxxgP-Sg/viewform?usp=sf_link We are working very hard to make this work, and we are sure things will change before school gets here. We encourage you to work with us during these difficult times. It's a Great Day to be a Bulldog! Craig Wall, Supt.

Attention Athletes and Bus Drivers: PHYSICALS for Athletes and Bus Drivers will be held Tuesday, July 14, at 6:00 pm at the John Paul Scroggins Fieldhouse. Cost will be $10.

Students, Parents and Friends, I wanted to reach out today to give you an update on "where we are," relative to our return to school plans. It seems like every day is a new day, and the information that we are being provided to make decisions is constantly changing. We are doing our best, and our hope is to have some plans in place as early as July 15. Whatever those plans might be, I am fairly certain that they will change before we return to school. But, we will return to school. Last week, the Valliant Board of Education adopted a revised school year calendar. This calendar was worked out jointly by the school administration and the Valliant CTA. The calendar moves the start date for students to August 17. Additionally, the calendar adds "virtual days" on some Friday's during much of the school year. These virtual days will have requirements associated with them, but it will not be a day that is required to be physically at school. More information on virtual days will be released in our upcoming plans. Our school is working with a number of other schools in SE Oklahoma to develop a response plan for how to deal with site and district outbreaks of Covid during the school year. The response plan has had input from State and Regional Health Department personnel and provides schools some uniformity in the decision making process. I know that many of you are anxious about how school might "look" as we move forward. It will certainly be different. Right now, we are finalizing plans for isolating and distancing during the school day, while still maintaining as normal a schedule as possible. There will be differences. Please be patient, as we want to try to resume safely, and to get all our kids back to school. In the meantime, please start working on some routines that will likely be necessary as we return. Check your child's health status each morning, including taking their temperature. Begin making plans for how you would deal with day care, etc., if you or your child were sick, or if you had to be quarantined. This year, it's going to be more important than ever for you to help us, by keeping your child that is sick or not feeling well, at home. If we all work together, we can keep this virus at bay. We will make it, together. Craig Wall, Supt.

Parents, Students and Patrons, Today, June 15, Our coaches and I met to reassess our summertime activities due to the continuing Covid-19 pandemic. Originally, we had decided to adopt the OSSAA recommendations for returning to play through today. While we honestly don’t know the right thing to do, we have decided today that we will allow limited return to play for the next two weeks. While we return to the field/court, we want everyone to realize they we take our students and your safety very seriously. Therefore we will be taking additional precautions to sanitize and avoid contact wherever possible. We will continue to screen all of our athletes for symptoms, contacts, and will monitor their temperature. We will also continue our sanitization protocols. Beginning on Tuesday, June 16, Middle School athletes can begin participating in Summer Pride. Summer Pride for MS begins at 9:00 am. MS Cheer will also begin activities immediately. While everyone has different ideas as to what we should do, we are trying our best to get back to some level of normalcy. We need your help with this. We need you to understand that there are reasons for the procedures we are taking and would hope that you will support us in this effort in athletics and I. Everyday life. Further, we need you to help us by social distancing in the spectator areas, avoid the bleachers, sit further from the field, etc. This is very important as we look forward to returning to school and sports in the fall. The actions we take today may help us get back to normal sooner. Each Coach/Sport will have specific requirements and guidelines as we move forward. It’s a great day to be a Bulldog! Craig Wall

The Valliant Chamber is sponsoring a social distance parade to celebrate all our Valliant graduates of 2020. Forms are available on Facebook and The Valliant Chamber of Commerce. We will line up in the Valliant High School Auditorium parking, at 5:30 pm. The parade will start at 6:30 pm on Friday June 12th 2020

Patrons, Last night during our Valliant Board of Education Meeting, we had problems throughout the meeting with the connectivity of one of our board members. Immediately following the meeting last night, we consulted with Oklahoma State School Board Attorney's for guidance. Following discussions with the Attorney's this morning, more simply, because it is the right thing to do, we have decided to hold an additional meeting, in person, on Thursday, June 11 at 11:00 am to revisit the agenda in its entirety. The meeting will be held in the Library/Media Center. I want to sincerely apologize for this situation. Although we have come to depend on technology throughout this pandemic, we realize that its limitations sometimes expose our own. #weareValliant Craig Wall, Supt.

Valliant Bulldog Football – 2020 – Summer Pride Summer Attendance Policy The health and safety our players is the most important factor in these trying times. We will still follow the social distancing guidelines to make sure we keep all our players as safe as possible. We are trying to make sure we stay on a constant plan to make sure we have a full season in the fall. All summer pride workouts will take place outside on the track and practice field. Players are to come dressed. Please bring your own water or water bottle. Please understand that these measures could change at any time. We all want ALL of our players to be able to compete at their fullest in the fall and these are the things that we need to do to make that happen. We will start at 7:00 sharp and be done by 8:30. -I want everyone to have a great summer and work hard but also enjoy some time off and time away. I will work with you to make this work as long as you communicate with me. -High School Football Players must work out at 7:00 a.m. – if you have a job arrange to start later. Summer Pride Program MONDAY/TUESDAY/THURSDAY 7:00 a.m. – High School Football Players. 8:15a.m. – All other Athletes Dates to Remember June 1– Summer Pride begins June 27- July 5– Weight room closed (Dead Week) July 27-28 – Weight room closed July 30-31Weight room OPEN August 3– Senior meeting 6:00 p.m. August 4– Team meeting 6:00 p.m. August 5-- First Day of School August 10– First day of practice 3:00pm Coach Taylor 918 839 1014

Valliant Bulldog Athletes and Parents, As we begin to look toward returning to play, beginning June 1 and continuing until June 15, the Athletic Department has adopted the recommendations with some modification as presented to the OSSAA Board last week. This will allow conditioning, and some sport specific training to begin. All participation is strictly voluntary due to Covid-19 concerns. There will be NO participation of MS Students until at least June 15. HS Coaches will begin contacting students with their specific plans later this week. This plan is subject to change at any time. The OSSAA Board is scheduled to meet in early June.

Valliant Parents, Students, and Friends, The people that work with me hear me say quite often, “it’s going to be ok.” I generally say that when it’s really important that we stay calm and not over react to a situation while we assess the best course of action. “It’s going to be ok.” Don’t panic, use your head, and we will get through this mess together. We have a little more than two months before school is scheduled to resume. Your principals, directors, and I have met often over the past few weeks to begin making plans for returning in August. Our objective is for our students and teachers to return to school like none of this ever happened. We want our school to be a safe and healthy environment for all our kids and have added plans to sanitize and disinfect more than ever before. We hope you will help us by teaching your children to wash their hands well and often. Unfortunately, social media is filled with misinformation. I encourage you to avoid as much of that as possible. It’s not productive and it in many cases is harmful. Our kids listen to our comments and they need us all to be positive and supportive. You also need to know that as we plan, we always try to take into account the “what if’s” so we can be prepared for whatever the situation might dictate. Your administrators, teachers, and support staff love our kids, and we want to ensure that they have a great school experience next year. In the meantime, let’s not worry about what might happen two months from now. I promise that we will not keep you in the dark as we move forward. We will work with our state and local entities and with other schools in our area to make the best decisions with the information we have. Those decisions will always be based on what is best for your kids and Valliant Schools. It’s a lot more than a hashtag, #weareValliant! Craig Wall, Superintendent

Congratulations to Gina Dansby! Mrs. Dansby has been selected as the 2019-20 Valliant School District Teacher of the Year! Mrs. Dansby will now be eligible to enter the Oklahoma State Teacher of the Year contest which will be named by Supt. Hofmeister later this year.

On Monday, May 11 at 5:00 pm we will be having our monthly Board of Education Meeting by videoconference. The meeting will be available for the public to view on Facebook Live. We hope you will join us as we continue to use methods that will allow our Board Members, Administration, and our community as safe and healthy as possible.

Online enrollment will be open for a limited time. If you have a student or know someone that is thinking about being a Bulldog and attending Valliant School next year, click the link below to start the enrollment process. https://www.teacherease.com/NewFamilyRegistration.aspx?refid=b25fbfe7-9469-4322-a99a-a3cc3a10a922 If your child is already attending Valliant, simply log in to your teacherease account and look for the enrollment link in the top left-hand corner of your screen.

The Valliant Public Schools will be providing "Grab and Go" breakfast and lunch for ANY CHILD 18 and under or anyone with Special Needs 21 and under absolutely free of charge. We will be providing meals at the following locations and time: Valliant School: Drive Thru Bus Lane 8:30-10:00 am Rufe Fire Department: 8:30 -9:00 am Felker Baptist Church: 8:30 -9:00 am The Church in Millerton: 8:30 -9:00 am Pine Creek Fire Department: 8:30 -9:00 am Mt Zion Church of God: 8:30 -9:00 am There will be no need for you to leave your vehicle at any site, meals will be delivered to you. We are taking precautions to make sure everyone stays healthy and safe. If you know of any child that could benefit from this program, please let them know. We want to feed every child. Thank you so much to the volunteers, community and church leaders that help to make this program possible. We encourage everyone that has children that live in our district to take advantage of this program #weareValliant *This institution is an equal opportunity provider*