We had a great day at Santa Shop! Our shoppers were so eager to find gifts for moms, dads, siblings, and many others on their lists! Your shoppers were so polite and helpful! They put things back where they left them and always said please and thank you. We are especially thankful for our special elves (volunteers) who helped make it a really smooth day! Thanks to Audrey Jones, Corlea Collins, Hannah Perdue, Teresa Stokes, Yvonne Woodruff, and Susan Millice for helping our shoppers. And thank you Mrs. Cotrell, Mrs. Frederick, Mrs. Blair, Mrs. Hollar, and Mrs. Smucker who reorganized specials times and helped make it happen this year! Tuesday/Thursday students will shop tomorrow, and we can’t wait!
Hello, this is Kraig Hissong, Superintendent, of West Liberty-Salem Schools, calling to inform families that on January 4th, WL-S will return to regular, 5 days/week instruction for all students attending school in-person in grades K-12 unless cases increase and the risk for COVID spread becomes greater for our area. This decision was made based on information we have received from both the Logan and Champaign County Health Departments. COVID cases are still high in both counties, but there are signs that cases/day are starting to level off. That said, both health departments strongly urge that families avoid gatherings with extended family and friends if we want to have a successful return to a normal school schedule. The health departments have also stated that a COVID vaccine has been approved and another may be approved this week for children, age 16 and over, and adults. Vaccines will likely be available to medical staff and first responders by the end of this month with vaccines available to the general public sometime after January to early spring depending on the number of vaccines provided. Again, WL-S will resume regular school schedules for all students attending in-person instruction beginning January 4th, unless cases increase and COVID spread becomes higher. I want to thank families again for your support and efforts to make hybrid instruction successful for your children and hope that you all have a successful last week of hybrid before winter break, which begins next week.
Thank you and have a good evening!
Kraig Hissong
Don’t forget! Elementary students will have the chance to do some Christmas shopping tomorrow and Tuesday at the annual Santa Shop! There are some great gifts to chose from this yea! See the flyer for more details!
West Liberty-Salem held it’s annual blood drive last Friday and a big thanks is in order for all who participated! Community Blood Center had this to say, “Fridays’ blood drive was excellent!! You had 14 first time donors that is soo incredible (AWESOME)! We are so grateful that you continued to hold the blood drive even with moving to hybrid learning! It turned out to be amazing! 40 people registered to give blood, 34 were successful. 18 units were projected! 188% percent of goal!” The CBC blood bank levels are critically low and being able to be a part of helping replenish just a bit of that felt really good! Thank you to everyone who took the time to donate!
Calc Club had their monthly meeting and carried on this year’s theme of giving back to the community. This month they are wrapping Christmas gifts for local families in need! WL-S is working with several organizations to provide Christmas gifts, or providing skilled wrappers to get those gifts ready for Santa’s big arrival! Thanks, Calc Club, for your desire to make a difference in an otherwise tough year!
Do you want to join our mailing list for Tiger eNews? Maybe you no longer have a student in school, are an alumni who likes to keep up on the latest happenings on campus, or just love seeing what your local district is up to! Here is your chance! Go to https://www.wlstigers.org and select ‘Join Tiger News’ at the top of the homepage. If you are already in our system, and receiving our e-mails, you do not need to do this to continue receiving correspondence. We hope you will join us to receive district updates and our Tiger Newsletters! Go TIgers!
Big matchup in the @OHCathletics tonight when @WJGirlsHoops (2-0) hosts @WLS_Sports (3-0). Both JV & Varsity games are available by going to https://t.co/qENKMSFqyd. Live video begins at 5:50! https://t.co/DSaRfWASKZ tree
Hello WL-S Families, this is Kraig Hissong, Superintendent with some information related to COVID-19. It has been a good two weeks here at WL-S since Thanksgiving. In that time we have had no students and only 2 staff members test positive for COVID. Currently both Champaign and Logan Counties are seeing around 30 to 40 new cases of COVID each day. I want to inform families to a change in the length of quarantine for students and staff who are identified as a close contact of a person who is positive for COVID. The length of quarantine for close contacts has been reduced from 14 days to 10 days if the individual who is being quarantined does not have any symptoms. Also, a person who is a close contact and is under quarantine has the option to further reduce the quarantine period to 7 days if they take a COVID test and the results of that test are negative. The earliest a person could take the COVID test is on Day 5 of their quarantine and they could not return to school until Day 7, regardless if they received results on day 5 or 6. WL-S will now use this new protocol for quarantines. It is also important to note that there has been no change to the length of Isolation for an individual who has tested positive. It is still 10 days from the date of the first symptom. Last, we have received news from both health departments that vaccines will likely be available to 1st priority individuals by the end of the month. Two major drug manufactures are applying for approval with the FDA this week and next.
Thank you,
Kraig Hissong
West Liberty-Salem Middle School has announced their November Students of the Month! Teachers nominate students for their leadership, good citizenship, and academic excellence. Students receive a t-shirt and goodies from Marie’s Candies. Keep up the great work, Tigers!
Left to Right
8th Grade: Kennedy Wallace & Lincoln Henderson
7th Grade: Lyndee Harrison & Cameron Pope
6th Grade: Kiersten Stoll & Patrick Brooks
FFA/Ag students helped wrap Christmas gifts this week for local families in need. Mrs. Perdue and her church, Kennard Church of the Nazarene, gather gifts for local charities each year. The students were thrilled to be a part of making the holidays special for families who deserve a little help after a particularly trying year. Way to go, kiddos!
Tonight’s basketball game can be viewed live at the following link. Go Tigers!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZYDb5vl3gj6xZUE0hbdD0w
Hello, We want to remind all WLS Families that if you would like to receive FREE Breakfast and Lunch for your children for the 3 days they are completing remote instruction, please call or email Kathy Smith, Food Service Supervisor. Phone: 937-465-1075 x 136 or Email: KSmith@wlstigers.org. Our next delivery is Friday, December 11th, between 11 AM and 12:30 PM. Orders need to be received no later than Thursday, December 10th.
Thank you, Kraig Hissong
The WLS Athletic Association would like to invite you to their monthly meeting this week, Wednesday, 6pm, in the elementary cafeteria. Please wear a mask. 😷 There is a zoom option available as well.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://udayton.zoom.us/j/4138279642
Meeting ID: 413 827 9642
If you haven't been watching facebook and twitter, you may have missed the opportunity to purchase a fan face to be added to the jungle for HS home games!! It's been a fun way to get some community involvement, and the teams are enjoying seeing who shows up each game! You can buy yours here, but we are nearing the limit, as the stands are filling fast: http://bidpal.net/jungle
Our 1st ever WLSAA Online Auction is happening now, and ending this Friday!! There's an empty space where we hope to build a fieldhouse, and we need that fund to grow immensely. We would love to make double profit on the donated items from the 2020 Reverse Raffle, because we are unable to plan for a 2021 Reverse Raffle due to the uncertainty of the coming months! There are many unique items that could double as your tax deductible gift to WLSAA while also making someone in your life very happy with the best Christmas gift ever!!! Please consider taking a look, place some bids, "buy it now", or just make a donation. http://bidpal.net/wlsaa
This is Aaron Hollar with a message about Elementary picture retakes. Elem picture retakes are Tuesday, Dec. 8th starting at 8:00 am. If your student was absent for the original picture day, or if there were issues with the first set of pictures, please plan on having retakes. For those of you that are not scheduled for school that day, please bring your child in between 8:00-9:00 Tuesday morning. You must bring the original picture packet with you if you are having your picture retaken.
Watch the Tigers as they take on Fairlawn live!
https://youtu.be/svJtofWEA9M
Congratulations to your Shrek: The Musical cast!! We are looking forward to the spring production of this musical that is sure to entertain!!
This week our staff spotlight goes to our Middle School and High School secretary, Julie Nieman! She works hard in the office each day to make sure things are running smoothly for staff and that our students know what’s going on. Julie moved here 15 years ago with her family and worked as a Braillist with a visually impaired student for 12 years before moving into the secretarial position several years ago. She has a college degree in Wildlife and Natural Resources and worked as a National Park Service Ranger for several years along with her husband. She has been married to her husband for 33 years and has two adult daughters: 1 is a teacher for children with disabilities and the other is a graphic designer/artist. Along with their two adult daughters, they plan to visit every National Park in the U.S. and have visited almost 20 so far! She loves spending time with her family and creating new adventures! Thanks, Mrs. Nieman, for all you do at WL-S!
Lady tigers vs. Triad is live on YouTube! Go tigers!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&fbclid=IwAR2kOUab1ybWzQfEwKqLUhWQyQGfOko_ZCZej3ftPspo4eYdBsaDw5SMFcg&feature=youtu.be&v=VxQ-Xl69KMM
Please note the following update pertaining to winter sports spectator policy. This policy comes to us from the OHC. Any questions should be directed to the WLS athletic department.
Members of the Ohio Heritage Conference Board of Control met on Wednesday, Nov. 25th at 9:00am to discuss the Governor’s recommendation to restrict seating for athletic events from Nov. 30th to Dec. 31st.
After discussion, the board approved the following:
“The OHC Schools will follow the recommendation of the governor and the OHSAA and limit attendance at games/competitions to parents of participants from Nov. 30th to Dec. 31st.”
The spirit of this action is to allow parents (including step-parents or other guardians when possible) of participants (players and cheerleaders/pep band members when applicable) to attend games. The overall capacity of different facilities will impact how many tickets will be available per participant. Family of game personnel (including coaches, scorebook keepers, etc.) will not be admitted to games as these individuals are not considered to be participants.
For HOME games: For the month of December, purchasing pre-sale is not required. Each family gets two tickets to be used by ADULT family members, unless they have a step-parent which gives them 3 or 4 tickets. These names must be given to the coach to include on the roster for home & away games prior to each game. The coach or AD must be notified of any name changes.
All games at WLS will be live streamed, and away competitions streaming details will be posted on the WLS website & facebook page each day.
Both Home and Away schools will provide full rosters for teams competing. Rosters will include the names of parents/adults associated with each participant. Only individuals listed as parents on the provided roster will be admitted into the game. Again, capacity of the venue will impact number of parents permitted to attend.
The Board of Control feels that this is consistent with guidance provided by the OHSAA on November 24th. We understand that the OHSAA provided additional guidance on Nov. 25th which included language about immediate family members. At this time, the board of control continues to support the decision made on Nov. 25th.
From OHSAA on November 24, 2020
TO: Member Schools’ Superintendents, Principals and Athletic Administrators
FR: Doug Ute, OHSAA Executive Director
Winter Sports General Update
In following up on Governor DeWine’s remarks during his news conference earlier today (Tuesday, Nov. 24), the OHSAA, in conjunction with the Governor’s Office, is recommending that those schools who are moving forward with sports competition eliminate fans or dramatically restrict attendance to parents of the participants only between now and the end of 2020. While the Ohio Health Director’s Sports Order has a limit on spectator capacities for indoor events, fans and crowds are NOT advisable at this time. As COVID-19 numbers are spiking in Ohio, this is an opportunity for our schools to help limit the spread of the virus. A few related recommendations:
• For those schools that decide to admit parents, list the names of the parents on a roster sheet that is located at your ticket window/admission table. This will help clarify who should/should not be admitted and will hopefully eliminate non-parents from attending.
• Limit media to those who normally cover your school and consider utilizing a streaming service in order for fans to view your contest(s).
• There is no prohibition on cheerleaders and pep bands, but schools should make their own decisions on these students’ participation and should strongly consider not sending cheerleaders to away contests.
Hello, this is Kraig Hissong, Superintendent of WLS, notifying families that we will be on a 2-hour delay today due to to patchy drifted and icy roads on our North/South roads due to continued drifting of roads overnight. Road crews are out an we do plan to go after the 2 hour delay. Please use caution as you drive in today. School will start at 9:40 for the MS/HS and 9:45 for the Elementary. Thank you.