Western Local School District

You’re invited!

Please join us in congratulating our new National Junior High Honor Society inductees!

JH Baseball updated 4/20

Fall sports sign-ups have started as of today for jr.high volleyball, high school volleyball, jr. high cross country, high school cross country, jr. high football, high school football, jr. high golf, high school golf, jr. high soccer & high school soccer. Sign-ups are in the high school office.

Any student who plans to participate in college credit plus through Shawnee state university next school year needs to apply online by May 1, 2021.

Reminder: All 3rd-6th grade blended learners are required to report tomorrow, Friday April 16th for English state testing. Please arrive by 8:15 to the elementary office.

Graduation 2021 In regards to graduation I feel like I need to explain a few things. We have spent a great deal of time trying to figure out how to get the maximum amount of people in our gym while following the governor’s guidelines for graduation. Here are the rules that we are mandated to follow. • Limit attendance or seating capacity to allow for social distancing, or hold multiple, smaller events in larger spaces. The maximum number of people permitted in an indoor venue with fixed seating is 25% of capacity. • If seating is limited, ensure family members of student participants are given priority. Hold the event outdoors if possible. • If held indoors, maximize ventilation by opening doors and windows and through other means. (Indoor facilities are expected to employ filtration of MERV 13 or higher as soon as practicably possible.) • Choose a location that limits seating and allows for social distancing to keep groups of students and staff at least 3 feet apart and groups of guests at least 6 feet apart. • Use touchless ticketing/access methods. If not possible, install physical barriers between attendees and door staff. • Develop a pathway that allows for physical distancing when attendees move from parking, to the door, and to their seats, or from place to place during the event. • Require attendees to wash or sanitize hands when entering the venue and provide hand-washing and/or sanitizing stations throughout venue. Ensure sanitizer products meet guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Our total seating capacity is 2360. 25% of that is 590. After subtracting the actual graduates and required staff members from that number there are a maximum of 500 total seats left. This equates to 8.3 seats per graduate which obviously must be reduced to 8. The reason that we stated that each graduate gets 6 guests is because we wanted to get a base number. We asked each graduate to list the 6 people who they feel “must” see them graduate. You may ask why we didn’t just start out with 8? Here’s the simple answer – if we said 8 then everyone would’ve brought 8 people even if some of those wouldn’t make the “must see me graduate” list. We want every graduate to get their most “important” people at the graduation but we don’t really want everyone just filling seats because they are available. We are basically taking the same approach we used for athletic events. We gave each athlete a certain number of tickets. We then divided any extra space among the kids so hopefully everyone who really wanted to be there could be. That ensured that it was both fair and practical. I can assure you that we will not have empty seats at the graduation. After everyone chooses their six we will check to see how many total seats we have left. Some students may not even have six. That will allow us to give more tickets to those graduates who need them. Our expectation is that everyone will get 8 seats but, again, we didn’t want kids just trying to fill seats. Of course, what each graduate does with the original 6 tickets is up to them. We don’t care. Hopefully, after the original 6 tickets are allotted we will have at least two more tickets per graduate. It’s possible that there could even be 3 extra tickets for those who need them. The gym will be filled to maximum capacity allowable by the governor’s mandate. I’ve spoken with the health director and he has approved our plan. Moving graduation outside isn’t an option because we don’t have a stadium. Schools who do have stadiums are still limiting the number to inside capacity to allow for weather issues. We are using every inch of space that we have. When we are required to follow these guidelines it severely limits capacity. Believe me, I understand the desire to have all of your family there for graduation. I think by now most of you know that we will always do whatever we can to accommodate our graduates. This is the plan that allows the maximum number of attendees to watch graduation yet still follow the guideline of the ODH and ODE. Not following those isn’t an option for us. I have talked with the three other county schools. We are giving at least as many as one other school and more than two of our county schools. Our graduates will receive as many or more tickets than any other graduates in Pike County and probably more than any school in our area. This is the best solution in a very imperfect situation. Having it outside isn’t an option for us for multiple reasons. The first reason is that we don’t have outside seating. If we use cars like last year the number of attendees will certainly be less than we are offering now. If we have bad weather then we have put ourselves in an avoidable situation. Planning an outside graduation is a nightmare when the weather is a factor. Last year we did it out of necessity. Again, having it outside doesn’t increase the number of graduates. One of our county schools is having it outside but limiting the number to what will fit inside if they have to move it inside due to weather. Having graduates and parents potentially sit in the rain, wind, or even lightning when we have a gym that will safely hold 590 people isn’t responsible on our part. If we had a lightning situation we wouldn’t even be able to have the ceremony. If we had it outside and had great weather and were seated in chairs in the parking lot no one would be able to see anything. I hope everyone realizes that we have spent hours planning, making phone calls, setting up chairs and literally measuring how many seats we can fit in the gym safely. The number of 6 was made as a worst-case scenario. We expect it to be more but it didn’t make sense to go above that initially for the above mentioned reasons. We actually expect it to be closer to 8 but if it’s going to be 9 it made more sense to tell you that officially when we know rather than giving possible numbers. After we get the initial 6 guests we will quickly know exactly how many available seats we have left and we can let you know so you can plan accordingly. We didn’t receive the governor’s guidelines until the evening of April 7th. We’ve had 5 days since then to completely develop our plan and get the information out to parents and students. If you have questions please let me know. I’ll be happy to clear up any concerns or answer any questions you may have. Brock

Attention seniors and parents of seniors! This information was mailed out to you regarding graduation. Please return the form included in the letter by May 3. This is a very important form that we need back in order to plan graduation. Thank you!

Order your flowers for Mother’s Day today! Call the high school office to order!

Buses may be running a few minutes late on Lapperell this morning due to an accident. Your kids will be picked up just maybe a few minutes late.

Western Local Board of Education meeting in room 101 at 6 PM on 4/12

Reminder: Prom tickets must be bought by May 7. There will be no tickets available after this date. $33 for a couple, $18 for a single.

Due to the rain the high school baseball and softball games for tonight have been postponed and will be played on Thursday evening at home

SOCCER PICTURES ARE TOMORROW, APRIL 10th. We apologize for the change again, however the weather is showing no rain in the am and there would be a conflict with baseball/softball pictures if we had on the 17th. Schedule is as follows: 8:30 Hannah Trucking 8:45 Longs Retreat 9:00 Life Change Church 9:15 Mopshop 9:30 Guilkey Trucking. 9:45 Sunfish Valley Whitetails. 10:00 Latham Auto Parts 10:15 Williams Hardware Packets will be available at the time of pictures. Please arrive 10 minutes before scheduled time.

Just a reminder that Western is currently seeking candidates for sub bus driving, sub custodians, and sub cooks. Click the link below for information or call me at (740) 493-3113. https://www.westernlocalschools.com/page/employment-opportunities

Updated 4/8 JH baseball schedule 2021

This is our current JH baseball schedule. Please keep in mind that this is a work in progress. Because we haven't had an established program (this is our first team in at least three years) we weren't able to get in either of the local leagues. We are building the schedule as we go because most teams have limited availability due to league commitments. The schedule may change due to make-ups from those league commitments. We are only able to schedule games when our local teams aren't already committed. I will update the schedule immediately as games are added.

Although our printed schedule says that boys and girls are both at Clay the boys game will actually be at home. Clay changed the venue because their baseball and softball fields are at different locations. The kids are aware but I wanted to make sure any fans who may want to come know the boys are at home and the girls are at Clay tonight.

Clarifying the earlier message - this is not the Covid vaccine. These are the regular vaccinations students have been getting for years. If you have any questions please contact the school nurse at 740-493-2881. Again, this is not Covid related!!!!

Letters were sent in the mail Friday to all Students going into 7th and 12th grade next year and describes the requirements to receive vaccines for school in fall. Our SOMC western family practice will be offering a vaccine clinic on April 8th and 9th so that students can receive the vaccines. If you would like for your student to get the required vaccines please fill out the forms that were mailed home and return them to the school ASAP. No vaccines will be given unless a form is returned. If you have any questions please call the school nurse.