Piñon Unified School District

A Public Health Service announcement from IHS: “To assist with stopping the spread of the coronavirus. If you must leave your home for essential errands such as shopping for food please follow recommendations from the CDC: · Stay at least 6 feet away from others while shopping and in lines. Cover your mouth and nose with a cloth face covering when you have to go out in public. When you do have to visit in person, go during hours when fewer people will be there (for example, early morning or late night). If you are at higher risk for severe illness, find out if the store has special hours for people at higher risk. If they do, try to shop during those hours. People at higher risk for severe illness include adults 65 or older and people of any age who have serious underlying medical conditions. Disinfect the shopping cart, use disinfecting wipes if available. Do not touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. If possible, use touchless payment (pay without touching money, a card, or a keypad). If you must handle money, a card, or use a keypad, use hand sanitizer right after paying. After leaving the store, use hand sanitizer. When you get home, wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. At home, follow food safety guidelines: clean, separate, cook, chill. There is no evidence that food or food packaging has been linked to getting sick from COVID-19. The CDC also continues to recommend social distancing, by limiting close contact with individuals outside your household in indoor and outdoor spaces. Since people can spread the virus before they know they are sick, it is important to stay away from others when possible, even if you have no symptoms. If you or someone you know has questions about COVID-19, or is sick please call the Nurse Call line 1-800-242-9271.”

PUSD #4 Announces New Grading Policy For The Remainder Of The School Year Schools in the Pinon Unified School District are closed for the rest of the school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but students continue to learn online or by printed packets. The district is making adjustments to the school calendar related to the current situation. Student grades for the second semester of the 2019-2020 school year will be calculated based on third-quarter grades, and the completion of new assignments for the rest of the semester. Final semester grades will not be lowered from the posted third-quarter grade, they can only be improved. Students that had a failing grade for third-quarter will have to work very closely with their teachers to improve that for the final semester grade. For high school students, these grades will be used to issue full credits for the second semester of the school year, meet graduation requirements and award diplomas to senior students. We are encouraging all classwork to be done online to the extent possible. We have been and will continue to mail student packets out for those without online access. These packets WILL NOT be collected due to health and safety reasons. Please work with your teachers to see how completed assignments can be reviewed. One possibility is to email or text a picture of the completed work to the teacher. Statewide assessments for students are canceled for the 2019-2020 school year, which includes AzM2 (AZ MERIT), AIMS Science, MSAA and AZELLA. ACT testing is postponed and rescheduled for June 13th. The Oral Navajo Language Culture-Test-Standards Based Assessment (ONLC-T-SBA) is canceled for this year. Career and Technical Education (CTE) assessments are also canceled. The Pinon High School Graduation ceremony is postponed, but NOT canceled, at this time. All other student activities are canceled for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year. The 8th Grade Promotion Ceremony is canceled. All students will still receive the awards, honors, and recognition that they would have received but we will not be able to have the banquets, assemblies, and ceremonies that we would normally have had to end the school year. Thank you, Superintendent Ostgaard

A public health message from Pinon Health Center: “To assist with stopping the spread of the coronavirus. The Centers for Disease Control as of April 4th, 2020 recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings. The CDC also continues to recommend social distancing, by limiting close contact with individuals outside your household in indoor and outdoor spaces. Since people can spread the virus before they know they are sick, it is important to stay away from others when possible, even if you have no symptoms. Here is the CDC link for more information, and instructions on how to make your own face mask. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html”

Good Afternoon Pinon Unified Community, We will begin student meal service again starting Monday on the same schedule we used before. The guidelines have changed so children DO NOT need to be there when picking up meals. Please, only ONE PERSON per family should be at the bus stop or come to the drive-up service at the Elementary. We will not be dropping off or picking up student homework packets tomorrow, only meals. Any child 18 or under is eligible, even if they are not a PUSD student. All meal prep facilities and the buses have been thoroughly cleaned. We ask that you practice social distancing when picking up the student meals. Thank you, Superintendent Ostgaard

Greetings Pinon Unified Community! If you have questions or need to contact teachers or other district staff, please use my new email account. [email protected] I will be monitoring every day and I will respond or forward your message to the appropriate staff member. Also, a reminder to be sure your contact email and phone/text numbers are up to date. Our teachers are reaching out but many numbers are out of service or they are not getting a response. If you are not getting calls or emails, you can email me your name, student's name, number and email and I can get it updated for you. A reminder to practice social distancing, stay home and be safe! Thank you, Superintendent Ostgaard

Greetings Pinon Unified Community, A public service message from Pinon Clinic. Assist in stopping the spread of the Coronavirus. Wash your hands frequently for at least 20 seconds. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth. Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces with EPA registered products. Stay home if you are sick. You should only leave home to get medical care, get prescription medication, shop for food/basic needs, you should go alone or send one person. Please call the Nurse Call line before going to get seen at Pinon Clinic. 1-800-242-9271 Stay Home! Stay Safe! Stay Healthy! Thank you!

Pinon Unified Community, We will be stopping student meal service for the rest of this week and keeping the campus closed through Friday. One of our staff has a close family member that has tested positive for COVID-19. No one on staff has symptoms or has tested positive but we need to be cautious. Our first priority is always the health and safety of our students and our staff. Please practice social distancing and remain at home as much as you can. All staff should check in daily with their supervisors for assignments or instructions. Teachers please continue to work with your students as much as possible. Thank you, Superintendent Ostgaard

Greetings Pinon Unified Community, The PUSD Campus will be closed on March 31 and April 1. We are working to finalize our operations now that Governor Ducey has extended the school closures to the end of the year and issued a Stay At Home order, this is in addition to the Shelter In Place order issued by the Navajo Nation. Schools are considered "essential" and we will not be shut down permanently but we need to review guidance on how to best serve the educational needs of our students and also protect the health of our staff. Essential security staff members and those working with student meal distribution should report as scheduled. All other staff should remain at home. PUSD staff please check your email for additional information. I do encourage all of our students, families and staff to follow the stay at home, shelter in place and curfew orders that have been issued! This is for your safety and for the health and safety of the entire PUSD Community. Thank you, Superintendent Ostgaard

Greetings Pinon Unified Community, As we begin week 3 of schools being closed, PUSD is working hard to provide educational opportunities to our students. Teachers are reaching out to families with phone numbers and email addresses that we have on file in our PowerSchool system. Many teachers have told me that numbers are not in service or that they are not receiving calls back. Please contact your school office and update your information if you have not been contacted by the school or are not receiving our alert calls and text messages. Also, ALL students and ALL staff have access to their Google email accounts, Google Classroom and other Google apps from any device with an internet or data connection. Google apps are free downloads on any smartphone or tablet. Students can use the apps shown in the image to communicate with their teacher and complete assignments. We will keep posting updates daily so please continue to check our PUSD website or Facebook page for more information. Thank you, Superintendent Ostgaard

Greetings Pinon Community, We will be using our school buses to deliver breakfast and lunch beginning Thursday, March 26. Please see attached for routes. We plan to leave campus at 10am. This is the first run so please be patient, I do not know when we will reach each stop tomorrow. We can provide a better schedule for Friday. We will still have drive-up service on campus during the same time we have had this week. Thank you, Superintendent Ostgaard

Greetings Pinon Unified Community, I just received notice from Governor Ducey's Office that the school closure will be extended though Friday, April 10 with classes on campus scheduled to resume on Monday, April 13. More details will follow in the days ahead. Thank you!

Greetings Pinon Unified Community, By now you may have heard that there is a confirmed case of COVID-19 at Kayenta Health Center. Now that the virus has reached the local area, PUSD is going to Plan B. All 10-month, 11-month and 12-month staff (certified and classified) will not report to work during the state school closure unless designated as essential. At this time essential personnel include those working with the breakfast and lunch program and campus security so those staff members should continue to report as scheduled. We will continue to provide the breakfast and lunch meals along with items from St. Mary's Food Back to ALL children age 18 and younger during the posted hours. All staff will be paid during this time as usual for the two weeks. This is not a "paid vacation" and all staff should consider themselves as "on-call" if we do need you to come in. The intention is that you stay home to limit your exposure to the virus. Teachers and administrators can be using this time to prep for return to school or to communicate with your students on educational activities they can do from home during the closure. Human Resources will also be making online professional development sessions available through frontline for all staff if you have access from home. The PUSD campus is closed except for the breakfast and lunch drive-up program.

Greetings PUSD #4 Staff: Update: 10-month certified staff: do not report to work at this time. The Prop 301 day scheduled for Saturday is postponed. Stay tuned for additional updates in the next few days. 10-month classified staff: you have the option of reporting to work on a disposition and we will find assignments for you. Also, you have the option to take any leave you have accrued to fill in your time while the schools are closed. Both are optional, not required. 11 and 12 month certified and classified staff: report to work as usual. We are working on a 4 X 10 hour schedule this week unless you are working with the food service program which would remain on 8 hour days. If your job duties allow you to work remotely from home, you have that option with supervisor approval. Reminder: Don't consider this a "vacation". The purpose for closing the schools is to stay home as much as possible to avoid possible contact with COVID-19 and the possible spread to others. Thank you, Superintendent Ostgaard

Greetings Pinon Unified Community! PUSD will be providing free breakfast and lunch to all children under the age of 18 beginning Tuesday, 3-17-2020, and running until the end of the school closure. It will be a drive-in service in front of Pinon Elementary. Hours for breakfast are 7:30-9:00am and lunch will be from 11:30am to 1:00pm. You do not need to be a PUSD student to participate, but children do need to be present to pick up the meals. We will also have food packages from St. Mary's Food Bank for distribution during these times. Thank you, Superintendent Ostgaard

Greetings PUSD Staff, All 11 and 12 month staff will report on Monday as usual until we hear more information as to the school closure, specifically if we will have to make up the days later or not. Ten month staff will not report during the school closure unless notified to come in to work. I will provide more details when I have them. Thank you, Superintendent Ostgaard

Greetings Pinon Unified Community, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and Arizona School Superintendent Kathy Hoffman just released a statement that closes all Arizona public schools for the next two weeks. We had already extended spring break by one week, but it looks like we will be out for at least two weeks. I don't know any other details yet but I will be posting throughout the day tomorrow through our phone app, district web page and Facebook as I find out additional information. Thank you, Superintendent Ostgaard

Greetings Pinon Unified Community! After consulting with the Board President and Vice President, reviewing many texts and emails from concerned community members, and reviewing declarations from Arizona, Navajo Nation and the Federal Government, I have decided to extend spring break by one week. There will be no school for PUSD students March 16 to March 20. All 11 and 12 month staff will report on Monday, 10-month staff will not report on Monday. There will be a Special Board Meeting on Monday evening to discuss additional details for the week. Please understand that calling off school only works if students, families and staff STAY HOME. If you are still traveling and interacting in public you run the risk of contracting COVID-19 and spreading it to the Pinon Community. All PUSD events, including Report Card Party and We-R-Family, are cancelled for this week. Thank you, Superintendent Ostgaard

Greetings PUSD Community Due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19, all student travel, with the exception of athletics which will be determined by AIA and NAIC, will be cancelled until further notice. All staff out of state travel will also be cancelled until further notice. Staff in-state travel will be limited to those considered required or essential for the operations of the Pinon School District. We will continue to post on our website and Facebook if there are updates or additional information. Thank you, Chris Ostgaard Superintendent Piñon Unified School District #4

PUSD #4 will be hosting a COVID-19 informational meeting on Friday, March 6 at 10:00am in the Pinon High School Auditorium. All are invited to attend!

Good Day PUSD Community! I know there is growing concern about the spread of COVID-19. The school district is closely monitoring the situation and is making the necessary preparations in case the COVID-19 becomes more prevalent in our community. For now, there have been no indications of an coronavirus outbreak within the PUSD or the Navajo Nation, but that could change as time goes on. We all play a role in reducing the likelihood of a coronavirus outbreak in our school district community. We encourage everyone to practice good habits, including: 1. Wash your hands regularly, especially after using the restroom and before preparing or consuming food. Wash for 20 seconds, using soap and hot water. Be sure to also wash your fingertips. 2. Avoid coughing or sneezing into your hands or in the air. Always try to cough or sneeze into a tissue, and then throw the tissue away. If you don’t have a tissue, cough/sneeze into your arm. 3. As much as you can, avoid touching your eyes, mouth and nose. 4. If children are feeling sick, please keep them home from school. Allow them some time to feel better so that they do not risk infecting others. We will continue to communicate with you in the days and weeks to come. It is possible that we may need to cancel classes if it appears the coronavirus has affected our community in a significant way. As always, the safety of our students, staff and families remains our top priority. We will act out an abundance of caution to protect everyone’s health and wellbeing.