The Republic School District has announced it will hold a “Virtual Spirit Week” from March 23-27 to continue to engage students, families, and staff while school continues to be cancelled because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Families are being encouraged to send photos to the school via a private message on one of the district’s social media pages.
Communications Director Josey McPhail said it’s part of the school’s effort to help students face the uncertainty of the current situation.
“We are working diligently to create systems and resources for our students, employees and families that will assist in creating some sense of “normalcy” over the coming weeks. The goal is to do our best to meet the needs of the ‘whole child’ during this closure,” she said.
McPhail said the district will be rolling out “academic specific resources soon,” and next week will launch two initiatives: childcare for health care and first responders, and free meal distribution to children.
The outbreak is posing challenges to administrators and staff at the school district like everyone else. McPhail said district officials met with other school and health care leaders in southwest Missouri in early March to plan for potential “what-if” situations. “As the situation has escalated over the last week, district administrators have met throughout this week to create and deploy plans and systems to best meet the needs of our students, employees and the community overall. This is a very fluid situation, but we are committed to being as proactive as possible and keeping our community informed every step of the way,” she said.
Daily Spirit Week themes:
Monday, March 23: Orange & Black Day
Tuesday, March 24: PJ Day
Wednesday, March 25: Whatcha Readin’ Day? (Show us what you’re reading!)
Thursday, March 26: The Future is Bright Day (Wear your sunglasses!)
Friday, March 27: Crazy Socks Day
The district will share images as part of the virtual event, and promises more efforts to engage students and families during the time away from school.
“The virtual spirit week is just another example of how we are working to engage with our students, families and community as a whole during this closure. We feel it’s a way to bring our Republic community together for some fun and as a reminder that we will make it through this situation because ‘we are Republic and THAT’S what we do!’ McPhail said.