Staff update 3.26

March 26, 2020

We hope you are staying warm this morning as there is a bit of a chilly wind. Yesterday evening we sent a message regarding the Governor’s most recent order tonight to stay at home until April 11th. Lake County School District employees are providing essential services so we are still able to work. Even so, we are also being mindful to follow social distancing, health and safety practices, and work remotely from home as much as possible. We will all continue to be paid our regular pay for our regularly scheduled hours, even though many of us are doing new and different duties. The Governor has suspended in-person instruction through April 17th and has indicated that this likely will continue throughout the end of the year.

If you had entered a leave in Aesop during the time we will be closed that leave will simply be removed. You may still take that time and use it as needed, but the leave will not be taken from your leave time. Please communicate with your immediate supervisor if you are not going to be available just so they are aware. 

While many employees have already been working with their immediate supervisor this week, we thought it would be helpful to clarify the roles that different employee groups are playing as we work in this new and still changing environment. If you have specific questions about what you should be doing, please check in with your immediate supervisor. The paragraphs below describe what each employee group will be doing in the near future.

Principals, Assistant Principals, Deans, Preschool Director and Center Managers: School leaders have been coordinating the work of ensuring that our students still engage in meaningful learning while they are away from school. School leaders are working with staff to plan for and implement other tasks that come up and still need to be completed even though our schools are closed.  

Teachers, Instructors, Counselors, Preschool Teachers, and Preschool Assistant Teachers: Teachers have been collaborating with principals, each other, students and families to get this effort up and running. With email being our primary form of communication, please check your school email at least once per day. Please aim to respond to emails within 24 hours of receipt.

We will be conducting more and more meetings through Zoom or other remote methods. We will give 24-hours’ notice for remote meeting invitations to allow you to arrange your schedule accordingly. As our work shifts from designing at-home learning activities, more communication will be sent out about meetings and work expectations.

Kitchen Staff: Our Kitchen Staff has been working diligently to prepare meals for our community meal drops. Over 600 meals are handed out daily, with the number rising as word gets out. This is a tremendous help in reducing the stressors on our families at such a time. This staff will continue to coordinate with Julie Mehle and Kerri Quinlan on this effort.

Custodians: Eva Mascaranes has been working with the custodial staff to ensure our facilities are clean and sanitized under our new limited use. Eva will continue to coordinate this employee group according to our use of the buildings.

Maintenance: Todd Coffin will continue to work with maintenance staff on routine maintenance and projects as prioritized.  Anyone aware of items that need fixed, please submit these to School Dude through your front offices, so that the maintenance team is aware and these items can potentially be completed during the extended closure. 

Bus Drivers: We are asking bus drivers to drive 3 district vehicles per day as part of our meal delivery program. Taylor Trelka or Karen Johnson will work with Joyce LaCome to create a schedule and communicate that schedule with drivers.

Paraprofessionals and Hall Support: We are asking district paraprofessionals to contribute 2-3 shifts per week to meals delivery (about 3 hours per day). Taylor Trelka or Karen Johnson will be reaching out to you with your scheduled days. If you, or someone in your household, has a medical condition that puts you at higher risk for leaving your house or being in contact with others, please call your supervisor to discuss this. We are consulting regularly with public health, and taking a number of precautions to reduce risk during meal delivery. 

Front Offices and Secretaries: Secretaries and front office staff will continue their regular work and also work on some special projects. They will work remotely from home as much as possible. The easiest way to reach them will be email. They will work directly with their immediate supervisor and Bunny Taylor in these efforts.

District Office Staff and Center Managers: District Office will continue their regular work. They will work remotely from home as much as possible. The easiest way to reach them will be email. District office staff will be working directly with their supervisors.

IT: DJ and Pat are available to assist with technology related questions.  One way to report an issue is to send an email describing the problem to: helpdesk@lakecountyschools.net 

Afterschool Staff: If you are a regularly scheduled after-school staff member, you will continue to be paid for your scheduled shifts throughout the closure. Project Dream is taking the lead on the school meal delivery program for the length of the closure. We are asking regularly scheduled Project Dream staff to contribute 2-3 shifts per week to meals delivery (about 3 hours per day). Taylor Trelka or Karen Johnson will be reaching out to you with your scheduled days. If you, or someone in your household, has a medical condition that puts you at higher risk for leaving your house or being in contact with others, please call your supervisor to discuss this. We are consulting regularly with public health, and taking a number of precautions to reduce risk during meal delivery. 

Substitutes: District substitutes will be paid an average of their monthly substitute payroll. We are asking substitutes to contribute 2-3 shifts per week to meals delivery (about 3 hours per day). Taylor Trelka or Karen Johnson will be reaching out to you with your scheduled days. If you, or someone in your household, has a medical condition that puts you at higher risk for leaving your house or being in contact with others, please call your supervisor to discuss this. We are consulting regularly with public health, and taking a number of precautions to reduce risk during meal delivery. 

Coaches: Based on their schedules of any other essential duties they might have in the community, coaches are being asked to contribute 2-3 shifts per week to meals delivery (about 3 hours per day).Taylor Trelka or Karen Johnson will be reaching out to you with your scheduled days. If you, or someone in your household, has a medical condition that puts you at higher risk for leaving your house or being in contact with others, please call your supervisor to discuss this. We are consulting regularly with public health, and taking a number of precautions to reduce risk during meal delivery.

We cannot express how grateful we are for the care and attention that each of you are bringing to  your particular roles – and the flexibility that you are showing as we all take on different roles to support our community in many ways.   Please also know, we are very aware of the additional strain we are all under by living in uncertain times. We all have our hearts with our families and loved ones, while also doing the essential work required of a school system.  We want all of you to be able to take care of yourselves and manage as well as possible, during these challenging times.  

We are a strong CREW and our collective contributions will offer strength and consistency to our community.  Thank you again for all you do!

Sincerely,

The LCSD leadership team