Harrisburg Middle School

HARRISBURG COMMUNITY - UPDATE ON FACILITIES - I received a phone call from a citizen this morning who told me that he lives by Taylor Field and was very angry that there were people still walking on the track and using the facility. The Governor did ask that all school run facilities shut down, but the district did not feel the need to stop people from walking on the track as long as the people were practicing social distancing. With that said, I regret to inform you that we will not allow any admittance to any of our facilities until further notice. I know many of you walk on the track daily , as have I. I also know that as adults you would adhere to the social distancing aspect as requested. However, when people decide that it is their job to police our property and make those calls and allegations against the district, we feel it is prudent for us to go ahead and just lock the facility and comply with the directive from Springfield. I apologize that this has forced the district to close all of those gates and areas that we know the community use for daily exercise and activities that the Governor has encouraged people to do as long as they practice the Social Distancing request, but districts across the state were indeed asked to lock their facilities, so that is what we will do. I promise you all that the minute the Governor allows us to open our doors, we will make these facilities available for all of you again. The district, Board, Administration and staff believe that the school district should be a community facility used by all members of our community. Sadly, not all people feel that way, as evident by the phone call I had today. On behalf of the district, I want to apologize for the inconvenience and hopefully it will not last much longer. Thank you and please stay safe. Mike Gauch

UNIT # 3 UPDATE Harrisburg Unit # 3 continues to make every attempt to provide our students with materials on - line and through our Learning packets to maintain skills and knowledge through this closure. Our e-learning program continues on-line with the materials that were sent out two weeks ago, please look for announcements from your teachers about possible videos, links, U-tube suggestions or new items that they put out for you work on until our new target date to possibly return to school provided by the Governor of April 8th. Those of you without Internet Access will be able to pick up new packets at your child's school on Tuesday March 31st from 9-12 and/or 3-6 p.m.. Staff will be at the school during these times to pass out packets of learning for you to pick up. We as a district remain dedicated to our students and doing the best we can to make this closure a productive time educationally for our students. Thank you again for your cooperation through this time and as we have further information we will pass it along to all of you. Thank You Mike Gauch

UNIT # 3 UPDATE Harrisburg Unit # 3 continues to make every attempt to provide our students with materials on - line and through our Learning packets to maintain skills and knowledge through this closure. Our e-learning program continues on-line with the materials that were sent out two weeks ago, please look for announcements from your teachers about possible videos, links, U-tube suggestions or new items that they put out for you work on until our new target date to possibly return to school provided by the Governor of April 8th. Those of you without Internet Access will be able to pick up new packets at your child's school on Tuesday March 31st from 9-12 and/or 3-6 p.m.. Staff will be at the school during these times to pass out packets of learning for you to pick up. We as a district remain dedicated to our students and doing the best we can to make this closure a productive time educationally for our students. Thank you again for your cooperation through this time and as we have further information we will pass it along to all of you. Thank You Mike Gauch

Harrisburg Unit 3 .... I have attached a u-tube link that gives you a glimpse into our Meal Service Program that we are running for our students during this closure. My staff has forced me to limit volunteers....because too many of them WANT to help. Their passion for the children of this community is a great thing. I am so proud of them! I hope this paints just a small picture of the magnitude of this program....... The time and effort that this takes each week to put together THIRTEEN THOUSAND meals! We are so happy to do this for our district, our children and our community. GOD BLESS AND STAY SAFE! Mike Gauch https://youtu.be/pAVlL2uucqc

UNIT # 3 UPDATE Harrisburg Unit # 3 continues to make every attempt to provide our students with materials on - line and through our Learning packets to maintain skills and knowledge through this closure. Our e-learning program continues on-line with the materials that were sent out two weeks ago, please look for announcements from your teachers about possible videos, links, U-tube suggestions or new items that they put out for you work on until our new target date to possibly return to school provided by the Governor of April 8th. Those of you without Internet Access will be able to pick up new packets at your child's school on Tuesday March 31st from 9-12 and/or 3-6 p.m.. Staff will be at the school during these times to pass out packets of learning for you to pick up. We as a district remain dedicated to our students and doing the best we can to make this closure a productive time educationally for our students. Thank you again for your cooperation through this time and as we have further information we will pass it along to all of you. Thank You Mike Gauch

Harrisburg Community, I am very happy we were able to pass out 8,000 meals today for our students to have food for the week. Each bag contained 5 breakfasts and 5 lunches of the week. We are hopeful that this service is reaching as many of our children as possible. I regret to say that we did however, run out of meals very quickly today and we realize some people were not able to get the meals. That was not our intention and we hate that we have to turn people away, however, we can only do so much to keep this service going for all of our community. We would like to make the following pleas to all of you moving forward to help us maximize the amount of children and community members we can serve with this program. 1. Please only take or go get meals from one of the many sites we have available for pick up. We are doing all of this program on the honor system. We give anyone that walks up a meal if we have it, we do not ask, nor will we, but please allow everyone to get an opportunity to get some meals. 2. Please only request the amount of bags that will help you supplement what you need to make it through the week for your children. 3. We are trying to feed as many of our students as possible. Please help us by only taking what you absolutely need. 4. We apologize in advance....when we run out of meals....we are OUT. We are being limited in our ordering currently and will do as many meals or bags as we can, but when they are gone there is nothing we can do. The district is doing the very best they can in a very difficult situation and when that limit is reached we will be unable to accommodate anything until the next round of service. We THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND COOPERATION THROUGH THIS DIFFICULT TIME. Harrisburg Unit # 3 will continue to do everything we can to assist our students and families through this situation. Thank You, Mike Gauch

REMINDER......... Harrisburg Unit #3's Meal Plan will be at mobile sites tomorrow Monday, March 23rd to get meals out to our students. PLEASE REMEMBER that we are delivering a weeks worth of meals to you tomorrow and will not have another delivery until Monday, March 30th. Thank you, Mike Gauch

Message regarding food service. Harrisburg Community, We are very happy that the Governor is going to allow Harrisburg Unit # 3 to continue to provide our Meal Plan for the community. The district WILL continue this vital service for our students and our community. While this service will continue, we will be making some changes to the program and wanted to update you all on what those changes will be and how they will impact you. All pick up sites for meals will not change, the sites that we currently are operating as mobile sites will be the same. There are 3 changes for the program, those changes will start Monday, March 23rd. 1. We have decided to have pick up of meals only on Monday. When you come to the site, you will be provided a bag that contains 5 breakfast meals and 5 lunch meals for the week. It is essential that you show up on Monday as that will be the ONLY day we have these deliveries each week. 2. Robinson Transport (our district transportation provider) has graciously offered to assist by bringing the meals to each of our sites in one of their big yellow busses. We appreciate them and their willingness to assist us in this service. 3. Finally, with the amount of items, bags and meals that we are putting together we are going to be unable to honor allergy requests. PLEASE make sure you check your child's bag for any product that may be an allergy concern and either give it away or discard the item. BUT PLEASE CHECK YOUR CHILD'S ITEMS!!!! I have attached a copy of the delivery sites as a reminder. We look forward to getting these meals out to you Monday and every Monday as long as this closure is in place. Thank you and stay safe! Link to meal plan info: https://5il.co/e03p Mike Gauch Superintendent Harrisburg Unit # 3

Update from Mike Gauch Harrisburg Unit # 3 Superintendent Harrisburg Community, I wanted to provide an update regarding our district and the Health scare that is dominating our lives currently. The Governor announced today that as of 5 p.m. Saturday, March 21st thru Tuesday, April 7th that Illinois will be under a “STAY HOME ORDER”. He also announced that our schools would remain closed until at least April 8th and they will re-evaluate the situation at that time. We will provide you information regarding what the district is going to do in regards to our e- learning program as well as packets for those of you with NO internet access. We provided a 2 week packet which will get us through March 27th. I will meet with my administrative staff over the weekend and consult with our teaching staff and provide updates through next week (March 23rdthru March 27th). The Governor is allowing us to continue to provide our food service to the community due to the fact we are providing “ESSENTIAL SERVICE” to our community. The district WILL continue this service to our families with some minor changes. I will be placing announcements out this weekend on our District APP, all social media sites and through our all call system to discuss these minor changes as we move forward in this situation. Thank you again for your understanding and cooperation in this matter and we will continue to provide updates as they evolve. Thank You Mike

3-19-2020 Harrisburg Unit # 3 Family THE FOLLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT WILL NOT IMPACT OUR MEALS PROGRAM AT THIS TIME......... MEALS WILL STILL BE DELIVERED AS NORMAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In an effort to adhere to the "social distancing" recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control, Unit # 3 will no longer accept foot traffic through the day in their building offices or the Unit Office. There will be staff there to conduct business remotely by phone and/or email each day.We will attempt to answer your questions or find a solution for any issue you have remotely. Should you need paperwork or other items we will work with you to schedule a pick up at one of our locations. Again, we will still be here to handle business, but will have doors locked and will not allow entry to any of the buildings until further notice. Please understand this is a decision that will cause some delays in resolving issues, but we will do our best to provide you the service you need. Call your child's building first and if you cannot reach anyone there please call the Unit Office and we will do our best to assist you. Thank you, Mike Gauch

Parents/Guardians/Students Harrisburg Community - Harrisburg Unit # 3 schools will have someone in offices at each building and the Unit office to assist you with concerns or questions throughout this closure. In an attempt to limit the opportunity for the transmission of any health related problems, we ask that you first call the district and attempt to conduct any business you may have by phone. We will do everything in our power to be able to address your concerns on that call. Should you be in need of a form, paper or any other document we can take that information on the phone and use email to transmit to IF POSSIBLE. This will avoid you having to travel outside your home for something we can take care of on the phone or by email. Should we not be able to handle the issue by phone, we would ask you to come in so we could get you any information or documents you need for you or your child. Please refer to the Meal Plan Document as we start serving meals today in several locations noted on that document. My staff and I are very appreciative and humbled by the outpouring of support from our families and community members. This is a very stressful time for everyone and to have the kind words we heard throughout the day yesterday was why Harrisburg is HOME! We truly care for your children as well and want them back in our buildings as soon as it is deemed to be the safest solution for them. Thank you again for your cooperation and we will continue to update you as this situation evolves. Thank you, Mike Gauch Superintendent

ANNOUNCEMENT FROM SUPERINTENDENT MIKE GAUCH The School Board WILL have their monthly meeting on Tuesday, March 17, 2020 to conduct essential business that we must accomplish. HOWEVER, we are asking that unless you have direct business as stated on the agenda that you NOT attend the meeting as to limit the amount of people in attendance due to the health concerns we are dealing with as a nation. Those of you that are regular attendees as the HEA and other groups, please limit your group to only one representative attend the meeting. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Parents, We have attached our district's information regarding a meal plan during this closure. Please call the unit office with any questions you have. The district will be serving meals for free Monday - Friday during this entire closure period. Thank You, Mike Gauch View Image or Click Link: https://5il.co/dqcr

NOTICE TO ALL HARRISBURG STUDENTS AND PARENTS FROM MIKE GAUCH SUPERINTENDENT:

Parents I have received some information from the state that will assist us and guide the district during this closure. My administrative team will meet tomorrow and break these documents down and see how they will relate to our students and staff. We will get this information out to you sometime Monday regarding meals starting Tuesday for students, as well as any updates that may need clarified through the closure. I will also be involved in a town hall phone call tomorrow afternoon with all Superintendents and the Illinois State Board where I will ask questions about the process we are starting on Monday. Finally. the State will be providing a webinar with further guidance for the closure on Tuesday afternoon and my entire administrative team has signed up to be a part of that. We will be in the unit office to all listen together and try and improve our plan or gain clarification from the state as we move forward. We are still moving forward with our plan to be able to open up e-learning online Tuesday as well as having learning packets at your child's school from 2-4 on Monday. This situation is still changing hourly and I will keep you all informed as information comes in that we believe is important to convey. Thank you again for your patience and understanding that this is out of the district's control and we just have to do what we can to make the best of the situation for our children. Thank You Mike Gauch Superintendent

Harrisburg Unit # 3 is dedicated to ensure the safety of all students as we try and navigate this unchartered territory that is the coronavirus WHILE THERE ARE STILL NO DOCUMENTED OR CONFIRMED CASES OF THIS VIRUS IN OUR DISTRICT OR EVEN IN THE AREA. We remain in contact with our local health department as well as the Illinois State Board allowing these experts to guide us through this issue. We are preparing e-learning plans/suggestions in case the state or district determines it is in the best interest of our children to shut down in response to this public health issue. This situation is changing by the hour and we are constantly monitoring these developments to make the best decisions for our students and our community. We continue to put out periodic announcements as things progress today and through the weekend. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation in this matter. Respectfully, Mike Gauch

Spring Picture Day is Tomorrow!!! Dress code applies. Select the background and your child is ready to go!

Spring Picture Day is Wednesday, March 11. All students will get their picture taken. Dress code applies. No money due now - Students need to pick from six different backgrounds.

Glow Dance 2020

Since school was not in session on Friday, the final day of yearbook sales has been extended to Monday, Feb. 10 at HMS.