Be Known for Caring

Welcome to the final stretch of the school year, PLCS! It was a difficult winter by any measure, and if you’re like the Rikli family, you’re thrilled to see the snow melting and experience the warmth of spring. Unfortunately, the warmer weather and rain have brought their own challenges in the form of widespread flooding across the State and region. We are blessed. Our schools and most of our staff and families have avoided the worst of the damage. But we don’t need to go very far to find displaced staff, homeless students, and homes devastated by the recent floods.

The PLCS Family has committed to an all-staff jeans day to support flood relief efforts across the metro and State. Furthermore, many individual PLCS schools have launched benefits to support our fellow Nebraskans, many of whom have lost everything to flood damage. 

At Tara Heights Elementary, students launched a “Kids Helping Kids” campaign to support families in Fremont. Students and staff at La Vista Middle School are collecting items ranging from cleaning supplies to food items for the Salvation Army. Papillion La Vista South is accepting donations for area homeless shelters. Trumble Park students are raising money for the Red Cross. At Prairie Queen, Anderson Grove, Rumsey, and G. Stanley Hall, students and teachers are putting together care packages and packing supplies for families in need. These are just a few of the examples of how our schools and families are rallying support.

Moments like these remind me what a special place we live in and call home. Martin Luther King, Jr. once reminded us that “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?” Nebraska is sometimes derided for being flyover country. We don’t have beaches or mountains or oceanfront views. But what we do have is tough, strong, resilient people who care deeply about their community and their neighbors. I have never been prouder to be a Nebraskan and a Papillion La Vista resident. Thanks for everything all of you do to make this a great place and #BeKind!

Winter in Nebraska

It has been a long winter in Nebraska! The bad news is, winter is not quite done yet with cold temperatures and possible snow the next week or two. The good news is, spring is just around the corner with its promise of warmer temperatures, April showers, and May flowers. The question on everyone’s mind is, how will we make up our snow days?

A bit of history might be helpful. The State of Nebraska requires that students attend 1,080 instructional hours at the middle school and high school and 1,032 hours at the elementary level. PLCS typically schedules 175 instructional days per year, so if we have three or fewer snow days, we are well above the state requirement. To be safe, we typically build extra days into the calendar at the end of the year and designate them as make-up days if four or more snow days are used.  We put these dates on the calendar a year in advance so parents and staff can plan accordingly.

This year, of course, was unusual. In my previous five years as Superintendent, we had three or fewer cancellations every year. As of today, we have canceled school six times. Following the calendar adopted by our Board of Education, that means our last day of school will be pushed back from Thursday, May 23 to Wednesday, May 29. The 29th will be an early release day. Seniors last day will be pushed back from Thursday, May 9 to Friday, May 10. Bringing back students and staff after Memorial Day isn’t ideal, but the alternatives are equally challenging.

We considered adding minutes to the school day, but this solution has many drawbacks. We would likely need to add at least 25-30 minutes per day until the end of the year to make up the three extra snow days. This would create issues for parents at pickup/drop off, create challenges for our busing schedule, and would push back evening activities. Likewise, we discussed taking back days that were scheduled for break, including Spring Break. However, we know many families schedule vacations during this time and holding school on these dates would create hardships for many.  We did not want to suddenly change a calendar that was published a year in advance with designated snow days.

If your family is like mine, everyone is getting cabin fever and looking forward to being outside. We understand that coming back for 2-3 days after Memorial Day will create some issues for staff and families, but we believe it is the best way to make up lost teaching time while also satisfying our state requirements. Thank you for all you do to support our students and our schools. Stay warm and #Be Kind!