Husky Family News

Jan 19th - No School - Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
Jan 20th - Major Saver Fundraiser Starts
Jan 20th - Parent Only 6th Grade Enrollment Night - 6pm California Trail
Jan 20th - PTO Bake it Forward - Small Cakes - 5pm-8pm
Jan 21st - Pioneer Trail Site Council Meeting - 6pm
Jan 22nd - PTO night - Main Event - 4pm-8pm
Jan 26th - Breakfast for Brains Cereal Drive Starts
Jan 28th - PTO Meeting - 6pm - Heatherstone Library
Jan 28th - 6th Grade Enrollment Night - 5:30pm Pioneer Trail

To: Parents/guardians of students at Heatherstone Elementary

From: Olathe School District in collaboration with the Johnson County Health Department Disease Containment Program

Your child may have been exposed to a presumed positive case of Pertussis (Whooping Cough) at school. If your child has been coughing for 2 weeks or longer, please call your physician and mention the possible exposure to Pertussis.

Pertussis is a bacterial respiratory illness characterized by severe spasms of coughing that can last for several weeks or even months. Pertussis is usually spread from person-to-person through close contact with respiratory droplets released when a person coughs or sneezes.

Symptoms:

First symptoms appear like a cold with runny nose, sneezing, cough and low grade fever. This is the most contagious stage.
Irritating cough persists for 1-2 weeks
Cough becomes more severe with repeated attacks of violent coughing with no inhalation between coughs. Occasionally vomiting may occur.
Crowing or a inhalation whoop follows a series of coughs

If any of these symptoms develop, please isolate your child from others. A person is contagious from 7 days following exposure to 3 weeks after the onset of coughing episodes. Treatment of cases or contacts with certain antibiotics can shorten the contagious period. The health department asks that we not allow symptomatic individuals to be in school until having received antibiotic treatment for five days.

Exclusion:

The ill individual shall be excluded from school and should limit contact with others except for physicians appointments (this includes having company in the home).
5 days of antibiotics must be completed for cases and symptomatic contacts before returning to school.
If not treated a Pertussis case is communicable for approximately 3 weeks after the onset of illness and will be excluded for that time period.

Immunizations:

The required DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis) for initial school admission and Tdap (adolescent booster required at grade 7) include protection for pertussis. Our school nurse monitors immunization records for compliance.

If you or your physician has additional questions, please call the Johnson County Health Department at (913) 826-1303.

Additional information may be found at www.cdc.gov

pdf

insert_drive_file

District Medical Letter.pdf

Download

910.1 KB

Dear Heatherstone Elementary families,

On Tuesday your child will learn about the annual Major Saver fundraiser that our elementary schools participate in to support the Olathe Public Schools Foundation and their work to support our teachers and students. Your student will bring home a packet on Tuesday and will be asked to sell discount cards throughout the next two weeks. More information regarding collection dates and prizes will be listed on the packet.

As in years past, we would like to emphasize the importance of safe selling practices. Students are encouraged to sell Major Saver discount cards only to people they know and to utilize the online selling option when possible. Please do not take your child door-to-door to sell cards.

100% of the money raised through this fundraiser directly benefits Olathe students and teachers. Half of the money our students raise stays right here at our school. Over the past 3 years, Major Saver Card sales have raised $4,980 for our school. The Olathe Public Schools Foundation uses the other half of the money raised by this fundraiser to help educators purchase resources that the school district cannot afford, recognize staff members for their hard work and meet student needs. I wanted to list a few examples of ways that our school has been helped by the OPSF in recent years.

This year the OPSF will award over $175,000 in grant funding to Olathe classrooms.
In recent years, the OPSF has awarded Heatherstone over $8,000 in grants to enhance learning, including a $2,000 grant this past fall to purchase tools for students to make cardboard creations in the STEM Spot.
The OPSF Women's Giving Circle supported all Olathe elementary schools with $17,500 in grants this past fall to create a shared library of international languages e-Books and a resource library of materials for physical therapists.
The Olathe Public Schools Foundation is matching up to $75,000 in donations to teachers’ projects through DonorsChoose.org, a national non-profit dedicated to making it easier for anyone to help fund teachers’ classroom needs. Last year, this project helped bring-to-life nearly 300 projects in Olathe classrooms.
Over the past eight years the OPSF has worked with the district to financially support programs that address student mental health and wellness needs, including: embedding mental health therapists at all high schools; providing free summer mental health support sessions for individuals and small groups; and funding mental health first responder embedded in the district. The OPSF also created the Braden Robertson Fund, which allows timely access to mental health care for underinsured students.
As our students mature into middle and high school students, they receive the benefit of the Foundation’s $190,000 annual scholarship program; their $350,000 annual commitment to the health and wellness of our students; and their efforts to bring industry and university-level equipment to our Two-Year and Four-Year Academies.

As you can see, the Olathe Public Schools Foundation has been very generous to our students. One way to give back is to participate in this Major Saver fundraiser if possible. I know that our staff and students will continue to benefit from the generosity of the Foundation!