Dear Parent/Guardian:

The Monett R-I School District will be making a calendar amendment for the 2020-2021 school year. The district will not be in session on Monday and Tuesday, November 23-24, for a Thanksgiving break extension. The purpose of a break extension is to allow students and staff to return from being quarantined due to close contact and for deep cleaning of our campuses. The Monett R-1 School District will be closed the entire week of Thanksgiving. 

We are not seeing a spread of the COVID-19 virus at school; however, students and staff are being quarantined due to close contact. An extended Thanksgiving break will provide a much-needed opportunity to allow more students to return while not adding to the quarantine list during the week. We trust this change will enable more kids and staff to be on campus as we begin December and close out the first semester. 

It is not our intention to cause childcare issues with this calendar amendment. We are providing an advanced notice to give families enough time to plan accordingly.

Our state department is now allowing districts to use hours instead of days. Therefore, these days will not need to be made up as we have enough hours scheduled into the academic calendar. 

We thank our staff, parents, and students for the overwhelming support during the past few days. We hope the Thanksgiving break extension gives everyone time to rest and spend time with family. 

With gratitude, 

Mark Drake
Assistant Superintendent of Monett R-1 Schools