School Closure: COVID-19

March 13, 2020

Dear Fort Calhoun Community,

With guidance from local medical and health department experts, we feel it is in the best interest of our students and staff to close Fort Calhoun Community Schools from March 13th to March 22nd.

This is effective today (March 13, 2020).

Closure means no school, no practices, no travel, no meetings, no weight room, no contests, no activities, etc. Anything on the school calendar is canceled.

At this time, Prom and Post Prom are postponed.

We are closing all school district operations down for the entire week, to begin and include today, Friday, March 13th. This includes Little Blossoms before and after school program. Please make plans for childcare accordingly.

This has been an extremely difficult decision that we didn’t take lightly. There are literally thousands of issues we factored in and continue to discuss.

We will continue to discuss our plans moving forward, immediately focusing on the week of March 23. We will communicate that decision late next week.

Beyond that, we are operating with a week-to-week mindset. This situation is literally changing by the hour.

We will continue to do our best to communicate on a regular basis with updates. Thank you for your continued support of Fort Calhoun Schools. We will do our best to support our students, staff, and community through this unprecedented time.

Dr. Don Johnson

Superintendent

Fort Calhoun Community Schools

2020 Scholastic State Art Competition

Congratulations to the students who earned awards from this year’s Scholastic State Art competition. On Saturday, February 29th the students attended the awards ceremony, held annually, at the Omaha Public Schools Teacher Administrative Center building. Fort Calhoun students earned a total of 20 awards. All the entries that received awards from across the state will be on display at the Omaha Public Schools Teacher Administrative Center, located at 3215 Cuming St., until March 29, 2020.

Sasha Robinson, 9 – Honorable Mention, A Portrait of Me Running on 1 Hour of Sleep, Drawing and Illustration
Katie Barta, 10 – Silver Key, Happiest Place on Earth, Painting
Gabe Anduze,10 – Gold Key, Judgement, Painting

Jada Wheeler, 10 – Honorable Mention, Taylor’s View, Drawing and IllustrationKaitlin Smith, 11 – Silver Key, On Mountain Time, Ceramics and Glass
Kennedy Bradburn, 12 – Honorable Mention, Mini Me, Drawing and Illustration
Kennedy Bradburn, 12 – Honorable Mention, Hmm, Printmaking
Kennedy Bradburn, 12 – Honorable Mention, Life, Art Portfolio
Kennedy Bradburn, 12 – Silver Key, Cancer, Drawing and Illustration

Evelyn Holmstedt, 12 – Honorable Mention, Caelum, Drawing and Illustration
Evelyn Holmstedt, 12 – Honorable Mention, Christine, Ceramics and Glass
Evelyn Holmstedt, 12 – Honorable Mention, Monochromo, Art Portfolio
Bailey Donovan, 12 – Honorable Mention, My Little Zoo, Art Portfolio
Bailey Donovan, 12 – Honorable Mention, Mooo Me?, Drawing and Illustration
Bailey Donovan, 12 – Silver Key, What a Hoot, Drawing and Illustration
Bailey Donovan, 12 – Silver Key, Not So Blue Jay, Printmaking
Bailey Donovan, 12 – Gold Key, Bullett Dean, Drawing and Illustration
Alyssa Mitchell, 12 – Honorable Mention, Goofy Gurl, Drawing and Illustration
Maggie Theisen, 12 – Honorable Mention, Polar Bear, Printmaking
Nate Wear, 12 – Honorable Mention, The Lighthouse Man, Digital Art

The 2020 award recipients are: (left to right) Jada Wheeler, Katie Barta, Maggie Theisen, Kaitlin Smith, and Sasha Robinson
Kennedy Bradburn, Bailey Donovan, Evelyn Holmstedt, and Gabe Anduze,

Congrats Ely and Lance Olberding

Congratulations to Fort Calhoun Wrestlers Ely and Lance Olberding who competed in the State Wrestling Meet last weekend at the CHI Health Center. Lance (113 lbs) ended his season with a 7th place finish and Ely (106lbs) is Class C State Champion. Their hard work paid off! Congrats!

PLC Fun 2020

The PLC Transition students have been busy learning skills that will help them be successful in the workforce. Some of the activities include leading weekly activities with Autumn Pointe residents, volunteering at Pioneer Friends, and learning to make healthy recipes and kitchen shortcuts. 

2020 Wesleyan University Honor Band

Please congratulate the following who auditioned and were selected for the Wesleyan University Honor Band Festival held February 13th – 15th.


Savannah Lukasiewicz

Nate Bonacci

Austin Altstadt

Ryan Swierczek

Ryan Clausen

Austin Altstadt, Nate Bonacci, Savannah Lukasiewicz, Ryan Clausen and Ryan Swierczek. Photo by Kim Lukasiewicz

Mrs. Schleifer has the Classroom of the Week

Mrs. Schleifer’s Fourth Grade class was the classroom of the week for Enterprise Publishing. Read more about their project below.

“In our classroom, we focus on having a growth mindset and the importance of gratitude. A large component of a growth mindset is focusing on the positive side of things and reminding ourselves what we’re capable of. The class read the book “Best Part of Me” and loved seeing how other students across the country take pride in themselves. The spirit of the book gave the kids excitement in identifying things they are proud of. Through brainstorming, note taking, writing and editing the students published what they are most proud of about themselves. We can all use a reminder from time to time about what is truly great about ourselves and to celebrate those things! This project has given our class energy and excitement to finish the rest of the school year on a high note!” – Allie Schleifer

Congrats to our Spelling Bee Winners 2020

Wish them luck at the County Spelling Bee on February 12th which will be held in Fort Calhoun.

100 Days of Learning Fun 2020

Fort Calhoun Elementary celebrated the 100th day on Jan 24th! We had fun with STEM building stations with 100 different objects including plastic cups, popsicle sticks, legos, pipe cleaners, and linking cubes! We made a 100-day snack made 100-day t-shirts. We are 100 days brighter here at Fort Calhoun!