CCS Newsletter
September 11, 2020
ADMINISTRATION UPDATE
Dear CCS Families,
What a fabulous start to our first hybrid week! It is an absolutely joyous feeling to have children back in our building and to be able to connect, play and learn with one another! Our students have done a fabulous job adjusting to some new routines with masks, classroom set-up and handwashing. As always, they transitioned right back into sharing their curious, kind and bright selves with their peers and teachers.
We wish to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of our CCS families for the prep work you did with your children to get them ready for our hybrid model and daily routines. Thank you for your patience, communication and support during the new arrival/dismissal and health checking routines. This has been a full-community effort and our children are certainly benefiting from it!
Here are a few reminders as we ease into the school year:
- Extra layers- As we keep the air circulation units pumping, we are finding some of the rooms are chilly to start the day. Right now, the crisp air feels manageable with an extra layer. Make sure your child has a sweatshirt, fleece or sweater to pull on or off to manage their comfort. Later this fall or as we have longer stretches of cold temperatures, we will use the boilers to offset the chilly air.
- Dress for the weather for recess and outside learning - Children are going outside A LOT! All PE classes are outside and we are also taking advantage of our amazing campus grounds for a lot of social-emotional learning opportunities, snack times, lunch and many other activities. Please make sure your child has what they need to be outside given the varying temperatures, sun exposure and overall weather conditions for late summer and early fall.
- Attendance for (in-person and remote days) - If your child will be absent from school for an in-person day, please call the Absent/Tardy Line at 426-6688 to report the absence and the general reason (appointment, not feeling well, family need, etc.). Additionally, if your child is demonstrating the Covid-19 symptoms discussed in the health-check form, please inform Cindy during your call or ask to be connected with school nurse Lauren Calkins. Confidentiality will be maintained, but this helps us follow contact tracing protocols as quickly as possible to minimize any potential spread and/or school disruptions.
- If your child will not be in attendance for any remote learning (particularly live/synchronous learning activities), please also call them in as absent. We know some families will communicate with teachers specifically regarding planned absences due to childcare needs, attendance at other programs, etc. but if your child is not attending remote learning activities once they’ve started up, they will be counted as absent.
There have been many celebrations this week!
- We have many new families at CCS! Our new students have been beautifully welcomed by their peers and teachers and eased into our community.
- Teachers and students are taking advantage of the amazing outdoor space that we have for learning community-building and playing.
- Our CCS faculty and staff members are taking on many different roles with our new routines. For example, it is all hands on deck getting lunches delivered to classrooms! There is a strong sense of teamwork.
We wish you all a wonderful weekend! We cannot wait to see our students again on Monday.
Kind regards,
Stephanie, Jen and Cassandra
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
Monday, September 28th
NO SCHOOL - Yom Kippur
Thursday, October 1st
Group 2 Picture Day Afternoon - watch for details
Tuesday, October 13th
Group 1 Picture Day Afternoon - watch for details
REMINDER OF MORNING ARRIVAL AND AFTERNOON DISMISSAL SCHEDULE
Morning Arrival Schedule:
7:50-8:00 Buses will drop-off students at the front entrance. No cars should enter the bus loop until after 8:00 or until waved in by our traffic patrol.
8:00-8:15 Car drop-off of students
Families with multiple children, use the entrance assigned to the youngest grade level.
Kindergarten: Drop off by the cafeteria/kitchen doors.
Grade 1-2 & 3-4: Enter through front entrance
Grade 5-6: Enter through the cafeteria door
Grade 7-8: Enter through flagpole door
PM Dismissal Schedule:
2:45-2:55 Buses will be loaded with students at the front entrance. Cars cannot line up early so that we may avoid gridlock along Hinesburg Road.
3:00-3:15 Car pickup of students. Parents should not plan to arrive until 3:00.
Kindergarten: Dismissed by the cafeteria/kitchen doors.
Grade 1-2 & 3-4: Dismissed through the front entrance
Grade 5-6: Dismissed through the cafeteria door
Grade 7-8: Dismissed through flagpole door
A NOTE FROM NURSE LAUREN
Hello CCS families! As we open our doors and welcome back the students of CCS, we are operating with an abundance of caution so that we may continue to serve the students of our community in a safe way. To help keep our community healthy, we are relying on our families to keep students home who are not feeling well, in order to help keep the entire student body and staff members safe. Please continue to assess your student using the Health Screener Questions provided by the school as well as taking your student’s temperature before sending them to school. If they come to the bus stop with a temperature of 100.4 or above, they will be directed to stay home and the nurse should be consulted for a re-entry plan. If you are dropping off your student at school and their temperature when checked upon arrival is 100.4 or above, you will be asked to bring your student home and check in with the nurse. If only one of your students has a fever, the rest may still come to school without restrictions. If your student begins to feel ill while here at school, they will be taken into our C.A.R.E room (COVID-Assessment-Response-Evaluation room) where they will be evaluated by the school nurse and if deemed so, will be sent home with a plan for next steps and re-entry when the student is well.
**IMPORTANT** If your child has a medication that they will be taking here at school, we are required to have a medication form, filled out by your child’s pediatrician, on file prior to administration. Please contact their pediatrician and ask for updated medication orders to be faxed to our school: 802-425-2122, attention Lauren Calkins, RN. All medications dropped off at school must be in their original container with the prescription clearly labeled.
A reminder that if your child received any new immunizations over the summer please send in a copy of their vaccination record so that their health record can be updated. If you need more information and necessary forms regarding medical or religious exemptions, it can be found at http://healthvermont.gov/hc/imm/schoolentry.aspx. A new signed religious exemption form is required each school year.
Please do not hesitate to call or email with any questions! I am available during the school day 8:00am to 3:00pm.
We have loved seeing all of your children this week and look forward to a happy and healthy school year!
With gratitude,
Lauren Calkins, RN BSN
School Nurse
P – 802-425-6644
F – 802-425-2122
STUDENTS AND MASK WEARING
CCS FAMILY SUPPORT AND CONNECTION GROUP
Betsy Lloyd, CCS School Counselor, and Tanya Vyhovsky, CCS School Services Clinician will be starting their family group once again! Our plan is to navigate these first 6 weeks of settling in and building new routines and structures and then offer a time during the week for families to connect with us to talk about what is going well, what difficulties are bubbling up and how we can help support you through this new phase of COVID-19 and hybrid learning.
Please take a minute to fill out this doodle survey regarding the day and time that works best for you! doodle survey link
Be well,
Betsy and Tanya
SCHOOL LIBRARY NEWS
Welcome!
Here is a quick overview of what the library experience will look like for our school community in the first few months of school. K-4 classes are scheduled as part of our Expressive Arts rotations.
K-2 students will begin library classes in October. In the meantime, families are welcome to check out the readalouds and activities on the student portal of the library website.
3rd & 4th grade students began library classes this week!
5th-8th grade students experience library services in collaboration with classroom teachers, and have their own portal to explore on the library website.
As we are rolling out a new system for book choice and delivery, please visit the family portal on the library website for FAQs or contact Mrs. Huestis directly with questions! hhuestis@cvsdvt.org
ART NEW FROM LISA BRESLER
The creativity is flowing through the arts- K-2 artists were given shapes to cut, color and create. Sometimes artists need to “break rules” by thinking beyond the limitations or boundaries of the materials they’ve been given. As a result, 60 beautiful and unique W.O.W masterpieces went home with their creators. “Making messes, mistakes and masterpieces… in that order!” LB
20-21 BUS ROUTE INFORMATION - ** NOTE: ORANGE BUS ROUTE CHANGE **
For the first couple week's of school, the CVSD Transportation asks that students be outside waiting at their stops 10 minutes before the scheduled time.
Thank you parents for filling out the transportation survey that went out asking to reserve your bus usage. Thank you Barry Russell, CVSD Transportation Supervisor (what a year to take over the helm!) and thank you to CCS bus drivers, Dianna Fletcher, May Loyer and Brian Dalmer, for getting the survey information into routes with actual times.
BLUE (M/T)
7:10 North on Greenbush at Old Brick, turn around at Eastry Ct.
7:18 Right on Lake Road
7:20 North on Hills Point Rd, turn around
East on Lake to Greenbush
7:30 West on Ferry
7:34 South on Lake, turn around at Converse Bay Rd
7:36 West on Ferry, North on Whalley (back to Ferry Rd and back to school)
BLUE (Th/F)
7:10 North on Greenbush at Old Brick, turn around at Eastry Ct.
7:18 Right on Lake Road
7:20 North on Hills Point Rd, turn around
East on Lake to Greenbush
7:30 West on Ferry
7:34 North on Lake
7:36 West on Whalley (back to Ferry Rd)
West on Ferry Road
7:40 Wing’s Point Road (turn around and back to school)
GREEN (M/T)
7:05 North on Upper Church Hill Road
7:13 South on Rte 7 (turn around at Blue Flame Gas)
7:28 East on State Park Road
7:35 South on Mt. Philo to Spear (turn around Guinea Road)
West on Spear, North Mt. Philo, West on State Park
7:48 North on Rte 7 (and back to school)
GREEN (Th/F)
7:20 North on Museum Road, North on Upper Church Hill
7:26 South on Rte 7
7:28 East on State Park Road
7:35 South on Mt. Philo to Spear (turn around Guinea Road)
West on Spear, North Mt. Philo, West on State Park
7:48 North on Rte 7 (and back to school)
ORANGE (M/T & Th/F)
7:10 CCS – PICK UP AIDE
7:20 West on E. Thompson’s Point
7:28 South on Greenbush Road, turn around Town Line Road
7:38 North on Greenbush Rd (east on Ferry and back to school)
PURPLE (M/T MORNING)
7:00 1914 Prindle Road, turn around at Roscoe Rd.
7:15 East on Lewis Creek Road, turn around
West on Spear Street
7:22 North on Guinea Road
7:29 West on One Mile Road
7:31 Qtr Mile Road, turn around, east on One Mile Rd
7:40 North on Guinea (west on Hinesburg Rd and back to school)
NOTE: DUE TO DRIVER’S SCHEDULE AT HIGH SCHOOL, PM RUN WILL BE IN REVERSE (i.e – STARTS ON GUINEA ROAD)
PURPLE (TH/F MORNING)
7:00 659 Meadowside Drive
East on Bingham Brook
South on Spear Street, East on Lewis Creek
7:18 North on Roscoe Road, turn around
West on Lewis Creek
West on Spear Street
North on Guinea Road
7:33 West on One Mile Road
7:40 North on Mt. Philo Road (west on Hinesburg Rd and back to school)
NOTE: DUE TO DRIVER’S SCHEDULE AT HIGH SCHOOL, PM RUN WILL BE IN REVERSE (i.e – STARTS ON MT. PHILO ROAD)
RED (M/T)
7:05 North on Mt. Philo
7:10 East on Lime Kiln
7:15 South on Spear
7:20 East on Hinesburg Road (turn around Leavensworth Road)
7:25 North on Dorset
7:27 East on Carpenter, (turn around at No. Pasture Lane)
West on Carpenter
7:30 North on Dorset, turn around, South on Dorset
West on Carpenter
South on Spear
7:40 Spear’s Store Area (and back to school)
RED (Th/F)
7:15 North on Mt. Philo, east on Lime Kiln
7:20 North on Spear, turn around
South on Spear
7:25 East on Hinesburg Road
7:30 North on Dorset
West on Carpenter
South on Spear
7:40 Spear’s Store Area (and back to school)