CCS Newsletter
November 06, 2020
ADMINISTRATION UPDATE
Dear CCS Families and Community Members,
We continue to enjoy the positive energy of being with our students at CCS! We have completed our second full week of K-4 students being back for four days of in-person learnings. This includes a great deal of integrating routines, but the time with small groups has helped us do that quickly and successfully, and to continue delving into our academic curriculum! Our youngest elementary students are steeped in learning of early numeracy, computation and problem solving as mathematicians, working with sounds, letters, phonics skills and spelling patterns in their Word Study routines, reading and writing for different purposes (information, narrative, ENJOYMENT!) and engaging in personal-interest areas of study. Our older elementary students are extending their mathematics skills into multiplication and division, more complex problem solving, using word study, reading and writing skills to read and write more complex stories and informational texts. All of this is a lovely slice of normalcy!
Our middle-level students are immersed in well-developed learning routines and content-rich experiences. Our educators are developing a balance of in-person instruction, synchronous remote instruction, asynchronous learning and student-directed activities. While concentrating on the content standards, students are also receiving guidance in time management, executive function and engagement strategies. The JumpRope portal is open for families in 5-8 to monitor proficiencies across your child’s classes. Families should have received welcome emails with login information. (If not, email Jen jroth@cvsdvt.org for support). While the portal gives quick snapshots of formative and summative assessments, the middle-level teams are diligently documenting classroom experiences in their grade level newsletter (also linked to the team web-page).
We are extremely grateful for the support we have from our CCS families - from exercising caution with common cold and flu symptoms, reaching out if support is needed during absences, and continuing to collaborate with us as we dig deeper into the school year. It truly takes a village, and we’re thankful to be educators in the Charlotte community.
Take Care,
Stephanie, Jen and Cassandra
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
Wednesday, November 11th
Remote Day for All
Thursday, November 12th
Re-Take / Make-Up Picture Day, 9:00am - 10:00am
Wednesday, November 18th
Remote Day for All
Monday, November 23rd through Friday, November 27th
NO SCHOOL - Thanksgiving Break
SEEKING SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS
CCS is looking for a few energetic and reliable people to join our guest teacher list for the 2020-2021 school year. If you love working with children, this is a great opportunity to become involved in your community school. If you are interested in subbing at CCS, please contact Vicki Roberts at Champlain Valley School District, 383-1234 or vroberts@cvsdvt.org, for employment paperwork and fingerprinting information.
STUDENTS AND MASK WEARING
REMINDERS FROM THE FRONT OFFICE
A few quick reminders as we move deeper into the school year!
Students go outside every day, sometimes multiple times per day! As weather changes, please be sure your child has appropriate outdoor clothing and shoes (and sometimes a change of shoes if very rainy).
CVSD Busing - Due to COVID guidance, capacity on buses are limited and are by reservation. Due to this limited seating and for contact tracing purposes, buses can only pick up and drop off at a student's home or approved/affiliated daycares.
K-4 students returning to 4 in-person days throughout this month means small increases in our traffic flow. Please be mindful of this, knowing that wait times may vary and traffic patterns may be congested. Keeping safety in mind is of utmost importance, particularly as we are loading and unloading students!
Early Pick up: If you need to pick up your child early for an appointment, please plan on picking them up no later than 2:15pm. With our new dismissal process our busses are in front of school by 2:30 and we do not want you to get caught up in that traffic.
Dismissal Pick Up: We have 4 separate locations for parent pick up. Please use these locations as you are writing pick up notes.
- K - Dismissed by the cafeteria/kitchen door.
- 1 - 4 - Exit through the front entrance.
- 5 - 6 - Exit through the cafeteria door.
- 7 - 8 - Exit through the Flagpole door.
PICTURE PACKAGES HAVE ARRIVED
Re-take / Make-Up Picture Day is Thursday, November 12th, 9:00am - 10:00am. If you want your child(ren)'s picture "re-taken", they must return the original package. If your child missed the original picture day, just have your child go to the photography location when their grade is called over the intercom.
For any picture or ordering questions, please call Beltrami Studios at 802-863-6223.
NOTE: VLA families who ordered packages can pick them up in the lobby vestibule on the VLA work table.
PACKAGE ORDERING - Due to parent requests, Beltrami is going to re-open the link with their e-commerce host. This link will remain open until midnight on Friday, November 13th (day after re-take/make-up day.) The link is:
password: ccs320
TEMPERATURE CHECKS
As we edge toward winter, our thermometers are becoming less and less accurate in the mornings. Beginning Monday, November 16th, we will move temperature taking inside at each entrance. We will continue to use all three parking lots and have a slight shift in the dropoff routine on the cafeteria side. Please know that if your child registers a high temperature, we will enact quarantine procedures quickly and call you as quickly as possible to return to school and pick up your child.
Grades K, 5-6 (and siblings) - drop off at cafeteria door. Temperatures will be taken inside the cafeteria entrance. K students will be escorted to Kindergarten by adults and all others will walk to their assigned classrooms. We will work to stagger entrances to limit congestion.
Grades 1-4 (and siblings) - drop off at the front entrance. Temperatures will be taken in the main lobby entrance and students will proceed to their classrooms.
Grades 7-8 (and siblings) - drop off at the flagpole entrance. Temperatures will be taken in the flagpole lobby and students will proceed to their classrooms.
PARKING, ARRIVAL AND DISMISSAL - PLEASE HELP US WITH SAFETY!
Buses do not leave the front of the building until close to 3:00. Cars arriving early are blocking the ability of the buses to depart the parking lot safely. Please plan to arrive at CCS at 3:00 or after to keep our roadways clear of congestion. We need everyone’s assistance to keep our students, families and community members safe.
MIDDLE SCHOOL ATHLETES
Fall sports participants: Please return your laundered uniforms to school by November 13th. There will be bins by the main office or you may give them to your coach.
Stay tuned for additional details about the possibility of winter basketball. The state has issued its guidance for high school and the CVSD middle level administrators are meeting to plan a season that supports students physical and mental well-being while giving kids a chance to play on a team.
GRADES 5-6 TRANSITION TO 4-DAY A WEEK IN PERSON LEARNING
Planning is underway to begin transitioning students in grades 5th and 6th back to increased in-person learning days. As communicated in the CVSD newsletter this week, the intended timeline for transitioning 5-6 students back is November 16th. This schedule will have students attend in-person on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday each week. Wednesdays will continue to be remote learning. We will continue to monitor and analyze key metrics as we navigate this plan.
- There is no or very low COVID activity in our communities.
- Our ability to staff our classrooms remains stable and sufficient.
- Our routines are efficient, effective, and any trouble-spots are easily worked out.
- We are able to maintain compliance with VT DOH and AOE guidance.
- We are confident in the DOH’s ability to respond to any positive cases in our school community.
SCHOOL FOLLOWING THANKSGIVING BREAK
As we approach our first extended school break for the week of Thanksgiving, we wish to share information to address any speculation, rumor, and on-line discussion in our community and around the state about the status of schools immediately following the Thanksgiving break. We want Charlotte families to know that at this time, CVSD has no plans to preemptively close or declare remote schooling for the days and weeks following the Thanksgiving break. With this in mind, families should expect that school routines will be maintained throughout this period for the benefit of all of our learners. Of course, as this pandemic has required since its inception, we will continue our work to be prepared for every contingency as we have learned how quickly things can change.
For those considering plans to travel outside of Vermont, please be aware that there are travel restrictions put in place by Governor Scott that would require you to quarantine for up to 14 days upon your return to Vermont if you have traveled to a red or orange zone. We encourage families to reference the travel guidance on the VT DOH website. This is true outside of school breaks as well - any non-essential travel into red or yellow zones in other states requires adherence to the state quarantine mandate. Any non-essential visitors must follow quarantine guidelines upon arriving in Vermont as well. Limiting any potential exposure will support us in keeping our staff and students healthy. Obviously, we all need to work together to help keep our schools open and safe for in-person learning!
If your child(ren) need to quarantine, please be in touch with your child’s teacher, our school nurse and administration so that we can support remote learning. Please understand that our staffing capacity is very tight and our faculty and staff are fully scheduled within their current assignments. We will of course support students quarantining due to exposure and/or essential travel as defined by the state of Vermont and Department of Health, but are not able to provide a fully remote schedule in the event of non-essential travel. This scenario will be responded to in the same manner of optional family travel and vacations as outlined in our Family/Student Handbook:
"If a planned absence will extend 10 or more consecutive days, the Planned 10+ Day Absence Form must be filled out and signed by the principal, student, and parent/guardian, in order for the student to remain enrolled in school and earning credit/grades. The family is responsible for proposing a learning plan, which the student will complete as a result of the planned absence, and submitting it to the principal for approval. Absences through this plan will be noted as planned absences, and truancy action will not be pursued based upon these days of absence if the approved learning plan is completed. However, letters indicating the number of absences a student has will continue to be sent to the parent/guardian. Please note that the school is not responsible for fully “catching up” a child during a voluntary planned absence nor are they responsible for replicating any experiences the student misses during the planned absence.”
HOLIDAY FOOD AND GIFT SUPPORT
We know this year has been especially difficult for many families, and more than ever we want our CCS community to know that we are here to support you as we enter the holiday season. We have partnered with local organizations and individuals to help support our families in need. Though things will look different this year, please reach out if you need help with food for holiday celebrations or gifts for children. Our goal is to help with one need and one wish for each child. As always, your requests will remain confidential.
Please direct any questions and requests to Betsy Lloyd, CCS School Counselor, as soon as possible so that we can do everything possible to meet the needs of all families. Betsy can be reached by email at blloyd@cvsdvt.org or by phone at (802)425-6613.