CCS Newsletter
February 12, 2021
ADMINISTRATION UPDATE
Dear CCS Families and Community Members,
We hope this finds you keeping warm on such a blustery (but bright!) winter day.
Each week, when we begin to draft our newsletter, we think about what has resonated most with us as we move throughout the building. This week, TEAMWORK and KINDNESS have been clear and present!
Here are some of the awesome examples of TEAMWORK and KINDNESS alive and well at CCS this week:
CCS/CVSD team response for COVID - Unfortunately, we’ve encountered another positive case in our school community. However, the teamwork of maintaining tight protocols and a quick response to positive cases has helped us to mitigate further cases. When we get a positive case report, our CCS Covid team and CVSD team circle up immediately and implement contact tracing protocols, with immediate follow-up actions and communications.
Families as team members - There are many examples of how we have been buoyed by families being teammates with us to support their student’s experience at CCS. Again, our Covid responses have highlighted that, as families have been immediately responsive to what we’ve had to ask of them, and have also extended offers of appreciation and support for our faculty and staff as we work out the details. Recently, we have had a variety of parent-teacher meetings via regular classroom processes or MTSS-based meetings specific to student plans. A student’s family holds much the most essential information needed to best support their student, and we appreciate the availability of our CCS parents to be a part of this process.
Staff TEAMWORK to support K-8 needs - On any given day, we’re juggling staffing to cover absences or duties (Naomi Strada has often figured out many moving pieces before most of us are in the building!). While it might look like a good game of Jenga putting the pieces together, we are always thankful for the “I can help with that” nature of every staff member in our building. Our CCS team is pretty special.
Acts of Kindness - Our classrooms and staff members have been focusing on acts of Kindness. Third graders have posted kind messages to staff members in the hallway, and staff have been grabbing notes from the mailroom to express gratitude and kindness to others. Wake Robin Residents reached out to say thank you for the Kindness Cards made by K-4 students in Art - “These are beautiful and thoughtful and all those feels we were hoping to achieve. The residents will all receive a Valentine on Sunday in the dining room at lunch time. Pat on the back to you and all those amazing artists!”
Shout Outs
- Nicky Elderton and Sabrina Butterfield have created new PE experiences for our middle schoolers (Ice Skating, Broom Hockey) and elementary students (trail activities). New activities can mean new needs- helmets, skates, snow pants, and mittens especially! If you have any of these items, please reach out to Nicky and Sabrina!
- Congratulations to Mike DiNicola, who has moved over to Allen Brook School in Williston, as a long-term substitute in the role of Behavior Systems Coordinator and ATLAS Special Educator.
- Congratulations also to Meghan Pidgeon, who has stepped into the role of CCS Planning Room Coordinator as a long-term substitute in Mr. D’s absence.
- Welcome to Brian Espe! Brian is our long-term substitute for our Howard Center School Services Clinician, Tanya Vyhovsky, as she is serving as a VT State Representative.
- Kudos to our Transportation Crew for their early morning starts to get the buses ready for the routes and driving in all sorts of conditions!
We have several updates and reminders to share this week as well.
- Transportation- Please remember that we cannot support cars dropping off students before 8:00 or picking up before 3:00. Due to the flow of bus traffic, cars entering the main entrance early will be asked to either park and wait or to exit and re-enter after bus traffic is handled. At drop-off spots at the ends of the building, staff is not available to support drop-off until approximately 8:00 each morning.
- Eighth Grade Families - Burlington Technical Center (BTC) is now offering their Pre-Tech at BTC for 9th graders. This is new and exciting as it is the first time that one of our local technical schools is opening up their Pre-Tech program to 9th graders. When you click on the link, there is a helpful video to watch to learn more about the program. The registration deadline is March 19, 2021. If your child is thinking about attending Pre-Tech at BTC please let CCS School Counselor Betsy Lloyd know so we can make sure their application is complete. If you have questions about Pre-Tech at BTC, you can email Zac Poland, BTC School Counselor: zpoland@bsdvt.org.
Schedule for 7th/8th Graders for the week of February 15th-
- Remote Learning for Monday (15th)
- Remote Learning Tuesday (16th)
- Wednesday (17th) No remote learning-reconfigure classrooms for the planned four day return
- Thursday (18th) Cohort A (Mon/Tue students) IN- PERSON **
- Friday (19th) Cohort B (Thur/Fri students) IN-PERSON **
** This will be confirmed on Monday as long as all COVID tests come in negative.
We wish you all a wonderful winter weekend!
Kind regards,
Stephanie, Jen and Cassandra
THE WAKE ROBIN RESIDENTS WILL ALL RECIEVE A VALENTINE ON SUNDAY IN THE DINING ROOM AT LUNCH TIME.
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
Wednesday, February 17th
Remote Day for All
Monday, February 22nd through Friday, February 26th
NO SCHOOL - Winter Break
Wednesday, March 3rd
Remote Day for All
Wednesday, March 10th
Remote Day for All
Wednesday, March 17th
Remote Day for All
DEAR CVSD COMMUNITY MEMBERS AND VOTERS
FY22 budget season is upon us. While many voters may cast early ballots, for those who prefer to vote in person, TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2021, is your chance to vote on the FY22 Proposed CVSD Budget and school-related Articles. (Articles and Ballot Questions refer to the same thing.)
As Finance Committee Chair, I am pleased to report that your District Administration and School Board are optimistic and future-focused. We developed the FY22 budget with a goal to return this August to the familiar in-person 5-day per week instruction.
There are NINE ARTICLES for voter approval this year. This letter will be the first in a series of communications to highlight the FY22 Budget Articles to help you prepare for voting. Read more at this link and find further information on the CVSD website: www.cvsdvt.org/budget.
CVSD MID-YEAR CHECK-IN: SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS!
We are excited to launch this Thoughtexchange to check in with you mid-year. Your thoughts about the first half of the year and suggestions for the second half will be reviewed as we plan for the remainder of the school year. We want to know what is important to you and what is going well.
This exchange will be open until February 21, 2021. Please share your thoughts and then rate the thoughts of others. See the tips in the Thoughtexchange to assist you. Thank you for sharing your perspectives with us! The Champlain Valley School District Administration
2021-2022 KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION
We are asking potential 2021-2022 kindergarten families to please use the below link in order to inform our 2021-2022 Kindergarten Registration process. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
LOST AND FOUND IS OVERFLOWING ONCE AGAIN
The Lost and (not yet) Found is once again overflowing. Please have your child(ren) check the tables in the FRONT LOBBY ENTRANCE for any missing items. These items will be donated on Friday, February 19th (before the Winter Break). We hate to give away a family's missing items, so please come by!
ParentIN
H.O.P.E Works (Healing, Outreach, Prevention, Empowerment) is a non-profit organization serving Chittenden County dedicated to end all forms of sexual violence. Part of our mission is in education prevention, outreach and bringing awareness to various situations that can cause harm and how to safely plan to try and prevent that harm. Trauma can often lead to substance abuse issues in adolescence and in adults and children who have been exposed to trauma are 4 times more likely to develop symptoms of substance abuse as a way of coping or dulling the pain.
For the month of February, H.O.P.E Works and ParentIn are partnering to bring awareness and safety tips to some very important topics to protect our children from different forms of trauma and exploitation. The topics we will be covering are consent, respecting boundaries, and internet safety.
Why is it important to teach our children about consent? Consent can help keep children safe from potential child predators, sexual harassment, and exploitative relationship. Teaching our children about consent and respecting boundaries at an early age can help prevent harm from sexual assaults and misconduct from happening to them, and even from them causing harm to others intentionally or unintentionally. It can also help give a voice to children and empower them in navigating potential future difficult situations.
In teaching prevention at an early age, it will help students gain and maintain power over their bodies, and to be respectful to others. One in 9 girls and 1 in 53 boys under the age of 18 experience sexual abuse or assault at the hand of an adult and 82% of all victims of sexual assault under 18 are female. Females ages 16-19 are 4 times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assaults and the rates are increasing in the 12-15 age group. Children in middle school and high school can be sexually assaulted by one of their peers or an older child in their community. For healthy relationships amongst peers, it is important to teach all children about consent and setting boundaries. By teaching and discussing consent and how to set boundaries, we can promote healthy behaviors and model healthy relationships and interactions amongst peers and adults and reduce harm and, in turn, reduce the likelihood of substance abuse. It is also critical for students to have trusted adults they can to regarding healthy relationships, consent, harassment and more.
We will also be examining the dangers of the internet and tips on how to keep your children safer as they navigate the internet and social media platforms. The internet has always provided a way for predators to locate and harm children and because of COVID-19 children are home and spending more time online with an increased time on social media. According to Homeland Security Investigations, since the pandemic began there has been a 150% increase in reported. incidents in Vermont of online child exploitation and attempted exploitation including both financial and sexual exploitation.
In Chittenden County we have seen an overall increase of this type of sexual harm and exploitation to children between the ages of 10-15 years and it is concerning. Children are vulnerable to a variety of online predatory behavior from sexual and financial exploitation. There are safety measures and tips that parents can use to help protect their child, as well as teaching children on safety tips as they navigate through the internet.
Please feel free to contact me at catherine@hopeworksvt.org for any questions or further information. H.O.P.E Works hotline 24/7 is available (802) 863-1236
FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE: MIDDLE LEVEL FRIDAY BULLETIN LINKS
NEW FOOD BENEFIT PROGRAM FOR FAMILIES
We are excited to share a new food benefit program with families. An email went out about this on Monday, 2/8. We wanted to reach out in school newsletters as well to help inform families about this opportunity.
- There is no change to the current free breakfast and lunch for everyone 18 and younger. No action is necessary to continue to get free meals.
- Every enrolled student who qualifies for free/reduced meals is also entitled to an additional $60 - $100 per child per month - retroactive to September.
- Many families who did not qualify for free and reduced meals last year may qualify this year due to a change in family circumstances. Because meals are free for everyone, you may not have completed the application. In order to get this additional benefit, you will need to apply now.
- Families who were qualified last year are automatically enrolled. You do not need to do anything but are being asked to check the 'head of household" name and address so the electronic-benefit-card gets delivered to the right person/house.
Please see this letter for additional information. If you need assistance applying, look for the contact information in the letter or contact your school.