A Note from Principal Welch
I hope you are enjoying your extended weekend. We have this opportunity to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday on Monday. This day provides us with a day to remember and never to forget Dr. King's contribution to the American Civil Rights movement in the 1960s and his dream of the United States that was free of segregation and racism. There is still a lot of work to do to meet this dream, but I will continue to stand and fight for an environment at Cottage Lake where each student and family are valued, seen, heard, and welcome.
Below you will find a lot of information regarding our most recent batch testing updates and our NSD policies and procedures as they pertain to COVID. I ask that you do look through this information and then register with CIC Health. Please see that section below.
I hope you all enjoy the remainder of the weekend. If you have questions about anything in the newsletter, please do reach out to Ms. Welch at jwelch@nsd.org.
Take Care,
~ Jen Welch, Principal
COVID batch testing update
We had 8 vials return positive.
Our final results returned early Saturday morning this week.
Once we receive notification of positive batch results we will notify families by email and provide your next steps there. We will also do all we can to reach families by phone. If school is open, we will be calling all families for our unvaccinated students, as students will need to go home to quarantine until we receive results from the confirmatory testing. If students are fully vaccinated, including two weeks past the final dose, students can remain at school.
This week, I sent emails to families of each student who was in a positive batch. Teri called families and Sarah and Audrey worked on administering confirmatory PCR tests for each of our students in those batches. I am so thankful for our team and for doing all we can to keep students safe!
Once we do receive the results from the confirmatory PCR tests (which I am still waiting on), we then begin contact tracing. If your student is a close contact, you will receive notification from Ms. Welch and most often you will also receive a phone call, as well.
If you have questions regarding the process, do reach out to ask your questions.
Newly expanded testing at Cottage Lake
Beyond the batch testing, we are also now able to test close contacts at school, as well. If students are fully vaccinated (which includes 2 weeks after the final shot), students remain at school if asymptomatic and we can test students after day 5 of exposure. If your student is unvaccinated, we can make an appointment for a time for you to bring your student by school so we can test them after day 5.
All confirmatory tests will be processed through our partners at CIC Health. Results right now are taking between 30-72 hours. We hope results will be processed quicker again very soon. We are excited about this change in testing so we can have our students in school and this also helps with the challenges in finding PCR test availability in our community.
Registration with CIC Health
If you register now, this will speed up the process should your student need to be tested due to a positive batch or a close contact test.
Directions for registering in the CIC Health database:
- Visit this link: https://covid.cic-health.com/s/addSchoolMember?RRAccount=0014R00003ABUrT
- You will have to answer a few questions and you will also need to verify your email with a code, as well.
If you have questions, please reach out to Nurse Audrey or Principal Jen Welch.
Home Internet Access
The FCC’s Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) has become the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Information about these excellent programs for providing families true high-speed Internet access at their homes (and not just the limited access that a hot spot provides) is available at https://www.nsd.org/internetaccess.
The website above provides information regarding eligibility and application process. Any family eligible should definitely apply.
COVID safety updates
Families can find the most up-to-date COVID health and safety information by clicking the links below.
- King County Quarantine and Isolation Guidance
- Families can access the 2021-2022 NSD COVID-19 Safety Protocols by clicking here.
- Families can access our NSD COVID-19 Data Dashboard by clicking here.
Health Check Question to review daily
Health Check Questions:
1. In the past 24 hours has the student experienced any of the following symptoms:
- Fever of 100.4 or above
- Cough
- Shortness of Breath or Difficulty Breathing
- Chills
- Loss of Taste or Smell
- Fatigue
- Muscle Pain or Body Aches
- Headache
- Sore Throat
- Congestion or Runny Nose
- Nausea or Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Other signs of new illness that are unrelated to a preexisting condition (such as seasonal allergies)
2. Has the student had any of the symptoms of COVID-19 listed above within the past 3 days that lasted more than 24 hours?
3. Has the student been in close contact with anyone with confirmed COVID-19 within the last 14 days? Close contact means being within 6 feet (2 meters) of an infected person for 15 minutes or more.
4. Has the student had a positive COVID-19 test for active virus in the past 10 days?
5. Within the past 14 days, has a public health or medical professional told the student to self-monitor, self-isolate, or self-quarantine because of concerns about COVID-19?
i-Ready online instruction available
After your students take the new winter iReady diagnostic assessment in the areas of Math and Reading, all students have access to an individualized online instruction pathway. The pathways are created from their iReady diagnostic assessment, which highlights their successes and areas of continued development and learning.
Students access their learning pathway by logging into iReady through their Clever page.
As a guideline, we would like students to be using this online instruction between 30-45 minutes, each week, for each subject (Reading AND Math). Some of our teachers are providing some time during the school week for students to engage in the online learning, but if you are able to have your students access this learning at home, that would be great!
Last week, we had 134 students access the online learning, with 60% of students accessing it between 10-29 minutes. Our student's average score for lessons passed was 84%. This learning tool has shown it can help reduce learning gaps and increase achievement for students.
If you would like to know your own student(s) time engaged in the iReady online learning from September to current, please reach out to Ms. Welch.
Child Sick or Change of Plans After School?
If you have a trip planned and are going to be gone during school days please fill out the request for excused absence form at this link Cottage Lake Pre-Approved Absence Form
School Board approves three funding measures
During the Oct. 11 meeting, the Northshore School Board voted to place three funding measures on the February 8, 2022 ballot.
These three measures continue our work to build better together: modernizing schools, sustaining technology, and increasing opportunities.
- The Educational Programs and Operations Levy (EP&O) and the Technology Levy are not new taxes, but renewals of funding measures that are set to expire this year. These two levies would continue to provide funding for critical staffing and programming that support all Northshore students.
- The Capital Projects Bond would replace an expiring bond and help us address our highest facility needs.
This fall and winter, we will be sharing more information about the proposed projects and how they support our students and District.
CLICK HERE to learn more about the measures.
Lunch menu changes
If you are printing out the menu at the beginning of the month, there will inevitably be changes before the month is over.
Although our department strives to make changes at least 7 days ahead, there are weeks when we must make a change with 2-3 days' notice due to delivery shortages, today we have had to make a change to Friday's menu.
For up-to-date menu information please review our menu online (see the link below).
https://www.myschoolmenus.com/instance/449/district/448/school/3797/menu/20136
Calling All Volunteers!
As 2022 swings into action, the Cottage Lake Elementary PTA is going to be busy with various events, fundraisers, and programs. If you are interested in helping, please click on the link below and specify your area(s) of interest! Thank you for your continued support!
Sign up link:
Cottage Lake Elementary
At Cottage Lake Elementary, it is our united mission to build a safe, engaging, and inclusive environment of resilient lifelong learners. In partnership with our vibrant community, we embrace our diversity and strive to foster trust and kindness.
