#271 News & Notes

Coeur d'Alene Public Schools — December 18, 2020

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Enjoy your winter break! See you again January 4, 2021

Coeur d'Alene Public Schools is preparing 5-day meal kits, free of charge, for all children ages 18 and younger. These grab-and-go meal kits can be picked up the next two Mondays, December 21 and 28, at Coeur d'Alene High School and Lake City High School.

See our Peachjar flyer here for times and other details.

We are excited to announce that 36 students from across the District have been selected to represent their schools on our first-ever Student Advisory Group for Coeur d'Alene Public Schools. Over 100 students applied to be part of this new group, and we have selected 12 elementary students, 12 middle school students and 12 high school students to be involved this school year.

The Student Advisory Group is intended to ensure that students have a voice in how the school district provides for student learning and how our schools can be improved. These students will play a pivotal role in creating meaningful and positive change for our district.

The students will work directly with the Superintendent, District administrators, Board of Trustees, adult advisers and each other to collaborate, learn from each other’s perspectives, and provide solutions to issues most important to students. They will meet regularly during the year to discuss the interests, priorities and ideas of all students.

ELEMENTARY MEMBERS: Madison Wattam (grade 5), Atlas; Kitana McEvers (3), Borah; Scarlett McGinnis Green (5), Bryan; Lillian Kay McNamee (4), Dalton; Olivia Backs (3), CDA eSchool; Lilly Dirks (5), Fernan; Coleton Harper (5), Hayden Meadows; Teela Flewelling (3), NExA; Marlowe Roan-Wade (2), Ramsey; Bryson Tarpley (5), Skyway; Edison Druffel (3), Sorensen; Amara Eirinn Peco (4), Winton. (Adviser is Charlene Babb, Sorensen Magnet School)

MIDDLE SCHOOL MEMBERS: Olivia Norwood (6), Caleb Torgenson (7), Caroline Sisk (7) and Delaney Wise (8), Canfield; Violet Zaike (6), Emma Dirks (7), Madelyn Moeller (7) and Natalie Bates (8), Lakes; Lydia Kirkbride (6), Elizabeth Nelson (7), Spencer Heasty (7) and Sophia Olson (8), Woodland. (Adviser is Jeni Nelson, Lakes Middle School)

HIGH SCHOOL MEMBERS: Austin Smith (10), Dylan Jones (10), Alexander Nipp (10) and Lucille Adams (9), CHS; Joshua Turner (12), Ainsley Brigham (11), Helenna O’Brien (12) and Alexandria Jones (9), LCHS; Jordan St. Martin (12), Jolie Barbachano (11), Max Bazler (11) and Keely Haynes (11), Venture. (Adviser is Shelly Blank, Lake City High School)

The next student transfer window for our all-online eSchool will be January 11-15. Approved transfers will go into effect for the second semester, which begins February 1.

The transfer request form and process will be posted on our eSchool website on Monday, January 11.

Your Board of Trustees will have its next regular meeting on Monday, January 4. This also will be the annual reorganization of the Board: Trustees will elect their chair, vice chair, treasurer and clerk; establish their 2021 meeting schedule; and review and sign their code of ethics.

The regularly monthly meetings and select special meetings of our Board of Trustees are streamed live and archived on our YouTube channel. To watch, simply go to http://www.youtube.com/c/CdASchools271.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been stressful and isolating for many people. Gatherings during the upcoming holidays can be an opportunity to reconnect with family and friends. This holiday season, consider how your holiday plans can be modified to reduce the spread of COVID-19 to keep your friends, families, and communities healthy and safe.

The CDC offers these considerations to slow the spread of COVID-19 during small gatherings.

If you aren’t able to take steps to keep COVID-19 outside your home, then stop it from spreading inside your home, especially if you have someone at home who is more likely to get very sick from COVID-19. Take these steps to protect people in your household:

• Wear a mask in shared spaces around others
• Stay at least 6 feet apart
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds
• Monitor your health daily
• Avoid sharing personal household items
• Separate the person who is sick from other people in your home, if possible

Check out these CDC handouts for more information:

Prevent COVID-19 Inside Your Home

Caring for the sick

Eating meals together

Isolating

Leaving the house

Protecting the Children

Protecting Higher Risk individuals

Keep reading this holiday break by checking out a book from SORA, the District's digital library. With hundreds of recent and classic titles to choose from at elementary, middle school, and high school levels, students and families can enjoy spending time getting lost in stories or learning new skills. In addition to digital texts, there are hundreds of audio and read-aloud books families can enjoy together.

How does it work? Use your Chromebook, personal computer, phone, or tablet to access the free titles 24/7 from Sora by Overdrive. Our online library is always growing, so check back often for new arrivals! Students and teachers can simply log in with their school district username (minus the @students.cdaschools.org) and password. It's that easy! Then they have instant access to hundreds of ebooks and audiobooks on virtually any device.

Get started today at https://soraapp.com/library/cdasid or https://www.cdaschools.org/overdrive. Or download the free Sora app for Android or iOS.

Bombas, the apparel company that donates millions of pairs of socks, has generously given 3,000 pairs of its crew and ankle socks to the Coeur Community Closet to benefit students in need in North Idaho. Coeur volunteer coordinators Paula Lyon and Polly Melendez have organized distribution of these socks to our high schools, middle school and five of our elementary schools. The inventory also will benefit students in the Post Falls School District. The coordinators also are delivering 1,300 pairs of the socks to eight school districts in surrounding counties. A big shoutout to Bombas and Coeur Community Closet for assisting our students in need.

Each classroom at Borah Elementary School has contributed to a schoolwide Community Courage Project to honor groups for their courage during the pandemic. Students chose the community groups and honored them by writing thank you cards, hanging up hand-made posters in the community, writing letters, and even hosting Zoom calls to interview community members. The following groups were thanked for their courage: Retail workers, Denny's employees, Kootenai Health nurses, grocery store employees, Borah school staff, newspaper employees, military personnel, and Coeur d'Alene firefighters. Well done kids!

The Board of Trustees met on Thursday afternoon to review and discuss the current state of COVID-19 in the community as it pertains to District operations. The board made no changes to the current student attendance plan. When we return from winter break on January 4, the following schedule will be in effect:

• Coeur d'Alene High School, Lake City High School and our middle schools remain on the current blended learning schedule, with students attending in person two days a week and remotely the other three days.
• Our 11 elementary schools, plus Venture High School, will remain on the modified schedule: In-person attendance Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; remote learning on Wednesday.
  

If your student receives a positive lab result for COVID-19 over winter break, we ask that you notify us immediately. This information will remain confidential, and will assist our school nursing staff in determining if other students or adults may have been exposed. You may be contacted by a registered nurse from the School District.

Please fill out and submit the form found HERE.

Even if the student was not present in school before they showed symptoms or began an isolation period at home, please let us know if they have tested positive so that our health and attendance records are complete.

If you talk to a school nurse you can share information about all of your Coeur d'Alene School District household members in one call. You don't have to talk to each individual school about each student. The nurses can consolidate and collaborate to reduce the burden on the family.

There is value in having your student tested for COVID-19 if they are exposed to a person who has COVID-19. Knowing that your student is positive will help us to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in schools and throughout our community by identifying close contacts.

COVID Testing Resources

• COVID–19 Tests Available for Uninsured Teachers, Staff, and Students
• Rapid Testing Locations
• Albertsons Safeway Saliva Based PCR Test
• Albertsons/Safeway Testing Voucher

Thank you to Wildland CrossFit for donating $1,200 to Borah Elementary School!

Students in grades 7 through 12 throughout Idaho are invited to picture how their education will connect with their future and share that vision through artwork.

“This has been a particularly challenging year for students and families throughout Idaho, but hope for the future still burns brightly, and I look forward to seeing how students envision life after high school,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra said. “The goals and creativity of Idaho students are truly inspiring as they look toward the future they will shape.”

Students may opt to submit their artwork online or mail it in for the State Department of Education’s Picture My Future art contest, now in its sixth year. Mailed entries must be postmarked by January 19, to ensure they are received in time for judging. Online submissions are due by midnight January 22.

For contest rules and more information, go to https://www.sde.idaho.gov/events/future-art-contest/

Email: info@cdaschools.org
Website: www.cdaschools.org
Location: 1400 N. Northwood Center Court
Phone: (208) 664-8241
Facebook: www.facebook.com/cdaschools
Twitter: @cdaschools