Garfield Re-2 News

Garfield Re-2 Family:

You may recall that earlier this year, the Board approved a resolution moving the first day of school to August 24th. This was necessary to give the schools another week to prepare for reopening schools within the COVID-19 environment.

The delayed start was necessary to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of our students and to provide teacher in-service time as we restructured our systems to accommodate the realities of COVID-19. We are able to ensure we are meeting the minimum instructional time requirements with the scheduled days currently on the 2020-2021 calendar and it will not be necessary to make up the missed student days on August 17th-20th because of the flexibilities provided in statute.

This, however, does put the District at the edge of state contact time requirements. Therefore, in the event of snowstorms or closures due to COVID-19, we will pivot immediately to online learning. There will be no snow days. We remind parents and staff to be sure their contact information is up to date in PowerSchool. We will send messaging home when snow storms are predicted reminding students/staff to take home their technology.

Thursday, September 17, the hallways at Coal Ridge High School were a little more joyful, a little louder and a little fuller than the day before. Just over 100 students and ten teachers returned to school after a 14-day COVID-19 exposure quarantine.

“It felt very nice to go back to school and see people in person and have my teachers be able to provide lessons where I can ask questions and they can respond in real-time with an answer,” said Coal Ridge Junior Brandon Smith.

Read more about students and staff returning to CRHS

All bus riders must have their Zonar Z-Pass every time they ride the bus. The Zonar passes can provide important information for you as parents. Through the Zonar app, you are able to know when your child gets on and off the bus.

In the event of an emergency on the bus, knowing EXACTLY who is on the bus will save precious time in contacting parents, or assisting emergency services.

Please, send your child with their Zonar pass every day.

Below are the free and reduced lunch forms for the 2020-21 school year. Although the USDA is providing free lunches now for all students, we have no idea how long this program will last.

If you want to be sure that you are included in the free and reduced lunch program when the current situation changes, please complete the attached forms and return to your child’s school or Sheri Edwards 215 E. 30th St., Rifle, CO 81650 or call 665-7604.

This applies to both virtual and in-person learners.

The free and reduced lunch count is one factor that indicates which schools need additional support for students. It helps provide additional resources for technology and instructional staff and much more.

More importantly, if you are in need of additional support, we encourage you to take a moment, and complete the forms below.

Above is a picture of a Temporary Bus Pass that you may have seen or it may have come home with your child.

They received this because they got on the bus without their bus pass.

The importance of the Student Id's/Zpasses is immense. In the event that there is an accident on the bus, the BEST way for us to account for the whereabouts of your child is through the Zpass system.

By scanning on and off the bus, we know that they were riding in the event of an accident and we will know to contact you. In addition, we are using the bar code on the front of the passes to scan for lunch and library books.

PLEASE be sure that your child's Zpass/student is included as part of their daily school supplies. It part of their essential equipment to be ready for school.

Suicide Prevention Training brought to you by CEBT & Triad EAP

QPR stands for Question, Persuade, and Refer — the 3 simple steps anyone can learn to help save a life from suicide.

Just as people trained in CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver help save thousands of lives each year, people trained in QPR learn how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help.

A PDF of the flyer is below.

In 2018 more than 48,000 lives were lost to suicide and a staggering 1.4 million attempts were made. The suicide rate in the United States continues to rise and the long-term impact from the anxiety and stress experienced during the COVID-19 outbreak is yet to be seen. The good news is that suicide can be prevented. The National Suicide hotline is available 24/7.

#BeThe1To is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s message for National Suicide Prevention Month and beyond, which helps spread the word about actions we can all take to prevent suicide. The Lifeline network and its partners are working to change the conversation from suicide to suicide prevention, to actions that can promote healing, help and give hope.

#BeThe1To Ask, Be There, Keep Them Safe

Congratulations to Coal Ridge High School Senior Lance Fullenwider. Lance shot an 86 at regionals and won a three-person playoff to secure the last spot for the State Tournament.

He’s the first state qualifier for CRHS Boys golf in nearly a decade. Lance will participate in the State golf tournament in Gunnison on October 5 & 6. Golfers play 18 holes each day and they take the total score.

Rifle High School Softball defeated the Eagle Valley Devils 13-2 this week. Wednesday night was Senior Night. Congratulations RHS Senior Lady Bears!

The Garfield Re-2 Nutrition Services Department began the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program at Wamsley, Highland Graham Mesa and Elk Creek Elementary schools this week. One of the vegetables that went home with students was zucchini.

Benjamin, a Wamsley Elementary PreK student, made zoodles (That is noodles made out of zucchini!) with his Mom that afternoon. He LOVED the veggies that were sent home.

The FFVP is funded through and is currently in four of our elementary schools. This program enables us to offer students in schools with 50 percent or more Free and Reduced Lunch rate an opportunity to have fresh fruits and vegetables served as a snack throughout the school week. The purpose of the program is to introduce kids, while they are young, to a variety of healthy fresh fruits and vegetables.

Students have been able to taste and try unique items such as dragon fruit, key limes and a variety of more traditional items too.

Have you made a recipe with the zucchini your child brought home? If your school is NOT part of the FFVP, have you made a recipe with zucchini? Send us a photo of your work to thamilton@garfieldre2.net so we can show it off!

Here is a sample zucchini recipe for Zucchini boats - YUM!!

The next regular Garfield Re-2 School Board meeting will be September 28, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. Citizens may attend the meeting in person or virtually via zoom, however, there is a 25 person maximum for the school board room.

Members of the public are allowed to submit public comments via zoom, email or in person. To participate, send a RSVP one hour in advance of the meeting time (4:30 pm September 28th) by emailing publicaudience@garfieldre2.net your comment or intention to participate in person or via Zoom. Emailed comments are limited to 350 words, and in person/zoom comments are limited to 3 minutes. See BEDA-E below for more information.

Hi there,

You are invited to a Zoom webinar.

When: Sep 28, 2020 06:30 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

Topic: September 28, 2020 School Board Meeting

Please click the link below to join the webinar:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86183856504?pwd=WTVnbThZWlZkL0lrclVhcGpvdDNJUT09

Passcode: 668189

Or iPhone one-tap :

US: +12532158782,,86183856504#,,,,,,0#,,668189# or +13462487799,,86183856504#,,,,,,0#,,668189#

Or Telephone:

Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):

US: +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 669 900 6833 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 929 436 2866

Webinar ID: 861 8385 6504

Passcode: 668189

International numbers available: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcAbjpkTeg

The best way to help keep our schools open is to keep COVID-19 cases in Garfield County as low as possible.

Help us by making the following commitments:

I commit to:

WEAR a mask.

WASH my hands.

WALK, ride or play 6 feet away.

WORK together safely.

IF ILL – stay home

Our vision is to Encourage, Nurture and Challenge every student, every day.

Email: thamilton@garfieldre2.net
Website: www.garfieldre2.net
Location: 839 Whiteriver Avenue, Rifle, CO, USA
Phone: 970-665-7600
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Garfieldre2/
Twitter: @GarfieldRe2