CSD Newsroom

Workshop - Seeing and Serving during Remote Learning

At the school board workshop, staff members addressed the following questions for the school board.

• How are we identifying students that may need additional support?

• What are we doing to meet individual student needs?

• What are our students telling us?

All six elementary schools have ways in which student attendance and engagement are monitored on a daily basis. Student attendance and engagement are closely monitored by teachers, administrators, counselors, and other support staff. If a student needs additional support, then a plan is put into place that includes the student and family. The social-emotional needs of students are also monitored and processes are in place to respond if a student needs additional support. Staff members continue to offer a range of interventions that include phone calls, home visits, supply deliveries, small group tutoring, counseling referrals, and more. In addition, all six buildings are serving some students on-site to meet the needs of these particular students.

Secondary schools have systems in place to monitor student attendance and engagement. Each school offers a class designed to build community and support students in feeling seen and known. Teams at each school have been established to focus systematically on students who may need support based on attendance, engagement, or social-emotional indicators. Staff members continue to offer a range of interventions that include phone calls, home visits, supply deliveries, small group tutoring, counseling referrals, and more. The first tier of support involves classroom teachers and staff strategies to engage with students of concern as an initial intervention. The second tier involves more focused intervention and monitoring with student teams focused on supporting students. The third tier involves intensive support based on student needs that may involve partnerships and in-person experiences to address concerns.

Student social and emotional well-being is a primary area of focus throughout Camas School District. While this is true in “normal” times, it is even more important now within the context of a pandemic, social unrest, and completely new experiences with learning remotely. Students in grades 3-12 recently participated in a Back-to-School Survey on our survey platform, Panorama Education. The purpose was to gauge students’ sense of well-being and their school experience. Survey data are now being reviewed to identify patterns of assets and needs and to inform our next actions to support students’ social & emotional wellness.

If you have specific concerns about your student, please let us know. We want to problem-solve with you to figure out how to best support your student.

Transition to Increased In-Person Learning Experiences

We continue to monitor COVID-19 indicators to assess our readiness to move forward with hybrid learning. Unfortunately, our community rate remains in the HIGH range (100.1), which pushes our transition back a week. You can view all the details of the transition plan including timelines, resources, and presentations at http://www.camas.wednet.edu/covid-19/2020-fall-reopening/. In the meantime, we have closed the district-wide preferred learning delivery survey and have begun contacting families who weren’t able to complete the survey. We are building cohorts from this information. Schools will communicate with you once cohorts are set, remote, hybrid A, or hybrid B. We are also sharing specific school information about hybrid learning through school town hall meetings.

Please help us move forward with our transition plan, by continuing to follow social distancing and mask guidelines and reduce the COVID-19 activity levels in our community.

Replacement Levies

Local levies are an important revenue stream for our district and approved for a set number of years by voters. In 2017, our community approved two levies, a programs & operations levy, and a capital technology levy. These levies will expire after 2021. The School Board discussed replacing these expiring levies in the February 2021 election. Our school district has long benefited from strong community support. That support has enabled us to build the district we have today. In addition to local levies, voters have also approved bonds that have built the amazing schools and resources we have in our district. Because of the way we’ve paid off those bonds, taxpayers will see a reduction in their tax rate even with approvals of replacement levies in February. The School Board will continue to explore options for the replacement levies and establish the ballot items in December.

If you would like to learn more, all meeting information is posted on our Board Docs site.

Disability Awareness Month - October is Disabilities Awareness Month, and to facilitate awareness, several activities were developed for teachers to complete with their students at all levels. In this video shared with teachers, Amy Campbell offers an introductory lesson for both elementary and secondary students setting the “why” behind the activity. Additionally, Amy recommends this book list from the Unified Young Readers Club which includes discussion questions and activities related to each book.

* * * * * *

* * * * * *

Congratulations! Camas High School seniors Andrew Kim, Lucas Mansfield and Kevin Wang were recently announced as National Merit Scholarship semi-finalists. The program honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies. Last year, approximately 16,000 semi-finalists competed against 1.5 million students from more than 21,000 high schools nationwide. Semi-finalists represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors and include the highest-scoring entrants in each state. These talented and dedicated Papermakers will continue in the competition offering more than $30 million in scholarships. Winners will be announced in spring 2021.

Pictured L-R: Hana Kawamura-CHS grade 10; Kieran Halsinger-DHS grade 11; Will Jolley-DHS grade 10; Not Pictured: Riley Carlston-DHS grade 11

Four amazing students, Riley Carlston, Kieran Halsinger, Will Jolley, and Hana Kawamura, developed and built protective items for every building in the CSD lead by Discovery HS teacher Bruce Whitefield. To date, they manufactured: 503 sneeze guards, 152 wearable full-face shields, 150 eyeshields, and 72 opaque plastic dividers!

We were also able to provide custom sizes for many locations. Our district saved an estimated $49,000 by making these in house.

* * * * * *

Don't worry if you missed last week's social-emotional webinar, Managing Online Learning: A Survival Guide For Parents. Hit the link and passcode below to view local life coach Lael Petersen's informative and thought-provoking presentation on creating mindsets, developing coping skills, and using practical tools to support your kids both academically and emotionally. The presentation - and others - can be found on the All-Student Wellness Program section of our website in the archive section. Check it out!

* * * * * *

Email: communications@camas.wednet.edu
Website: camas.wednet.edu
Location: 841 Northeast 22nd Avenue, Camas, WA, USA
Phone: 360-335-3000
Facebook: facebook.com/CamasSchools
Twitter: @CamasSchools