From the Principles Desk for the week of 12/18/19
Greetings CES families and friends
We plan on some remaining days of solid learning before the Christmas break (Dec. 20-Jan. 6).
Penguin Patch shopping
Our wonderful PTA sponsored a low cost shopping opportunity for students to purchase small gifts for their family members.
A big thanks to our PTA for providing this opportunity for our students!
Snow days — how do we decide?
It’s about that time to review our practices when determining if we have a school delay or closure as a result of snow. We usually start the night before reviewing the storm predictions and touching base with our transportation department and other school officials.
Next, Superintendent Oestreich starts her day at 4 a.m. and begins to review the weather, the amount of snowfall in each attendance area, road conditions and the anticipated weather forecast.
She is in contact with county officials, CalTrans, our transportation department and our school principals. We determine if the buses can travel, listen to the advice of our county officials, principals and CalTrans, and decide if we should have a two-hour delay, close schools for the day, or continue with a regularly scheduled day on normal times.
This decision is made in collaboration with the principals for each of the four attendance areas (Portola, Quincy, Greenville and Chester). If a decision is made for a two-hour delay or school closure, principals notify families and staff via our Aeries communication network by 6 a.m., and post on our school’s Facebook account. If there is no delay, we DO NOT send any notification to prevent confusion.
I recommend that you check your Aeries communication phone numbers and email addresses to make sure we have all of your current information.
You can check this information by logging in to the Aeries link titled “Creating An Account.” Please let Nicole or me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Snow removal at school!
Speaking of snow days, how about a shout out to our wonderful Mr. Dan Bickel! Mr. Bickel also starts his day at about 4 a.m. at CES to begin removing snow so we can access school! This guy’s amazing, and never wants any attention or credit. High Five him and thank him next time you see him! Mr. Bickel is our hero!
Outdoors recess
It’s been the practice at CES (and I agree) that we will get our “mountain tough” students out enjoying some fresh air and exercise during almost all recess breaks, despite weather conditions.
Please make sure your child has the proper clothing to be outside for 15-20 minutes enjoying some fresh air and play even when it’s cold or snowing. (We will limit recess if we have a heavy rain to prevent them from getting drenched.)
Please let me know if you have questions or concerns. Thanks!
Attendance
We’ve been averaging around 95 percent of our students in class each day, and this is improving. We appreciate our families striving to make sure their child misses no more than nine days for the school year (= 95 percent attendance).
As a note, even if a child is in attendance for the first 15 minutes, they are counted as present for the day. Thanks for your efforts in helping us reach our goal.
December 20 — possible school day
As long as we don’t have any additional snow days, then we’ll have Dec. 20 off from school.
If we do have a snow day, then we will have school on Dec. 20. (School delays — we do not make up the time).
Shout out to our local community supporters
Local organizations and businesses (for example Rotary, Elks, Lion’s Club, local businesses, etc.) provide a variety of services to our community and our students. We receive generous donations from our businesses, dictionaries for our 3rd graders, get help with students’ glasses, receive dinners and gifts to our needy families during the holidays and are always witnessing individuals and organizations stepping up to support our youth in our community.
Additionally, we continue to receive outstanding support for our fundraisers. We are incredibly grateful and are thankful to be part of such an involved and generous community. Thank you!
Books for presents?
The gift of literacy is a gift that keeps on giving, right?
Thanks parents!
A big thanks to our wonderful families at a prior meeting held on campus that were able to join us for an update on our school goals and how we address challenging behaviors.
If you were unable to attend and would like to get caught up, let me know and I’ll send you our information sheet, or give me a call to set up a time to meet in person.
In closing, we appreciate your ongoing support and teaming with us to make 2019-2020 an exceptional elementary experience for our students. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks!
