Good Evening, Parents, Guardians and CHS Community,
I am anticipating nice weather this weekend. I am hoping to finish this season’s work on a stone wall in front of my house. I can’t wait to spend time working outside without a mask!
Don’t forget that Wednesday is Veteran’s Day and a day off for students and staff. Please take a moment to express your appreciation to any servicemen and women you know for their commitment and sacrifice to our country.
Now that we have had our first experiences with the COVID-19 at CHS, I have an ask. It will be easy to become more casual in how we approach our behaviors around wearing a mask, keeping distance when needed, and paying careful attention to hand-washing and coughing and such. Because we have compromised students, staff, and other members in our community, staying healthy is really important for all of us. I want to ask that you talk with your children about what is expected of them at school, at activities, and in cars with their friends and on the bus. Please encourage them to be taking those steps to keep themselves healthy. It will benefit them and everyone else here and in the community. This is a very challenging time and we want to do as much as we can to ensure that we are all making the best decisions possible to keep students, staff, and the community safe and in school as much as possible.
Parents will be able to view report cards on November 12. More information will be coming out soon with instructions on how to access this. In some classes this will reflect as an end of course grade, and in others it will reflect as a progress report.
Don’t forget that the highlighted Important Updates with the asterisks below are relatively new information. Older information is in the second highlighted section. Have a great week, everyone! Bill Lonergan, Principal
Appreciation:
So much thanks go out to our PTO for that great lunch on Tuesday. That was awesome! We are so fortunate to have them supporting us this way.
Thanks to all of our teachers and counselors for theirr work with the parents on Parent Teacher Conferences. I heard many positives about how these went.
It was also good to have the Puritan chicken tenders for our dinner during PTC's, so it is appreciated that Mike went out and purchased our salad and dinner.
We want to thank Dawn Parker and her Key Club students for their Teacher Appreciation gesture this week.
It is important to continue to normalize our school days, and again, Dawn working with Mike did a great job collaborating with Julie Green and the grounds crew and custodial staff to run our Red Ribbon Week and create our annual Red Ribbon school photo.
Finally, let’s wish Brittney Milligan (Music) well as she again faces a deployment to work through the Army Reserves! We’ll see her back here in about seven or eight weeks.
Important Updates:
***From Counseling:Schedule Changes for Quarter 2: Please remind your students that the last day to make quarter 2 class changes is next Thursday, November 12th by 2:30pm.
***Also from the Counseling Office: A Virtual Career speaker session will be held in advisories on Tues, Nov 24th. Your student will have the opportunity to choose two (2) speakers to join in via Google Meet. Guest speakers bring a unique opportunity for students to learn from a professional about job skills, education required and work conditions. This helps students understand how what they are learning will be used in the world of work.
***Quarter 2 Begins on Monday: Please be aware that your student’s schedule will likely change on Monday. We will not be having dedicated time during this transition to bring Remote Students into the building. We have asked teachers to make sure they spend some of the first few days to establish personal connections with their Remote Learners early in the quarter and to connect students to their classmates in their new courses.
***Wednesday Early Releases: As a result of our change of schedules on Wednesdays to an early release and school letting out at 11:38 for students, we have made some adjustments to our Wednesday programming. First of all, our Homework Club is not open on Wednesday afternoons for the foreseeable future. Also, we are not going to have late buses on Wednesdays. Previously these buses departed CHS at 3:30, but will not until further notice. Our morning CTE students’ CHS teachers have been advised that this will impact B block classes, and to try not to have assessments on Wednesdays. Finally, when practices resume for winter sports, they will not take place until after teachers are available after 2:45pm.
***Hybrid or Remote Schedules: We have revised our planning if we have to go to a Hybrid schedule or if we have to go Remote. These will be reflected in the District Reopening Plan shortly. It is expected that students will have a full day of work on Wednesdays as we will continue our early release schedules, but some of that work will involve asynchronous activities that they can do on their own for each of their classes.
In the Hybrid Schedule, the teachers will still come into the building to teach and students are alternating In-School or Remote by Alpha last names in alternating weeks. This means in the first week (A Weeks) that last names A-K will be In-School M,T,W and Remote Th,F and the next week they will be In-School M,T and Remote W, Th, F. During the first week for last names L-Z, students will be Out of School M, T, W and In-School on Th,F. During the second week, they will be Out of School M, T and In-School W, T, F. Wednesdays will continue to be a shortened day with students done at 11:38 and teachers having 2 hours and 45 minutes time to collaborate with one another on curriculum, instruction and lesson planning.
In the Remote Schedule: All teachers will still come into the building to teach from CHS and all students will be Remote Learners. The schedule will remain our Monday-Friday A,B,C,D blocks for semester 1 with the Wednesday schedule lengthened to students so that they will be finished classes at 12:38, and teachers will have 1 hour and 45 minutes of collaboration time.
***CHS Parent Teacher Organization: The attached links below are Membership sign-up forms and Pie Sale Forms from our fantastic PTO Organization. The next PTO meeting is Tues, Nov 10th at 7pm via Google Meet. Here is the code: meet.google.com/bce-pcjc-ahj
CHS PTO Fall Pie Sale
CHS PTO envelope 2020-21
***Bad Weather Days: This is also a reminder that if we have days when the Superintendent calls school off due to weather, we will go to a Remote Learning Day for students and teachers on that day. The state allows up to five days for this purpose as long as we have a sufficient number of students attending and completing their work. We would expect that teachers would be teaching on this day during typical class hours and student work would be synchronous with ongoing assignments during their classes.
***Picture Retake Day: If your child was absent or you wish to have his/her photo retaken, these will take place on November 19. We will be reaching out to Remote Learners about the schedule. Here are links to Barksdale’s inf: https://hockstudio.com/onlineorders.php#orderbox, and https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=03435c136c&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-f:1682528941028125769&th=17598b284e4bac49&view=att&disp=inline
***CHS Yearbooks: If you have not ordered your yearbook by this time, you can still do so. The price will increase, but the forms are still active. Digital Photography students are busy capturing candid and sport photos. Graphic Design students are creating some amazing cover designs. Even in this unique time we are busy making sure we create an amazing yearbook to remember the 2020-2021 school year. You can order one today at Jostens.com
Ongoing News:
Health Office Update: Our health office continues to be very busy this year. It is very important that if you dismiss your child because he or she is not feeling well, we are asking them to check in at the CHS Health Office first. Given the rising numbers of COVID cases, we want to keep close track on this. Also, if your child has any COVID symptoms, Donna Boucher, our school nurse will be in contact. Also, please make sure to daily check your child’s well-being, and if they meet any COVID conditions on the following document https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fqoeqCaw-L-WE5xIFAIc2Y2cGcCk31mbxZhXsZ0P1sg/edit, then keep your child home and reach out to Donna to keep us informed. If you have questions, please contact her at [email protected] or 546-0300 x 3115.
Student absences and going to remote learning: If your child is going to be absent and wishes to join a teacher’s classroom remotely on that day, please review the following letter from the school principals. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D27N_yPMGpGP_sv3ahuLsoB1VDE9WbH6TUP3p3GmCxU/edit?usp=sharing. It is important that you communicate to us that intent with 24 hours notice before your child joins the classroom. Thanks for your attention to this.
A Message on Grading: The following is a message from the Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Director, Mary Widman, regarding District Grading practices. Please review so you have an understanding of how grades are calculated in PowerSchool as we move toward a more accurate Competency-Based Grading process. IGrading messaging to parents
Visitors to CHS: We need assistance from parents and guardians who come to CHS. If you need to come into the building during the morning rush hour (while students arrive), please go to the doors on the left to be buzzed in. It is important that visitors coming into the main part of the building wait until you are buzzed in and speak to the office staff and formally check in. Please keep in mind that we are limiting access to the building as much as possible. Thank you for your attention to this.
Homework Club: Please encourage your students to check out Homework Club if they would like a bit of help with their homework, or maybe just a quiet place to work from 2:30 - 3:30. This includes ALL students, even Remote Learners. They can even drop in virtually to ask a question or three! There is both a M Google Classroom (code - u3p3jye) and a T/Th Google Classroom (code - v6okksn). There are also Google Meets for each day as well.
T/Th is https://meet.google.com/sgj-jast-tgm M is https://meet.google.com/iou-ezmn-oop
Food Services Information: An update on School Lunches during our Wednesday Early Releases:
Students in school will have an opportunity to go to the cafe and pick up a Grab’n Go Lunch before departing CHS. For those who pick up meals at CHS, from this Wednesday on our Wednesday Meals will be Breakfast for Lunch due to the earlier time of pickup and lunches at the schools. We recommend getting to the schools to pick up lunches on the earlier side, as we do not want our remote lunches to get mixed up and stuck in the parent pickup lines.
CHS Remote Learning students will continue to pick up lunches in the vestibule, but lunches will be out at 10:30 on Wednesdays to avoid the dismissal traffic.
With all this being said, we have a very small window from when the forms close and when the pick up is. Please get your order in early, as this will be a hard 9AM shutoff.
The following is an ongoing announcement to repeat the message that all meals for students in the Litchfield School District are FREE until 12/31/2020!!!!! The USDA Granted a waiver extension, allowing schools to serve meals for free regardless of student status. What the free meals cover: Any Hot Lunch, Breakfast Meal, Yogurt Meal, Salad Meal or Sandwich Meal. This includes all 5 components to the meals Protein, Veggie, Fruit, Whole Grains, and Milk.
What this does not cover: second helpings, meals that are "incomplete" (a second slice of pizza, or a meal that doesn't contain fruit/veggie selection), or any item purchased a la carte - including fruits, veggies, milks, etc. All of these items students must have a positive account balance to purchase.
Here is a link to that notification: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=om#inbox?projector=1&messagePartId=0.1
Litchfield Food Services also has moved to a new online payment portal. Please sign up at www.k12paymentcenter.com. You will need your child's Student Number to create an account. The student number is not the same as their lunch PIN code. You can contact Lauren Crowley, or any school office to get the Student Number for your child. [email protected], 603-546-0300 x3112. Free and Reduced applications are available at www.lunchapplication.com. Families can apply at any time, and information is 100% confidential. Please contact Lauren Crowley for any questions you may have. [email protected] at 546-0300 x3112.
Athletics Update: Due to Covid-19 there continues to be a limit on fans at CHS home events as well as away. Campbell, along with our cluster which includes Pelham, Sanborn, Hollis-Brookline, Souhegan and Milford, have a two immediate family member limit for home and away games. Only family members who have children playing in the game are able to attend that game. “Season passes” have been given out to each athlete which will allow two immediate family members to attend. Do not pass these season passes to other people or students outside of your immediate family. The Athletic Department is working with Litchfield TV to stream as many home games as they can. Once received, a streaming schedule will be sent to your child’s coach. We are extremely grateful that Litchfield TV has agreed to work with us to provide these streaming events. Please know that if you are attending a game that isn’t within our cluster there may be different rules. Some schools do not have a restriction on fans while others aren’t allowing fans. We will do our best to inform you of these rules/protocols prior to each game. Please comply with our District expectations when on campus including physical distancing (at least six feet apart), wearing masks, using appropriate hygiene, and supporting our athletes with your usual positivity.
CHS Athletics Boosters Organization: The CHS Boosters are meeting virtually on the first Mondays of each month at 7:00 pm. The President is Colleen Gamache. This is the link to those meetings: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://netapp.zoom.us/j/99850143485?pwd%3DUHpIQ1k5RHU2VzUxUEovRkFWSkJhQT09&sa=D&source=calendar&ust=1603202386680000&usg=AOvVaw3lhXl_QoBR1R5uPuxuywjc. Also the Booster Club has a homepage at the following location: https://campbell-high-school-athletic-booster-club.square.site/#erjyZf
CHS Friends of Performing Arts: FOPA is one of our parent organizations that supports our music and theater programs. The president is Gina Michaud. They will be meeting virtually this year on the third Tuesday of every month at 7;00 pm: 11/17, 12/?, 1/19, 2/16, 3/16, 4/20, 5/18.
Here's the Zoom link: https://windhamsd.zoom.us/j/9094352136?pwd=RDJra01saG0rM1FJbE5ucjRmSnEvQT09
Employment Possibilities within the Litchfield School District: The Litchfield School District continues to look for substitute teachers, paraeducators, custodians and food service workers. Check out the district HR site for info: https://www.litchfieldsd.org/EmploymentOpportunities.aspx
Schedule for Nov 9 - Nov 13
Nov 9 Faculty Meeting @ 2:40 in the Phil Martin Auditorium
Nov 10 Virtual PTO Mtg @ 7:00pm meet.google.com/bce-pcjc-ahj
Nov 11 No School/Veteran’s Day (thank you Veterans!)
Nov 12 Quarter 1 Report Cards available on Powerschool
Nov 12 Leadership Team Meeting
Looking Further Ahead:
Nov 17 - Grading & Reporting Committee
Nov 18 - CHS Department Meetings
Nov 18 - Professional Learning Committee
Nov 18- Tentatively Rescheduled NHS Inductions
Nov? ?19? ?-? ?Picture? ?Retake? ?Day? ?in? ?Auditorium? ?@? ?8:00am? ? ?
Nov 19 - CHS Safety Team Meeting
Nov 24 - Advisory Committee Meeting
Nov 24 - Virtual Career Speakers in Advisory
Nov 30 - Winter Athletics “Skills & Drills” training begins
Dec 2 - CHS Assessment & Data Committee
Dec 7 - CHS Faculty Meeting
Dec 7 - Virtual Athletic Booster’s Meeting 7:00 pm
Dec 8 - PTO Virtual Meeting 7:00 pm
Dec 9 - New Professional Staff Meeting
Dec 10 - CHS Leadership Team Meeting
Dec 14 - Winter Sports Tryouts begin
Dec 15 - Grading & Reporting Committee
Dec 16- Professional Learning Committee
Dec 22 - Advisory Committee
Dec 22 - Department Meetings
Jan 11 - First Date for Winter Athletics competitions
Athletics Updates: See blurb above for attending events
Upcoming College Rep Visits (via Google Meet) - students register in Naviance
Rivier University Tuesday, November 10th, 2020 at 9:30 am
Colby-Sawyer College Tuesday, November 10th, 2020 at 11:30 am
Castleton University Tuesday, November 10th, 2020 at 12:30 pm
Mount Saint Mary College Thursday, November 12th, 2020 at 11:30 am
SUNY Maritime College Thursday, November 12th, 2020 at 12:30 pm
Hawaii Pacific University Friday, November 13th, 2020 at 11:30 am