Bess Maxwell Elementary School

Happy St. Patrick's Day! In the spirit of today, Susan Presba-Morris reads the children's book "Clever Tom and Leprechaun". Funding for the program provided by... Quality Counts California. Sign up to receive free children's books each month through Dolly Parton's Imagination Library: https://imaginationlibrary.com/ We encourage families with children ages 0-5 to sign up for the Ready4K program. Each week, parents and caregivers receive fun facts and easy tips through text on how to promote their children’s development by building on existing family routines. Sign up at: https://www.dnusd.org/Page/1138

Today we are reading the children's book "Goodnight, Numbers" written by Danicka McKellar, Read by Susan Presba-Morris Funding for the program provided by Quali...ty Counts California. Sign up to receive free children's books each month through Dolly Parton's Imagination Library: https://imaginationlibrary.com/ We encourage families with children ages 0-5 to sign up for the Ready4K program. Each week, parents and caregivers receive fun facts and easy tips through text on how to promote their children’s development by building on existing family routines. Sign up at: https://www.dnusd.org/Page/1138

*ACTIVE LANDSLIDE ON LAST CHANCE GRADE* There is currently an active slide on Highway 101 at Last Chance Grade, we are in contact with Caltrans and are monitoring the situation. Our director of Transportation, in consultation with Caltrans, will make a determination regarding bus transportation between Crescent City and Klamath by 1 pm. We are asking that parents contact their student's school if they have questions or need more information We will continue to provide updates as new information is available.

I hope you all had a restful winter break. We have had an excellent first week back and are looking forward to seeing your student next week. Our winner for our December attendance challenge was Mrs. Cumbra's 3rd grade class! Our attendance challenge for January is between our 1st and 2nd grade students! The task is to miss only one day for the month! It's a pretty high bar and I know our students can do it! I also wanted to give families a heads up about the week of January 18th. It is going to be another week where we shift a day. We have MLK Day on 1/18, so there is no school. We will see Cohort B on Tuesday, 1/19, Cohort A on Wednesday, 1/20, Cohort B on Thursday, 1/21, and Cohort A on Friday. If you have any questions, please make sure you call us! Have a great weekend!

Last Wednesday, the Governor announced the Safe Schools for All plan, California’s framework to support schools to continue operating safely in-person and to ex...pand the number of schools safely resuming in-person instruction. This new plan includes four major components: funding, safety & mitigation, oversight & assistance, and transparency & accountability. As Del Norte is already engaged in in-person learning, we will be closely following the details of this proposal over the next few weeks. You may also hear about an emergency bill in the CA legislature, AB 10. This bill would require schools not already in person to move to in-person as soon as possible. As our district is already in person, this bill should have little, if any, impact on us. Remember, too, that Del Norte is not currently under the modified stay at home order. Any potential stay at home order is based on whether the regional ICU capacity falls below 15%. As of yesterday, our regional capacity is just over 35%. As of today, there are three reasons that our schools would close - executive or public health order, staff or student infection rates within schools, or quarantines so widespread that we do not have enough staff to allow our schools to function. To help avoid transmission and quarantines, we continue to encourage families to consider requesting an independent study contract for up to two weeks of in-person learning following out of area travel or hosting visitors from out of the area. This would still allow your child to participate with their teacher and other classmates virtually but would also allow time for families to monitor for COVID-19 symptoms or to be tested for COVID prior to returning to school. We are asking everyone to take universal precautions of handwashing, masking, and physical distancing, and staying home if you are sick. We have also had some very preliminary conversations with public health regarding COVID vaccines for educational staff. The State has committed to putting educators near the top of the priority list for vaccines. We will continue to work with public health and our staff to get vaccines to staff as soon as possible. For more information on all of the steps you can take to help ensure that classrooms and schools remain open, please visit our website at dnusd.org/familyresources or the California Department of Public Health at cdph.ca.gov. Finally, I’d like to end with some great news about a new resource that we have available to our community. For the past several months, we have been working on a new website, Connect Del Norte. Connect Del Norte is an all in one portal to assist everyone in our community. The website is arranged around four basic areas: education, families, health, and careers, and includes information and contacts for over 200 community partners. The site is searchable and will be especially helpful to those new to our community or those facing new challenges brought on by our current situation. For more information on all of the steps you can take to help ensure that classrooms and schools remain open, please visit our website at dnusd.org/familyresources or the California Department of Public Health at cdph.ca.gov

Superintendent's Message to the Community 12-28-2020 Superintendent Jeff Harris has a special message for the community. -Students return to school from Winter ...Break on Monday, January 4th -For families traveling or hosting family members from outside of our area, we encourage you to consider requesting an independent study contract that covers up to two weeks of in-person learning following your return to town or your guest's departure. This would allow time for families and students to monitor for COVID-19 symptoms or to be tested for COVID prior to returning to school. -There are only three reasons that our schools would close - executive or public health order, staff or student infection rates within schools, or quarantines so widespread that we do not have enough staff to allow our schools to function. -DNUSD is looking for subs, please call us at (707)464-6141 if you are interested For more information on all of the steps you can take to help ensure that classrooms and schools remain open, please visit our website at dnusd.org/familyresources or the California Department of Public Health at cdph.ca.gov.

There are many perspectives on COVID-19 in our community, but we must ask that we all work together, in order to keep our schools open. Schools in California ar...e subject to state and local law as well as Public Health mandates and guidelines. In order for our schools to remain open, we must meet those requirements set forth by these institutions. We ask that you practice the following: Hands, Face, Space, and Home Wash your hands, wear your mask, when required, physically distance, and stay at home if you’re sick. If you travel out of the area or host visitors from out of the area and have children in Del Norte Schools, the District asks that you keep your children home for 14 days after you return from travel or your guests leave. We recommend that you request independent study for any school days that your child may miss. It’s in everyone’s interest, to help #KeepDNopen. Remember - Hands, Face, Space, and Home This is #notforeverjustfornow

DNUSD Podcast Coffee and Conversation Episode #36 - Introducing the Maintenance & Operations Department This week we are joined by three staff members from the Maintenance and Operations department that work in the custodial, maintenance, and grounds divisions. Guests:... James Tryon - Lead Grounds Keeper Josh Mccubbin - Maintenance Coordinator Jennifer Geissert - Custodian Coordinator Jeff Harris - Superintendent of Schools Soundcloud- https://soundcloud.com//episodes-36-introducing-the-mainte Also, view on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4OAeKtM6J3Y350cLy4pNBx iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com//dnusd-coffee-and-/id1521481929 Stitcher - https://app.stitcher.com/browse/feed/550896/episodes If you have any questions or concerns email [email protected]