“Adopt the pace of Nature. Her secret is patience.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

March 12, 2021

This week brought us beautiful, sunny and warm weather. We all welcomed this change and made time to go outside for class breaks, lunch, and after-school meetings. This was a great way to end our first full week of school for the month of March.

This week we also had an opportunity to meet with our advisory students in-person to learn more about our GSA (gay straight alliance). They led us through some great dialogues including the importance of knowing others preferred pronouns. Next week we will also meet with our advisory students in-person to help them complete their course registration for 2021-2022 classes. We will be using PowerSchool to do this work which will inform our schedule for next school year.

In addition to preparing for next year’s schedule, this month we are also planning for SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) testing which will occur in the month of April. These assessments will assess 9th grade students in the areas of literacy and math. We will share out a schedule with students and families once our dates and times are finalized. We are also planning for the 11th grade state science test.

Lastly, next week we will be hosting family/student/teacher conferences. Conferences will be held virtually on Thursday, March 18th from 4 - 7:30 pm and Friday, March 19th from 8 am - 12 pm. You can now sign up for conferences by visiting the PowerSchool Parent Portal and by following these instructions. We will be using the model we used for our fall conferences. All meetings with teachers will be held via Google MEET. We will send out a general document with all of the teacher's Google MEET links next week at the start of the conferences. We encourage you to have your student present for these conferences as they play an integral part in the conversation. The purpose of conferences is to discuss your student’s progress so far this semester, student's learning goals, ask questions, and provide any additional information that you would like your student’s teachers to know about your student. If you have any questions or need assistance with scheduling a conference, please reach out to Anna Vasseur in our main office. (802) 253-7229

Family Resources:

The United Way of Lamoille County maintains an uber-comprehensive list of all the resources around the area: food, mental health, housing, employment, substance misuse and recovery, domestic violence, and much more. If you have any questions about what is available locally and on a state level, head to the UWLC website first.

Youth Vaping Prevention

Lamoille Area Youth Council Kickoff Event

Live Your Why- Healthy Lamoille Valley

The Everyone Eats program offers free, delicious frozen meals at these locations in Lamoille County:

• Lamoille Community Food Share (197 Harrel St, Morristown): Monday-Saturday, 9-11:30

• Wolcott United Method Church (4023 VT Route 15): Fridays, 3:30-5:30

• Lamoille Health Family Medicine, Morrisville (formerly Morrisville Family Health Care): take from freezer in waiting room during open hours.

• Copley Hospital: Available for patients during appointments and on Tuesdays 3-5; call ahead 802-851-8894

No pre-registration needed, and all the food is made by local restaurants.

Questions: ereid@capstonevt.org

The Dads’ Group is a great place to connect with other Dads, share successes and challenges and have some fun.

• Every Tuesday 8-9PM on Zoom.

• Contact Rob Cary at rcary@LRCVT.org or (802) 730-3000 for the link to the Zoom meeting.

Please share this video with any father who may want to be part of this supportive group.

Vaccination, Quarantine & Testing

The state continues to increase vaccine access. Those 70 and up may make appointments for vaccination starting tomorrow:

• 20 Walgreens locations now are participating in the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program.

• Kinney Drugs, Home Health and Hospice, and Copley Hospital are among other vaccination providers, in addition to the Department of Health clinics.

• Sign up for appointments at all sites by clicking here or calling 855-722-7878. Do not call the Health Department or your doctor for an appointment.

• Seniors who need help can call Central Vermont Council on Aging 1-800-642-5119.

People who have been fully vaccinated and are exposed to someone with COVID-19 do not need to quarantine, as long as:

• They are fully vaccinated (have had two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine).

• More than two weeks and less than three months have passed since they received the second dose of the vaccine.

• They have not had any COVID-19 symptoms since the exposure.

Get tested to help keep track of the virus in the state. Click here if you have no symptoms to make an appointment. If you have symptoms, call your provider.

Take this survey to help researchers understand how Vermonters and visitors are understanding and responding to Vermont’s COVID-19 guidelines. Complete the online survey and be entered to win one of ten $25 gift cards.

Homelessness

The Lamoille Area currently has 73 households on the Coordinated Entry list for housing. Of these:

• 67 are eligible for a housing voucher or subsidized. Only four of those households could afford a fair market unit without those forms of support.

• There are 6 households not eligible for any type of voucher or subsidy, which means they'll be homeless indefinitely until something else is created for them.

• 25 of the households require long-term case management/voucher sponsorship.

• There are 13 youth experiencing homelessness.

To end homelessness in Lamoille, we would need:

• 52 additional vouchers or subsidized units,

• Two additional case managers that can do long-term sponsorships,

• Two additional case managers that can provide short term case management and sponsorship,

• 58 single bedroom apartments,

• 9 two bedroom apartments,

• Three 3 bedroom apartments.

Parents and educators

Healthy Lamoille Valley needs community feedback around preventing and reducing youth substance misuse in the Lamoille Valley. Participants in the survey can win a gift card. Click here for the survey.

Practical Positive Co-Parenting:

• March 30th, 2021

• 6:00-7:30PM

• Register here.

• Led by Life/Parent Coach Dustin Bruley

• Strategies and tools to improve (and in some cases rescue) your relationship with your co-parent (whether or not that’s your current partner).

Parents of children with a disability or special health need are asked to share their experiences accessing childcare or early education. The information they share through this survey will be used to inform system improvement recommendations to the state of Vermont.

Snow Days will be School Days:

As the colder weather approaches and we already saw snow this week, we need to plan for the possibility of school closings due to inclement weather and unsafe road conditions. In the event we need to call for a snow day, we have developed a remote learning plan so that students can continue with their coursework. When we have a snow day, we will follow our current schedule . For example, if we need to call a snow day on a Tuesday, the students that were scheduled for in-person will have their classes remotely via Google Meet. Students who were already scheduled for a remote day will continue with the plan that was outlined by their teachers for remote learning.

Technology News:

Schoology: The Parent View in Schoology presentation is designed to help families understand and navigate Schoology.