“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” -Amelia Earhart

March 5, 2021

We welcomed back students on Thursday and Friday and it was so wonderful to have our hallways and classrooms alive with teaching and learning again. Students were engaged and didn’t miss a step with getting back into a routine while remembering to follow all our safe and healthy guidelines. This week will be a full week packed with new learning, more athletics, and hopefully some warmer weather.

The month of March will be busy as we will be discussing course registration for the 2021-2022 school year. We are moving student registration to online this year and we are excited to have this process more streamlined. Teachers will be discussing course options for next year in classes and during advisory. Once students complete their course selections, we will then start working on building next year’s schedule. We are planning for multiple scenarios including back to full in-person and hybrid. We will be continuing with a block schedule similar to this year in order for students to have more time for deeper learning during each class block.

In addition to scheduling and course registration work, we will also be hosting family/student/teacher conferences. These will be spread over two days to provide meetings time in the late afternoon and early evening as well as the morning. We will be sending out more information about how to sign up for conferences later in the week. Conferences will again be via Google Meet and we highly encourage your student to attend these meetings with their teachers.

Lastly, quarter 3 will be ending on March 31st. It’s hard to believe we are a few weeks away from this date. If you are concerned about your student’s progress or have any questions, please reach out to their teachers before conferences.

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.