Rocket Review
December 17, 2021
December 20th-December 31st
December 17, 2021
Dear Skykomish Community,
I hope that this newsletter finds you well, warm, and winsome.
This special holiday time is almost here. It is undoubtedly a great time to catch up with family and friends, share great moments, and maybe fly south for a few days.
For some it’s always a challenge to adjust to such hard weather, but I am exceptionally proud of our faculty and staff who always show great flexibility during this weather to make certain we have everything we need to keep our building functioning and our students safe. I want to extend a huge thank you to our bus drivers who travel our icy and treacherous roads to transport our students safely and soundly to and from home during these icy elements, too.
On behalf of our School Board Directors, our faculty, and our staff I want to wish each of you a very merry holiday season and a happy New Year! May your home be filled with joy, peace, warmth, and laughter surrounded by family, friends, and loved ones.
Happy Holidays,
Thomas Jay
Superintendent
December 17, 2021
Dear Students and Families of our Middle and High School Students:
It is that time of year again, to do our Check Me screener with our students. The Check Me screener is a tool developed by King County and Children’s Hospital to support students and open conversations with students about their emotional well-being. It is particularly helpful for those students who might be a little more reserved about asking for help. We as Counselors, Teachers, and Support Staff are not always able to pinpoint students struggling or recognize when they are holding back. The screener has been a personal and private way for students to get their needs addressed and met.
Sonia Bartosek, School Counselor, and I, Rosemary Mitchell, Prevention/Intervention Specialist, have been working over the last several years with our students developing Coping Strategies and Communications Skills. My role focuses on connection to others as a primary support in life. I also teach Prevention, Life Skills, and Alcohol and Drug Awareness, Smoking Cessation, and Suicide Awareness. Sonia has brought Social-Emotional Learning and Character Strong into the forefront in her time with students.
Our students' emotional state is always an important part of the conversation. We believe to be successful academically our students' basic needs must be met. We believe in supporting the whole child in all we do. Our students are smart and engaging in all our activities. We would be surprised if this screener were to bring up topics that were not discussed in previous groups or conversations.
I am impressed with the resilience of our students during the last 21 months of COVID-19 uncertainties. They have a great ability to stay positive, despite their ever-changing circumstances. If you have any questions or concerns about the upcoming screener that will be administered via a link on their computers during class time - please do not hesitate to give me a call. I am happy to spend some time with you in conversation to address any concerns that you might have. Please be advised that parents have the option to opt out of their child participating in the survey.
In January, I would like to begin a drop-in “Parent Support Zoom” if there is interest. I believe in giving people platforms to create support. It can be a great avenue of community building and support to see what is working, and not working for parents and students. It will be a place to give and receive support, and just to talk and debrief with each other. Please, let me know if you are interested, so I can plan to move forward with this endeavor.
In closing, I am available to talk on the phone, email and/or Zoom, with parents and students 32 hours a week. I can be reached Monday -Tuesday, 7:30 am - 11:30 am, and Wednesday- Friday from 7:30 am-3:30 pm. It is my pleasure to work with you, your child, and the school staff to support you with all social, emotional, mental health, and educational needs.
“If you love what you do, you never have to work another day in your life" —Marc Anthony. I am thankful every day for the job I get to do-making a difference in the lives of your children.
My Best,
Rosemary Mitchell
Skykomish Prevention-Intervention Specialist
Republished with permission from Shannon Bond and NPR. Permission granted 12/10/21.
Instagram unveils new teen safety tools ahead of Senate hearing
December 7, 2021 3:00 AM ET
Instagram is rolling out a new set of safety features aimed at its youngest users and their parents, a day before the photo-sharing app's head testifies to Congress about the platform's potential risks to kids and teens.
They include tools to help users manage how much time they spend on the app, place limits on both unwanted interactions with adults and exposure to sensitive content, and offer optional parental oversight of children's accounts.
States are investigating how Instagram recruits and affects children
Instagram, which is owned by Meta (formerly Facebook), has come under intense scrutiny since a whistleblower disclosed internal research showing the app can harm users, including by exacerbating body image problems and other mental health concerns for some teenage girls. A bipartisan group of state attorneys general is investigating the company, and lawmakers are holding hearings about child safety on social media.
On Wednesday, Instagram head Adam Mosseri is to testify before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security. He's expected to be grilled on what Instagram knows about its potential harm to young users and what the company is doing about those concerns.
Senators Blast Facebook For Concealing Instagram's Risks To Kids
"I'm proud that our platform is a place where teens can spend time with the people they care about, explore their interests, and explore who they are," Mosseri wrote in a blog post on Tuesday announcing the new features. "I want to make sure that it stays that way, which means above all keeping them safe on Instagram. We'll continue doing research, consulting with experts, and testing new concepts to better serve teens."
Instagram is walking a fine line between assuring families that it is doing all it can to keep their children safe and competing with apps more popular among young people, such as TikTok. Under pressure in September, Instagram paused work on a version of its app for children under 13, saying it would work more closely with parents, experts and lawmakers before proceeding. Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, the top Republican on the subcommittee holding Wednesday's hearing, slammed the company's announcement, saying it "will do little to substantively make their products safer for kids and teens." "Meta is attempting to shift attention from their mistakes by rolling out parental guides, use timers, and content control features that consumers should have had all along," she said.
Safety features include parental controls and restrictions on tagging images of kids
Instagram said it will launch a number of features and tests immediately and others in the coming months.
Parents To Facebook: Don't Make A Kid-Only Instagram, Just A Better Instagram
The company says parents and guardians will be able to see how much time their children are spending on Instagram and set daily time limits. Users under 18 will also be able to notify their parents or guardians when they report problems like bullying or harassment by other users. However, in order for parents to use these tools, their kids need to opt in.
"The emphasis is really on what type of insights into teen behavior can we provide parents and what type of controls can we provide that are valuable both for parents and teens to open up that dialogue between them?" said Vaishnavi J, Instagram's head of safety and wellbeing.
The company is also creating an "educational hub" for parents with tutorials on how to use Instagram and tips on discussing social media with their kids. Those features will be available starting in March.
In the meantime, Instagram is rolling out its new "take a break" feature in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia. The feature, announced in October amid pressure over the whistleblower's revelations, lets users set a reminder to step away from the app after a set amount of time. While the feature is available to users of all ages, those under 18 will see a special prompt.
In another new change, by default, users now won't be able to tag or mention people younger than 16 who don't follow them, to minimize unwanted or inappropriate interactions. That builds on changes Instagram announced in July that made accounts for kids under 16 private automatically and limited the ability of some adults to interact with and follow teens.
Going forward, Instagram will more strictly limit what posts and accounts it recommends to users under 18, so that they are less likely to encounter posts considered "sensitive."
The company has also begun testing "nudges" — alerts prompting users to check out other subjects if they seem to be going down a "rabbit hole," J said. It's exploring how these nudges will work before deciding whether to roll them out more widely and isn't focusing on any specific topics, she added.
"Any one piece of content is unlikely to make you feel good or bad or negative about yourself," she said. "It's really when you're viewing, say, 20 minutes of that content or multiple pieces of that content in rapid succession that may have a negative impact on how you feel."
Another feature Instagram plans to roll out to all users in January is the ability to delete in bulk their posts, likes and comments. J said the goal is to let users manage their online "footprint" and give younger users in particular a greater sense of control over what they decide to share.
Editor's note: Meta pays NPR to license NPR content.
Snowshoeing Adventures
Skykomish School is partnering with the USDA Forest Service to attend an upcoming snowshoeing trip. Tentative dates are either January 28th or February 17th. Students should be sure to have their winter gear ready, including boots and gloves. Snowshoes will be provided. In addition to the snowshoeing venture, the Forest Service will be bringing winter ecology and snowflake art lessons to students prior to the trip, all free-of-charge.
Later this year we will be partnering again with Sound Salmon Solutions and the Forest Service for additional field trips, including stream ecology, macroinvertebrate studies, bear safety, Stream of Dreams art program, water quality lessons, tree planting, and ethnobotany walks.
ROCKET READERS
By DeLana Slone
We had some new readers participate in our November Rocket Reading challenge. Last month’s readers were Luca M., Weston, Benjamin, Jason, Madeline, Marco, Claire, and Luca L. Please encourage your children to keep reading and tracking in their reading logs. We will be collecting December logs the first day after Winter Break. New reading logs can be picked up in the office.
The Skykomish King County Library has a great collection of books and has lots of winter books on display for checking out. Their hours are as follows: Friday and Saturdays from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm and on Tuesdays from 1:00 – 8:00 pm. They will be closed during winter break on December 24th and 25th and will be closing at 5:00 pm on New Year’s Eve.
Upcoming Events
Happy New Year!
1/3/22 – Back to school from break
1/12/22 – School Board meeting 6:30 pm
1/17/22 – No school in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day
1/26/22 – End of 1st Semester, School Board Meeting 6:30 pm
1/27/22 – 11:30 am release day
1/28/22 – Snowshoe Field Trip
Nondiscrimination
Skykomish School District does not discriminate in any programs or activities on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following employee(s) have been designated to handle questions and complaints of alleged discrimination:
Thomas Jay
Civil Rights Coordinator
Dan Bubar
Title IX Coordinator
Karen McEachern
Section 504 ADA Coordinator
105 6th Street North
Skykomish, WA 98288
360-677-2623