Family and Community Resource Center
On top of our usual resources, we’re working on winter giving at the FCRC, helping families sign up for a slightly modified Rotary giving program this year. Families that sign up for the Rotary giving will be able to put in requests for clothing, coats, pajamas, and the like, and will be able to pick them up unwrapped, with a Holiday dinner in December.
We currently have 95 students listed as “homeless” in our district and expect that number to grow as the eviction moratorium comes to an end next year. So far this month, we’ve helped 4 families apply for Washington’s Free Internet program, given out 4 food boxes, and given out 11 vouchers for school clothing at the Woodland Action Thrift Store.
We’re also working on a payroll deduction opportunity for school staff who would like to donate to the school’s food pantries. It’s a season of giving!
Truancy / Attendance
Overall, Stacy Moaut’s role with truancy has expanded to develop deeper relationships with families who are the most vulnerable during this time, which in turn, results in student engagement. Stacy has been working primarily with the TEAM staff and WHS staff in removing barriers for attendance/online participation for our high school students. Many we know are dealing with great amounts of depression and anxiety over the uncertainty in the world and with how their life has been thrown off kilter with no sense of structure and routine, which is essential for those who are our most at risk students. In response, Stacy has volunteered to help monitor students at WHS in “bubble groups” twice a week, which allows more students to come to campus to work on a set schedule. Stacy also does weekly contacts for the TEAM staff in regards to students who are not making regular progress. For students who are most at risk, Stacy is doing at least a weekly check in with the student/family and continues to build positive relationships to encourage attendance by providing various options and support.
In addition to supporting TEAM, Stacy has been helping other schools by making parent contacts as well as home visits as needed.
Nurse Services
Our district nurse and our middle school nurse continue to work out of Columbia and North Fork elementary. We are working to increase health room staffing at Columbia and North Fork so that our nurses can return to WMS and WHS. As students are returning to schools, our nurses are making sure we have the proper medications in place for each student that has a Health Care Plan, and documenting immunizations. Also, we are monitoring and adjusting our processes for student attestations.
LAP Program
LAP has continued to review Acadience data and moved to create new groupings of students that best fit their instructional needs in a hybrid learning environment. LAP and English Language Development services have paired in order to best meet the needs of all students. All groups are continuing to run virtually to allow intervention on asynchronous days. Progress is monitored bi-weekly.
The Boost team at NFES spent September and October meeting virtually with LAP students in small groups. As in-person students become accustomed to being back at school, we will begin new LAP groups in mid-November. Students will meet with the LAP team virtually in small groups, and work on their reading fluency via Read Naturally, or work to further develop their phonics skills with a new program we’re using called Word Warm-ups.
Alternative Learning Program -- Lewis River Academy and TEAM High School
We can say that 2020 has been a learning experience. We have learned alongside the students and parents. LRA and TEAM have heavy workloads due to an increase in enrollment. Our teachers and staff at both schools are doing a great job connecting with students and families as well as adapting to the challenges and opportunities in remote learning. We are monitoring and adjusting our systems to be able to serve the students and support the staff workload, looking at ways we can be innovative in our approach to meeting students' needs. TEAM is safely allowing students to come in to take exams and, when more help is needed, we have “bubble groups” similar to WHS for extra support. We are appreciative of the support we have received from the WHS administration, SPED team, and PASS team, in addition to valuable communication with students and families by Janice England and Stacy Mouat.
Title Programs
Tara Eilts led the annual parent involvement meeting last week, "Coffee & Conversation", with WMS staff present as well. As the meeting was “virtual”, Tara shared information via Google Meet and Google Slides. The slide that is unique to what the Title program is doing this year is slide 10 "What special supports are available to my child during distance learning?"
Special Services
Special Services continues to meet virtually, keeping up with the due dates and timelines outlined in the Individual Education Programs. Based on data and IEP team discussions, we have brought in more students with IEPs for “in person” services. KWRL has been extraordinarily helpful in managing the routes and times for students to be transported to the schools. Starting next week we will begin the large task of “Safety Net” review and application.