.Hello from the Executive Director.
Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love! ~Hamilton Wright Mabie
Happy Holidays, Coburg Families!
Although winter is not my favorite season of nature, it is my favorite season of school. Walking down the hallways filled with bright, cheerful art and well wishes for all brings a sense of light and love to our darkest season. Seeing the excitement in our students' faces and listening to them talk about plans with family for the holidays brings joy to the atmosphere here at CCCS. I am looking forward to time with my own family in the next few weeks with sweet anticipation.
I look forward to the days when we are able to chat in the mornings and afternoons with all of you. Schools thrive when staff, students, and families can join together for brief conversations, smiles, and shared stories. Last year, our word was “grace”. This year, it seems to be “patience”, although grace is still just as important. We are patiently waiting for a return to warm conversations.
Each week, our admin team sits (virtually) in meetings with the Department of Education, Lane County Public Health, and sometimes with the Oregon Health Authority and 4j to hear the latest information about the pandemic, the updates in guidance, and the plans for moving forward. There is a true recognition at the state level of the hardships the pandemic is causing for families, children and schools and a sincere effort to minimize time out of school, which is great. Sometimes the information coming out at a state level in the news can be misleading because schools are still required to follow the guidance of local health officials who know best how the pandemic is affecting local areas. We try to share important updates with you in these weekly letters so you understand what the news reports mean for us.
In the last couple of weeks, there have been updates to masking rules for outdoor activities, quarantine times, and a “test to stay in school” option which can minimize the number of students needing to shift to distance learning in case of an outbreak in the classroom or at school. These updates are being reviewed here in Lane County with additional guidance expected soon from both the Department of Education and Lane County Public Health.
We do know that students who are fully vaccinated will be able to attend in person even if they are a “close contact” with a positive case unless they exhibit symptoms, which would require a negative covid test for in person learning.
Quarantine times are reduced to 7 days from the last day of “close contact” from 14 days. In order to return after 7 days of quarantine, a student would need to have a negative COVID test between days 5-7 of the quarantine period.
The Test to Stay option has not been approved for Lane County yet, but we are expecting updated information soon.
Our mask wearing rules will stay the same to ensure we are following the distancing guidelines which means less students will be identified as “close contacts”.
Next week, we should have additional information that may bring less restrictions. As guidance documents are updated, we will update them on our website, as well. Thank you, again, for all that you do to help us keep one another safe!
Best,
Lisa Jager
.Hello from the Dean of Student Services.
In the 1800s, children were understood as an economic asset. They helped on farms, worked in factories, and helped provide for their families through their labor. This began to change and by the 1930s there were widespread laws that removed children from the workplace and established compulsory schooling. Children were “learning” things now instead of “working” things.
As sociologist Viviana Zilizer argued in the 1980s, modern children slowly became seen as economically “useless” and emotionally “priceless.” Children were gifts to parents emotionally rather than practically.
We are incredibly lucky to live in a time and place where children are understood and valued in ways they historically were not, but this new idea of childhood is complicated. For one thing, this puts pressure on parents to make emotionally successful children and to “craft” the perfect person emotionally. This was not a parenting responsibility in the past, when parents were largely connected to their children in more practical ways.
Such ideas of parenting can feel and be overwhelming. Parents can easily feel disappointed if or when parenting does not feel emotionally satisfying. If children are understood to be our emotional gifts, what does it mean when it doesn’t feel like a gift? Are we failing?
Alas, parenting truly has become a “job” in a way it never was historically. Parents need to do everything possible for their children and feel totally satisfied emotionally by it. Eek! That’s a lot.
Because of these challenges, many parenting experts work to help parents understand the challenges for adults in parenting.
Andrew Solomon’s Far From the Tree (the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award) explores how families respond when children are, in one way or another, different from their parents. He argues about how differences might unite rather than divide families, and that the pains or challenges of children not being what you expected can turn to good.
Dr. Shefali Tsabary’s The Conscious Parent works to help parents understand their fantasies of themselves as a certain kind of parent, and to learn to observe the particular child in front of them and parent them as they need parenting.
Dr. Tsabary encourages parents to see themselves as co-learning with their children. Parents and children are on a journey learning together, and parents can set aside any sense of needing to be superior to their children. To succeed, parents can adjust their expectations, and not reality itself.
As you, CCCS parents, walk through the complicated journey of trying to understand what your responsibility is to your humans, I encourage you to be gracious to yourself. We are still in the middle of a (very long) social shift trying to understand what it means to be a parent.
I also encourage you to join our Parent Seminar tomorrow at 6pm, where we’ll discuss some parenting ideas for Winter Break. What can you do to nurture and grow your children (in a sustainable way for you)? What kind of whole student learning is possible for children during breaks?
.General Information.
Calendar
December 9- 6:00 to 7:00pm- Parent Seminar, the topic is Winter Break Support
Join Zoom Meeting with the following link:
Meeting ID: 885 5190 8105
Passcode: 243060
December 20- January 3 Winter Break
Lost and Found
Lost and found is overflowing! The bin is out front of the main entrance to the school, please come take a look before Winter Break.
Winter Performances
We are excited to announce K-5 winter performances! Ensembles are full class musical performances, while performance teams are small groups of 3-5th graders who have created their own acts, much like a variety show. All of our performances will be on Zoom, and recorded for replay. Links are coming soon! Without any further ado, here is the K-5 Winter Performance Schedule.
Ensembles:
K-2 Ensemble Performance Wednesday 12/15, 2:20 - 3:00
3-5 Ensemble performance Tuesday 12/14, 2:20 - 3:00
Performance Teams:
5th grade performance Monday 12/13 10:30-11:00
3rd grade performance Thursday 12/16 1:45-2:15
4th grade performance Tuesday 12/16 10:00-10:30
.Community Corner.
Light Parade
We’re looking for extra holiday lights/decorations for our holiday light parade float! If you have extras you’d like to donate, please drop them off at school this week or next week by Friday. Thank you!
Holiday Block Party
We are looking for a few parents who want to run some kid activities for the holiday block party in Coburg! We are in need of volunteers for 3 different activities. The block party is December 18, from 4-8pm. If you want to sign up, please email Katie at community@coburgcharter.org
Skills Days
Do you have a skill or talent that you think our students would like to learn? During Skills Days, we bring in different people to teach a 3 week long class (each class is one hour) on different topics. Some examples of skills days that we have had in the past are sewing, cooking, Spanish, art, health & wellness and wood working.
We are hoping to include an automotive class (learn how to change the oil and replace a flat tire) and some foreign languages in our upcoming sessions. If you are interested please contact Katie and community@coburgcharter.org
Playground Pals
Sign up HERE to help supervise k-8th grade during recess and lunch. Being a playground pal is a fun way to help students find friends to play with, problem solve and make sure our students stay safe while having fun at recess and/or lunch!
*You must be a fully cleared volunteer to sign up for a spot.*
.PCS Corner.
Hello from PCS (People for Coburg School), the school's parent group. Three things to know or help out with this week….
Holiday Staff Appreciation. Looking for a way to show some holiday spirit to the CCCS Staff? PCS is planning to host catered lunches for the CCCS staff next week as a small token of appreciation for the tireless work they have committed to this year. If every student contributed $10 there would be enough for all 30 staff to have a catered lunch for the whole week. If you would like to contribute, please either donate online (http://paypal.me/coburgpcs) or drop donations in the big black mailbox outside the school entrance by this Friday, December 10th. Thank you!
The Holiday Market is back! The City of Coburg is hosting Christmas in Coburg Dec. 17-19th, including a holiday market where CCCS sells cookies and hot cocoa. We are looking for someone to lead this event, and volunteers to bring baked goods on the 17th and cover shifts on the 18th. The City of Coburg helps us with Community and Skills days every year, so this is our chance to be a part of the community. Thanks for any help you can provide! Sign up link: https://signup.com/go/MGMifpv
PCS Meetings. Thanks to everyone who came to last week’s meeting - super helpful to get your feedback! Details for 2022 activities will be in the PCS enews next week. In the meantime, please mark your calendar for Fri. January 7th (after drop off in the cafeteria) for the next PCS Meeting.
Questions or comments? E-mail PCS@coburgcharter.org. Thank you!