The Cove Connection 

 Sunday, November 15th, 2020

Issue #13

For Previous Issues Click Here

UPCOMING DATES

• November 16 Parent Survey Due for January-June 

• November 17 

  1. SPARK Giving Day

  2. PTO Board Meeting, 7:00pm via Zoom  

• November 19 Coffee Chat with Dr. Geithman, 9:00am Via zoom

• November 20 Distance Learning Day in the morning for ALL students

• November 20 Report Cards Emailed Home

• November 23-27 Thanksgiving Break, No School

• November 30 - December 3 Distance Learning Week

• December 4 LCMSD District-wide Covid-19 testing

Weekly Dates

• All Mondays LunchMaster pickup 11:00am - 12:30pm

• All Fridays 

  • All School Assembly 11:30-12pm via Zoom

  • Library Book Pick Up and Return 8:00am - 4:00pm

  • Spiritwear Order Pick Up (if ordered) 8:00am - 4:00pm

  • Classroom Materials Pickup 8:00am- 4:00pm (*as notified by your classroom teacher)

PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

Dear Families,

Thanks to the generosity of our families, SPARK giving participation has doubled since last week! We are only halfway to our goal... so let’s keep this momentum going through Giving Day this Tuesday, November 17th.

SPARK Giving Day has always been a day of celebration at our schools. This year’s event needs to look a little different (less on campus activities on Giving Day) to support health and safety guidelines. Please know, the Foundation’s goals are still the same!

We invite everyone to show their appreciation during the Giving Day Participation Challenge with a financial contribution to SPARK. With everyone’s support, our schools can continue to provide essential programs for the well-rounded education that every student in our district deserves-  not just for this year, but for next year as well.

Please support our students with your gift to SPARK now so they can continue to receive an excellent and engaging educational experience.  

Thank you for all you do to support our schools.  

Sincerely,

Michelle Walker, Principal

SPARK UPDATES

SPARK depends on YOU We are currently at 32% Annual Giving participation. We’ve begun 1:1 outreach to every single family who has not yet made their donation or pledge. A donation amount of any amount matters. While our ultimate goal is 100% participation from families, our Giving Day goal is 60%. We need every family who participated last year and every family new to our District to support SPARK this year.  Money raised this school year covers salaries and benefits for this same school year. Thank you to these families who have participated to date.

• Make your donation or pledge  by November 17th and be entered to win a Peloton bike. 

• Increase your odds - families new to our District who make a donation or returning families with a higher donation than last year will receive two entries in the raffle. 

• When we reach 60% participation by November 17th, every student gets a free shake from Amy's Drive Thru! 

Check your Child’s Backpack for a SPARK postcard featuring Giving Day and why we are so grateful for our amazing specialists who are providing critical support during our safe return to school. 

LCMSD UPDATES

Thanksgiving Re-Entry Plan

• Distance learning 11/20 and 11/30-12/4

• COVID testing (required for staff; strongly recommended for all students) on 12/4 in a parking lot next to Neil Cummins and Cove (details to follow)

• We have been on the forefront of student and staff safety and our 12/4 testing is another pathway in keeping our schools safe and open. Even if you are asymptomatic and do not host another household or travel for Thanksgiving, please sign up for our testing (we prefer our testing over an outside organization for many reasons including results within a day and the possibility of offering future testing to students) 

• Testing method – self-administered cheek swab

• Our goal is to have the testing sign up available by the end of next week

• Marin County Department of Public Health recommends a two week quarantine if you travel out of state or host visitors from out of state

• A decision regarding our winter break re-entry plan will be shared by December 11 

LCMSD Coffee Chat – November 19th at 9:00am Coffee chats are a great way to have dialogue with your site principal and your superintendent, Dr. Brett Geithman. We have scheduled a district-wide coffee chat for November 19th at 9:00 AM via Zoom. Topics will be our Thanksgiving Re-Entry Plan, the January-June instructional model survey and cohort configuration, as well as dedicated time for Q&A. We hope to see you there! (Zoom Link)

Transitional Kindergarten for 2021-22 LCMSD will not be offering transitional kindergarten for the 2021-22 school year. Please feel free to share this with other community members.

Board Updates For the November 18, 2020 at 6:00 PM meeting (Zoom link to be posted to the agenda 1 hour before), Kyle Shaw will be recommended as Hall’s 60% assistant principal, Trustees will be presented with a COVID-19 Update, and the Board will take action on elementary school plans, Hall’s single plan for student achievement, and a utility easement. LCMSD Board Meetings are held in-person in the Hall Library (RSVP mokeeffe@lcmschools.org if you plan to attend in-person, spaces are limited due to social distancing) and a Zoom link will also be available for those who wish to attend remotely.

LCMSD in the News In addition to media coverage through several Marin IJ articles, NBC News (10.6.20) and ABC News (10.5.20), President Jill Sellers and Superintendent Brett Geithman wrote this article about safely and collaboratively opening schools. The California School Boards Association has since shared this article with all trustees and superintendents throughout the state. Our goal as a public school is to continue making our work public with the hopes of providing greater opportunities to students far and wide.

SCHOOL & PTO NEWS

School Lunch 

• Thanksgiving Break Week Lunch pickup will remain the same, Monday 11/23 11am-12:30am. If you will be away that Monday, please do not order or cancel your lunch order. 

• Distance Learning Week: Lunch pickup will be Monday, 11/30, 11am-12:30pm 12:30pm.

Lunches may be cancelled by Thursday, 10am before the Monday pickup. If you need help cancelling or have a question, please contact Nichole Urrea at: nurrea@lcmschools.org. 

Health & Wellness Committee -- Please Join! The primary purpose of this committee is to collect feedback and evaluate how the hot lunch program is going, as well as any recommendations for 2021-22. Please complete this form if you are interested and able to commit to the following four meetings via Zoom from 3:45pm - 4:45pm

• 11/19

• 1/14

• 3/18

• 5/20

The composition of the committee will be as follows: 1-2 teachers and/or staff from each site, 1-2 parents from each site, 1 school administrator, 1 Board member, 1 school nurse or liason, the CBO (Paula Rigney), and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) administrator (Nichole Urrea). We appreciate your interest in providing meals for our students!

COMMUNITY NEWS

Please click link to view Community News that includes updates from: 

• The CM Parks and Recreation Department Holiday Happenings

• LCMSD Holiday Toy Drive 

Follow Us! #CoveSchool  #WeAreLCMSD

ABOUT THE COVE CONNECTION The Cove Connection is a digital bulletin published by the CovePTO and distributed to The Cove School community each Sunday via email. To submit content to the Cove Connection, please email info@covepto.org. To receive a subscription to The Cove Connection, or to change your email address, send a note to  covesecretaries@lcmschools.org.