As part of our continued efforts to communicate regularly with staff, parents-guardians and school communities, please find a video message from our Acting Superintendent of Schools, Janet Meyer issued April 9:

By continuing to work together, we are confident that we will find the way forward together.

Wishing you a Happy Easter:) … let’s remember to continue to flatten the curve by adhering to social distancing over the Easter Long Weekend!

This is the time of year that we begin to plan and prepare for the next school year. As part of this preparation, all our current Grade 8 students need to select their elective courses to prepare to be in Grade 9 in September. Please find attached the course selection information for all Grade 8 students to complete to prepare for Grade 9 in September. Please go over the elective courses with your son or daughter and send us their course selections by Wednesday, April 15, 2020.

Please email Mr. Killoran at cory.killoran@cmsd.bc.ca and use Grade 9 Course Selection 2020/2021 in the subject line with the following information:

• Student Name – First and Last
• Elective choices listed in order from first to last

If you have any questions about any of the courses or the course selection, please contact one of our counselors via email or at 250-635-9136.

Counselor Emails:

Michelle Eisner – michelle.eisner@cmsd.bc.ca

Sandra Kenmuir – sandra.kenmuir@cmsd.bc.ca

Please click on the link below for the course selection forms.

SMS Grade 9 Course Selection Form – 2020-2021

Coast Mountains School District would like to make parents and guardians aware that teachers will be making phone calls to students and parents, and many of these calls will not be coming from your school’s phone number.   Some of the calls may show up as No Caller ID.

The school district would like to request that you please consider answering these calls over the next while as it could be a teacher attempting to contact you.

If by the end of this week, parents or guardians who have not had any contact from your school(s), or the school district, through phone or email, please contact your school to ensure your contact information is up to date.

Thanking you in advance for your support and assistance.

A Message for CMSD82 Staff, Students & Families

Coast Mountains School District 82 continues to work closely with the Provincial Health Officer, the Ministries of Health and Education, and Northern Health in monitoring the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).  We all play an important role in preventing the spread of COVID-19 within our school communities.

We share some general operation details for your immediate information, in an effort to provide up-to-date information on COVID-19 and the impacts to our school district:

• As we prepare to support student learning from a distance, schools are not open to students, the public or CMSD82 family members. Employees who need to enter their work site, are prohibited in bringing family members with them.  All in-class instruction has been suspended and schools are not receiving students or the public.  Parents/guardians are asked not to return to school to pick up resources or personal effects unless contacted by their child’s School Principal.  A schedule will be prepared by each school to allow for the safe pick up of resources and personal belongings that follows the social distancing guidelines set out by the Provincial Health Officer.
• All StrongStart Centres are not in session while in-class instruction has been suspended.
• The health and safety of our employees is paramount.  All return-to-work plans will reflect safe work practices and social distancing guidelines recommended by the Provincial Health Officer.  All building access will be controlled to ensure physical distancing.  Each school will be developing a Safety Procedures for Building Entry and Occupancy that will be shared with employees no later than Sunday afternoon/evening, March 29.
• Support Staff (Clerical, Educational Assistants, First Nations Support/Youth Workers & Others) will be contacted by their School Principal by Sunday afternoon/evening, March 29 regarding their work plans.  We ask for your patience and that you wait for your School Principal to contact you.  The work plans for Custodians, Maintenance and IT employees have been established and these employees have been informed.  StrongStart Coordinators will be contacted by Agnes Casgrain, Director of Instruction regarding their work plans. The Human Resources Department have provided approval to those individuals who have been designated as working from home.
• Teachers will remain at home Monday morning, March 30 and proceed to their school for a two-hour session in the afternoon at 1:00 p.m., while following social distancing guidelines, to learn and prepare for what continuity of learning will look like for their students.  School Principals will be reconfirming these work plans with their school’s teaching staff.  The Human Resources Department have provided approval to those individuals who have been designated as working from home.
• For employees working at home, as approved by the Human Resources Department and by their Principal or Manager/Supervisor, it is recommended they use their district laptop.  When picking up your laptop from your school, before taking it home, please turn on your computer to allow important updates that need to be applied for approximately 15 minutes for reconfiguration of your Microsoft Office 365 Account.
• Each school and work site has been thoroughly cleaned over Spring Break and extra health and safety measures have been put in place as per the Provincial Health Officer’s guidelines.
• The Board of Education Office Complex will be closed to the public until further notice.  This encompasses the main Board Office, Accounting, Purchasing, Payroll, Human Resources, IT, Maintenance, etc.  Visitors are asked to call or email district staff instead of coming to the Board of Education Office Complex in person.  If uncertain how to reach district staff, please contact the main reception desk at (250) 635-4931 for assistance.  Note that deliveries will continue to be received by the Board of Education Office (main office) from Canada Post and/or couriers.
• All community use bookings for the use of CMSD82 schools and/or sites were cancelled effective March 13 going forward until further notice.  This preventative action was taken in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and support Health Official requests for social distancing.

We encourage families to continue to check for updates through the school district’s website at www.cmsd.bc.ca or the Twitter feed @CoastMtnSD.

Thank you for your understanding during this difficult and challenging time.  Your patience is appreciated.

Sincerely yours,

Janet Meyer
Acting Superintendent of Schools

A Video Message Update from Acting Superintendent of Schools for Staff, Students and Families

There are many questions about what will happen on Monday, March 30 for CMSD82 staff, students and families in the wake of the news that in-classroom instruction has been suspended until further notice.

Coast Mountains School District 82 is committed to regular communication with families and students, and with staff in the school district during this unprecedented situation and we ask for everyone’s patience as the school district prepares our continuity of learning plan.  Schools remain closed to the public as school staff make plans to address the learning needs of students.

Our CMSD82 Team is working with the Ministry of Education as we put together a continuity of learning plan for our school district.  We have some answers for you today, but we will have more tomorrow, and more in coming days.

To that end, we share a video communication from Janet Meyer, Acting Superintendent of Schools that provides an update on the school district plans while providing reassurance that we have a confident CMSD82 Team able to manage this crisis, ensuring the safety and well-being of our staff, students and families is always at the forefront.

Video Message from Janet Meyer, Acting Superintendent of Schools
(click on the link to view video)

By continuing to work together, we are confident that we will find the way forward together.  Please take necessary preventative measures to keep you and your families healthy and safe.

We are better together!

An Important Message for all CMSD82 Teachers and Support Staff:

Your health and safety is Coast Mountains School District 82’s primary concern.  In an effort to plan for our work moving forward, we have created a survey for your immediate completion which was emailed to your CMSD82 email address yesterday afternoon.  The email contains the survey link and details.

This survey was reviewed with the Coast Mountain Teachers’ Federation Co-Presidents and CUPE President, and they are in support of your completion of the survey.  We can assure you this survey is strictly confidential and results will only be viewed by the Acting Superintendent of Schools’ office and the Acting Director of Human Resources.

The survey will be open for completion until 5:00 p.m., Thursday, March 26.  Thank you in advance for your time in completing this survey and sharing your feedback.  Together we are better!

Note … our IT Department is in the process of migrating the school district’s email to Microsoft 365.  Users may be experiencing problems connecting to their email.  Please use the following link to access your email until our IT Department has resolved this issue.  This link is also available on the school district’s main web page under Quicklinks – Microsoft 365 Mail:

http://outlook.office.com/

When logging into the organization, please use your employee ID followed by @cmsd.bc.ca – Example:  1234@cmsd.bc.ca, then insert your log-in password.

If you are still unable to connect to your email, please contact the IT Help Desk at (250) 638-4413.

We share the following joint letters issued on Sunday night, March 22 from the Minister of Education, Rob Fleming and BCTF President, Teri Mooring written to Teachers and from the Minister of Education and CUPE BC President, Paul Faoro written to CUPE members regarding the impact of COVID-19 and its impact on schools, students, teachers and support staff.

To view these letters, please access the following links:

Minister of Education-BCTF President Joint Letter – March 22, 2020

Minister of Education-CUPE BC President Joint Letter – March 22, 2020

For parents and guardians, a new government website (click on link to open) has been launched with up-to-date non-clinical information on COVID-19.

British Columbians can also use the new provincial phone service by calling 1-888-COVID19, available seven days a week from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., with information in over 110 languages.

Specific public health questions re COVID-19 should be directed to your local health authority for response.

During this time, it is understandable for children to have questions or express concern about the COVID-19 virus.  As parents, teachers or caregivers, it is important to stay informed and communicate in age-appropriate ways that address children’s questions and helps them take steps to keep themselves and others healthy.

Here are some tips and resources to help:

• Don’t be afraid to talk about it: Convey the facts and set an emotionally reassuring tone.
• Be age-appropriate: Teens can process and handle a higher level of detail than five year olds. Focus on answering your child/student’s questions. Do your best to answer honestly and clearly; it’s okay if you can’t answer everything.
• Follow their lead: Invite your child or student to ask questions and share their perspective: Invite them to tell you anything they may have heard about the coronavirus and express how they feel.
• Check yourself: Feeling anxious?  Take some time to calm down before trying to have a conversation or answer your child’s questions.
• Focus on actions you can take: Emphasize safety precautions everyone can take to help keep themselves and others healthy: good hand hygiene, cough and sneeze etiquette, social distancing and staying home if you aren’t feeling well.
• Stick to routine: Structured days with regular mealtimes and bedtimes are an essential part of keeping kids happy and healthy.
• Keep talking: Tell kids/students you will keep them updated as you learn more.  Let them know the lines of communication are going to be open and as you learn more, you will share the information with them, too.

Resources:

• BCCDC Frequently Asked Questions on COVID-19 for Children and Students
• BCCDC COVID 19: Recommendations for Students, Parents and Guardians