Dog dog visits Waterville on Dec. 21, 2009

Drug dog visits Waterville on Monday, December 21, 2009. Deputy Stokee and our drug dog visited the elementary and secondary schools and had no alerts. As he visited the elementary classes, Deputy Stokee demonstrated the drug finding skills of the dog. The students were very impressed by the obedience and the skills of the dog. After visiting the elementary, she checked out the secondary school also but again found no contraband. We will vary the areas checked each time to ensure bathrooms, parking lot, gym and other areas are also checked on a regular basis. This time we checked elementary, bathrooms, and junior high hallway.

Successful H1N1 vaccination event!

Thanks to a great coordinated effort with the Waterville Clinic Staff, terrific ambulance volunteers and parent volunteers, the H1N1 vaccination went smoothly and safely! Apprx. 150 students and staff received the vaccine. This will greatly reduce the potential of future flu outbreaks and less time out of the classroom! Thanks for your cooperation in protecting your child and reducing illness in the community!

For children 9 years old and younger: the second vaccine will be given on January 7th, 2010 at school. The permission paperwork will be the same and must be turned in prior to receiving the vaccine. Thank you! Laurie Riley, RN Waterville School District

Cyberbullying and Internet Safety Presentation

Sgt. Helvey from the Douglas Co. Sheriff's Dept and Eric Biggar from the Prosecutor's Office have agreed to an hour-long presentation on cyberbullying and internet safety for both our high school and junior high students on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009. We will provide two hour-long sessions..one for 9-12 and one for 6-8 grades.

Winter Temperatures and Recess

The safety of our students is very important to us, and during this winter weather, much thought goes into recess planning. We urge you to send your student to school with a warm winter coat, boots, gloves and a hat EVERY DAY! We wait to make decisions about outdoor or indoor recess about 11:00 a.m. each day and students need to be prepared for any circumstance, every day. Outdoor recess is the goal each day because we know that students benefit from fresh air and exercise. But, when temperatures dip below 10 degress, or the wind chill is below 10 degrees, we have a plan in place to keep students safe during recess.

If outdoor conditions warrant keeping students inside, we will split grades 1-3 (K if it is a collaboration day) and 4-6 during the noon recess. We have two plans - "Plan A" has the 1st through 3rd graders in the Town Hall and Library, playing board games, reading, or drawing. On a "Plan A" day, 4th through 6th grade students will be on one side of the gym, while a 7th grade PE class uses the other side. "Plan B" day for indoor recess is just the opposite. At each location, we have two supervisors who walk students there, supervise during recess, and walk them back to their classrooms following recess.

Again, PLEASE send your child to school EVERY DAY prepared for outside recess. We do have some new, hand knit hats in the elementary office if your child needs one - just have them come in and ask. If you need help with winter clothes for your child, please call us - we are always eager to help!

Here it (winter) comes, ready or not!

WVC CAMP Program Presentation will be rescheduled

Mr. Lopez will be looking to reschedule this event sometime after the new year.

Bullying/Harassment Committee Updates . . .

Members present at the November 4th meeting were Kathy Jeffers, Jerry VanWinkle, Diane Polson, Patricia Scott, Chad Kruger, and Cathi Nelson. Most of the meeting was spent discussing ways to clarify for parents all of the steps that could be available for both the victim and the bully. We also discussed what resources are available to victims and their families beyond the school.

Mrs. Scott and Mrs. Nelson will contact law enforcement, the district's insurance/legal firm, and the court system to gain their perspecitive on what the committee is asking for. The next committee meeting will be Wednesday, January 20, 2010 in the Career Center at 7:00 p.m.

Bullying/Harasssment Committee Meeting

Bullying/Harassment Committee Meeting October 14, 2009

This committee was formed based on concerns addressed at the School Board Meetings this summer. We identified parents and staff to attend a series of meetings to look at those community concerns around bullying and harassement in the schools and then to develop policies, procedures and programs to address those concerns.

Present: Sandy Bareither, Liz Frare, Kevin and Leesa Myrbo, Kathy Jeffers, Chad Kruger, Jill Moomaw, Jerry VanWinkle, Stephanie Bonwell, Patricia Scott, and Cathi Nelson

At the meeting we initially discussed the definition of bullying and it was described as a purposeful, repeated action that creates an imbalance of power through serious threats of physical or emotional harm.

After discussions about bullying and its harmful effects there was some brainstorming about some action items that the school would like to take to address the bullying issue. The following possible action items have been developed:

• Staff and student training
• Educate and empower bystanders
• Provide protection to students who report bullying
• Peer mediation, mentoring
• Climate survey now and at the end of the year, or use Healthy Use Survey as pre assessment
• Results need to be seen
• Clarity of process for victims
• Involve community without being police
• Community help at events
• Add conduct code to athletic/activity code

The next steps taken will entail: (1) a staff and student training on bullying that includes educating and empowering bystanders; (2) Ms. Scott and Ms. Nelson will provide protection to students reporting bullying; and (3) a committee will address the issue of establishing clarity of the process for victims.

The next meeting has been scheduled for November 4, a 7:00 p.m. in the Career Center.

H1N1 Flu Information for Parents and Students

Dear Parent/Guardian and Students,
As you may know, flu can be easily spread from person to person. Therefore, we are taking steps to reduce the spread of flu in Waterville Elementary and High School. We want to keep the school open to students and functioning in a normal manner during this flu season. But, we need your help to do this.
We are working closely with the Chelan/Douglas health department to monitor flu conditions and make decisions about the best steps to take concerning schools. We will keep you updated with new information as it becomes available.
For now we are doing everything we can to keep our school functioning as usual. We are doing daily disinfecting and sanitizing surfaces in all classrooms with the help of teachers and students. Here are a few things you can do to help.
· Teach your children to wash their hands often with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub. You can set a good example by doing this yourself.
· Teach your children not to share personal items like drinks, food or unwashed utensils, and to cover their coughs and sneezes with tissues. Covering up their coughs or sneezes using the elbow, arm or sleeve instead of the hand when a tissue is unavailable.
· Know the signs and symptoms of the flu. Symptoms of the flu include fever (100 degrees Fahrenheit, 37.8 degrees Celsius or greater), cough, sore throat, a runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, and feeling very tired. Some people may also vomit or have diarrhea.
· Keep sick children at home for at least 24 hours after they no longer have fever or do not have signs of fever, without using fever-reducing drugs. Keeping children with a fever at home will reduce the number of people who may get infected.
Do not send children to school if they are sick. Any children who are determined to be sick while at school will be sent home. If the flu becomes more severe, we may take additional steps to prevent the spread such as:
conducting active fever and flu symptom screening of students and staff as they arrive at school,
making changes to increase the space between people such as moving desks farther apart and postponing class trips, and
dismissing students from school for at least 7 days if they become sick.
For more information, visit http://www.flu.gov/, or call 1-800-CDC-INFO for the most current information about the flu. For more information about flu in our community and what our school is doing, visit Waterville School Website and the Health Services tab or call 745-8585 Elementary Office or 745-8583 Jr./Senior High School office. Our website address: http://www.waterville.wednet.edu/. We will notify you of any additional changes to our school’s strategy to prevent the spread of flu.
Sincerely,
Cathi Nelson, Elementary Principal/ Patricia Scott,High School Principal/ Dr. Ray Reid, Superintendent/ Laurie Riley, School Nurse