Divide County School District

DCSD will be following the recommended face covering guidelines put out by the NDDOH. This will allow us to keep more students and staff IN SCHOOL and exempting them from at-home quarantine and allowing them to SELF-MONITOR while attending school. PLEASE NOTE: ONLY the approved masks may be used at school and school events by all staff and students. If you do not have a qualifying mask, DCSD has the approved surgical mask for student and staff use. ALSO, we recently received white, cotton washable masks from the state for both students and staff. If your child needs a washable, re-usable mask, please contact your school office and we will send one home with them. Thank you for helping us keep our students in school!

DCE and DCHS staff and students will return to on-campus learning beginning Monday, October 26. We understand this may seem contrary as we continue to have COVID-19 cases within our community. While no one can predict the future, it is likely that COVID-19 will be amongst our community off and on throughout the school year. The recent COVID effect on our staff has diminished and we are able to resume normal, in-class instruction on Monday, October 26. It is our belief that most students learn best on-campus and in-person. We must also consider the whole child and their social and emotional well-being. We will continue to make concerted efforts and take precautions to help slow the spread of COVID-19 within our schools. We understand that every school closure not only affects our students but their families, our local businesses, and our community as a whole. With this in mind, we ask all families and members of our community to help us with these efforts outside of the school buildings by staying home when sick, social distancing, wearing a mask in public, and practicing good hand-hygiene. We are a small community and interactions outside of the school building also affect what happens inside our school buildings. We understand that COVID-19 affects everyone differently. We are not asking you to fear the virus, but rather, to help us take precautions to limit the spread, especially for those who are most vulnerable in our schools and community. Schools are the heart of most small communities. We are so proud to be serving ours – please help us stay strong!

There are 13 tickets still available for tomorrows FB playoff game. Mr. Harding will be at the high school from 1:00-2:00pm. You have to come to the High School parking lot and physically pick up the tickets. There will be no reservations through comments made on this post. Thank You.

The upcoming Football game between the DC Maroons and the Beach Buccaneers will be available to stream through our new Pixellot system. This is an approved streaming service through NDHSAA. To sign up for an account, please go to: https://nfhsnetwork.com/ Once you have created an account, search for Divide County High School in the search bar. The cost is 10.99/month or 64.99/year. These systems are installed in both our HS gymnasium and out at the FB field. We have the ability to stream any event that takes place in these venues. Please note that Saturday is the first time this system will be used. We appreciate your patience. You may also view the game on the Divide County School District Facebook page or listen to it live on 105.7 FM radio.

Close Contact Notifications: The NDDOH is experiencing a backlog and requesting all COVID positive individuals to notify their own close contacts. With this change in protocol, schools are not receiving the "return to school" dates for students identified as close contacts during this time. Families of DCE & DCHS students are asked to report if your child is required to quarantine along with start and end dates to Mrs. Brown, DCSD COVID Coordinator. If you are unsure of the dates, she will help you work through this process. This information can be emailed to tanja.brown@k12.nd.us or call the District Office at 701-965-6313. Upon receiving this information, DCSD will work with you to make instructional plans during your child's quarantine. Thank you for your assistance!

Divide County Football Fans: After our initial distribution of football playoff tickets, there are 50 tickets available for the playoff game Saturday. Parents/guardians of players will be given preference to obtain two additional tickets for each player’s family. These tickets will be available at the high school main entrance Wednesday (Oct. 21) morning at 8:30 until 9:30. Any tickets left after that will be available to the general public at 10:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. When arriving at the high school, please remain in your vehicle lined up along the curb, facing north and someone will come to your vehicle to deliver tickets. We have been fortunate to receive donations from local banks to enable us to stream the football playoff game on the Divide County School District Facebook page using Facebook LIVE, which is free to all viewers. There may also be an option for a Pixellot video stream connection, which we are still working on to make sure we have a good connection. There is a charge of $10.99 if this connection becomes available. Further details about these two options will be provided by Thursday night. The game is also being broadcast on FM 105.7.

FBLA is kicking off the year with fundraising for the American Heart Association. Please help us show our support for this great cause! Online donations will run to October 31st. You can donate by visiting https://app.mobilecause.com/vf/NDFBLA or texting NDFBLA to 71777.

Divide County Patrons, Following is information regarding the upcoming football playoff game to be at Divide County this coming Saturday, October 24, 2020. DC Maroons will host the Beach Buccaneers at 2:30 p.m. (CT) at the DCHS Football Field. Because this is a post-season playoff game, local board and/or administration regulations for these games are not optional. According to recent action of the NDHSAA, all regulations and protocols of the North Dakota High School Activities Association must be followed. NDHSAA has established the following Protocols for this playoff game: Attendance Restrictions – Only two (2) tickets are allotted per football team participant and coaches. Those tickets will be distributed by coaches to their players Wednesday at practice. The cost of all tickets is $8.00 per ticket. Fans will be requested to show their numbered ticket at the south main entrance to the football field at which time they will pay the admission price of $8.00. Only the south main entrance to the field will be used and will open at 1:00 p.m. Masks are required for all fans and sideline personnel. Game broadcast – The game will be broadcast on FM 105.7 (The Mix). By NDHSAA regulations, the playoff game cannot be livestreamed without the permission of the NDHSAA and will cost $500 to do so. We are currently soliciting donations to make this possible in case our NFHS Network Pixellot system is not activated by Saturday. We are anticipating a few tickets to be available to the general public by Wednesday, October 21, but don’t have a final number at this time. More information concerning availability of those tickets, where and when to purchase one, etc. will be available Tuesday night.

K-1 Lockers are Installed! Excited to announce that the K & 1 hallway is now sporting lockers for our kindergarten and first grade classes! No more overcrowded coat closets and trips down to the other end of the school to get coats. Just in time for winter gear season!

Learning Disabilities Awareness Month: Part 2- Dyslexia What is dyslexia? Dyslexia is a learning disability that affects how a person see’s letters. Some letters might appear backwards or upside down, text might appear to jump around on a page, or a person may not be able to tell the difference between letters that look similar such as o, e, and c. Here is a great video that explains dyslexia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65psPXWzNic Can you imagine trying to read passages that look like the page below? 1 in 5 students have a learning disability called dyslexia. With that being said, please know that some of the reversals are common among children to age 7 and are part of the developmental process, but please discuss with your child’s teacher if you are concerned. What is something that you can do to help support a child with dyslexia? 1) Allow them extra time to think and process. 2) Focus on their strengths and abilities. 3) Accept, encourage, and support the child. 4) Empower self-advocacy Remember, “My ABILITY is stronger than my disability.”

Hello everyone!! Ms. Wheeling and Mrs. Ratcliffe here- ready to spread some awareness about learning disabilities! October is National Learning Disabilities Awareness Month, so twice a week for the rest of the month, we will be posting a small lesson about learning disabilities that our families can participate in, as we are hoping that it will promote discussions with your child and help raise awareness about this topic that we are so passionate about! What are learning disabilities? Are there different types of learning disabilities? Did you know that 4 out of every 20 children in the U.S. have a learning disability? Did you know that adults can have learning disabilities too? Here is a short video to watch with your child about learning disabilities: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCqeFxDgacQ After watching the video, please respond to this post or message us any questions that your child may have had or 1 thing that they found to be interesting.

Dear DCSD Patrons, The following information may be helpful in planning for upcoming activities. At this time, it is not certain whether Divide County will or will not host a play-off football game on October 24. That decision will be made Saturday, October 17 after all regular season region games are finished. Likewise, it is uncertain whether Divide County will be a host site for part of the district volleyball tournament. That decision will be made available after October 21. For preliminary planning purposes, it has been established that there will be limited attendance at a hosted football playoff game and at any hosted district volleyball games. The fan attendance for the football play-off game will be limited to 5 tickets per DCHS football player/coach and 100 tickets for the visiting team fans. The District #16 Volleyball Committee is limiting seating to 100 seats for both teams for any district volleyball games during the tournament. Details regarding admission prices and ticket distribution will be made available once the game site locations are finalized.

Update on Close Contact Notifications:

Garnet Asmundson, less than a minute ago DIVIDE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL DISTANCE LEARNING SCHEDULE I would like to give you some basic information so you can start making plans for distance learning. Not every detail is ready to go yet, but here are some basics to help you get some planning started: -DCHS students will use the same daily schedule they have used for in person learning. -HS Class Schedule can be found under the document section under the school website. - Attendance is Required for all classes daily. -The grade check policy is in effect and ineligible letters will be mailed out every Wednesday. -2:48 pm to 4:00 pm is teacher contact time. Teachers will be available to help. -Q#1 will end on 10/21. All work must be turned in by the end of the quarter or a ZERO will be given. -Feel free to call the office with questions.

DCE Distance Learning Schedule Good afternoon DCE Families! I would like to give you some basic information so you can start making plans for distance learning. Not every detail is ready to go yet, but here are some basics to help you get some planning started: LIVE Class - Attendance Required Monday - Thursday ONLY Except for 10/9 - There WILL be LIVE instruction this Friday. Friday will only be for students who need additional assistance from their teacher, or have an intervention time scheduled that day. K – 9:00 - 10:30 1 – 9:00 – 10:30 2 – 9:00 - 11:00 3 – 9:00 - 11:00 4 – 9:00 – 11:30 5 – 9:00 - 12:00 6 – 9:00 – 12:00 Please note that these blocks of time WILL include short, frequent breaks to allow students time to get re-energized and stay focused. Music/PE/Library - There will not an assigned required time to participate. However, there will be a weekly video posted with viewing required. PE will require a weekly activity log and Music will have a brief required follow up activity to the once weekly video. These will be used as part of this quarter's grading for music and PE. Band - 6th Grade band will include individual virtual lessons. 5th grade band is on hold. Student Contact Time: Each student will receive at least 1 individual contact throughout the week. Teacher Office Hours: Teachers will be available for parent or student emails, calls, video calls, etc, during the hours of 1:00-4:00. Please contact them whenever your child needs help. We can schedule a block of time to provide extra help with work during office hours if needed. Counselor: Our guidance counselor is available to all students.

DCSD will be making breakfast and lunches available for pick-up beginning Monday, October 12 during distance learning. To sign-up, call the district office at 701-965-6313 by Friday at 12 noon.

Due to the school transitioning to distance learning, the flu shot clinics scheduled for DCE & DCHS have been cancelled. We are checking to see if this will be rescheduled.

Devices (iPads or Chromebooks) will be sent home with all students today for distance learning. Each student has been assigned a device along with charger cords. Please make sure all items are taken care of and returned when on-campus learning resumes. Thank you!

Dear DCSD Families, As you are aware, our community is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases. At both DCE and DCHS, we are recording very high numbers of student and staff absences due to COVID related incidents. In order to protect student, staff, and community health, we feel it is necessary for our schools to begin distance learning for a period of two weeks. School will dismiss at regular time today, Wednesday, October 7. Distance learning will begin on Friday, October 9 and continue through Wednesday, October 21. Classes will resume on campus on Monday, October 26, assuming that COVID circumstances have subsided and it is safe and feasible to return to in-person instruction. During this period of distance learning, it is imperative for all students and their families to take extra measures and precautions to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in our community. If everyone does their part to slow the spread, we can get our students back in the building after the two-week quarantine. This time is not intended for students to be gathering outside of school, which will defeat the purpose. Please stay home, continue to practice good hygiene, social distance, and wear a mask. Everyone’s efforts are necessary to get our students back in school. All extra-curricular activities and practices will be suspended until October 21. Our heartfelt concerns go out to our students, staff, and community members who are experiencing COVID related illnesses at this time. We wish you all a speedy recovery!

COVID-19 UPDATE: There have been positive COVID-19 cases identified at both DCE and DCHS. It is very likely that members of the community are hearing pieces of information that may or may not be accurate. Please take note that the school is required to follow the NDDOH protocol when notifying families regarding any of these incidents involving the school. The information provided by NDDOH sometimes appears to conflict with what the public understands about the contact tracing and quarantining process. Consequently, in some instances in school, students have been required to quarantine at home for 14 days, while other students, who may be perceived as close contacts, are not required to quarantine, but instead self-monitor, or maybe no extra precautions are required. This is because every situation is unique. Several factors are taken into consideration when the NDDOH is working with the school COVID team to determine level of contact. Some of these factors include social distancing efforts, amount of time spent with the positive case, whether or not both parties were wearing masks, and when the infectious period began. Unfortunately, there are times that the public may become aware of an incident before the school can officially notify affected families due to NDDOH, FERPA, and HIPAA protocols that the school must adhere to. During the investigation of reported cases, the school takes allowable precautions to protect all students and staff until final notifications can be made. This investigation is a careful process to ensure the health and safety of all involved and takes time. Some cases take longer than others to complete. We apologize for any confusion and frustration you may experience. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we continue to manage new circumstances for our school and community.