THE ARROW

We know that this past week of winter weather, electrical outages, and related impacts have been challenging for each of you, and it has posed challenges to Community ISD as well. Because of these obstacles, the school district decided to completely close for the week of February 15-19 so that our families could stay focused on staying safe and warm.

While some facilities have experienced power outages and water pipe issues, our incredible maintenance team braved the hazardous roads and winter weather to make sure that all buildings will be ready to reopen when classes resume on Monday, February 22, pending no further impacts on our facilities.

In a letter sent out on February 18, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) authorized Dr. Nivens to submit a Missed School Day Waiver for the week of February 15-19. As Monday, February 15 was originally scheduled for a planning day, Community ISD will only have to submit for Feb. 16-19. Upon approval of the waiver, the days missed this week will not have to be made up and no change will be made to the school calendar.

Just as a reminder, if you attended classes in-person before the winter weather hit, you will still be attending in-person classes through the rest of this nine-week grading period. If you were attending classes virtually, you will return to virtual instruction on Monday.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we’ve continued to make adjustments to assure our students and staff stay safe and warm. We look forward to seeing you (in-person and virtually) on Monday!

P.S. - If there is anything that may prevent you from safely returning to school on Monday (in-person or virtually), please let your campus principal(s) know.

Click here or on the picture above to see all the submitted photos from those in the Brave Nation that braved the winter weather!

Community ISD salutes Billy Cox. This former student-athlete and educator was inducted into the CISD Hall of Honor in March 2018.

Read about his life and career from the plaque that was revealed that night:

tinyurl.com/billycox-cisd

#ThriveThrough

Please click here or on the picture above to read a letter from Community High School principal Charles Ryan concerning this year's senior and spring events.

All of our Spanish-speaking families are invited to join us on Monday, March 1, for the Latino Family Night at the Community High School auditorium.

The event will feature Dr. Roosevelt Nivens speaking via translator to the Spanish-speaking families of the district, informing them of the state of the district and then answering questions.

If you would like to submit a question for Dr. Nivens, please fill out the form here: https://forms.gle/R23o1irJRRhsr2FV9

Space in the CHS Auditorium is limited because of COVID-19 restrictions to 250 people. If you would like to attend, please sign up by February 26. Sign-up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D44ACAA23AAFAC07-latino

CISD Elementary students are invited to run the bases at baseball's opening day!

Participating students are REQUIRED to fill out a digital sign-up sheet and MUST wear masks while on the field - even students that are nine and under. If a student has not signed up to run the bases by Feb. 19th for baseball, they will not be allowed to participate. Only 50 slots are available.

After running the bases, there will be a small picture area set up in foul territory for parents to take pictures of their students on the field.

Signing up for a slot to run the bases also includes a free ticket for that student to be admitted to the game. Just show your confirmation email to admissions upon arrival to the game.

Running of the bases will take place between the junior varsity and varsity games. Base running will begin at approximately 5:30 pm, with the varisty game scheduled to begin at 6:30 pm.

Community ISD's McClendon Elementary School has been named an elite campus out of more than 600 schools in the state of Texas that participate in the nationally-recognized Gomez & Gomez Dual Language Education (DLE) Model.

Dr. Richard Gomez, the co-founder of the program, traveled to the Brave Nation in January 2021 for Community's annual evaluation, and awarded several McClendon teachers "stars" after the evaluation. Teachers receive stars when they achieve positive marks on both the environment and the instruction sections of the evaluation.

"The DL program at Community [ISD] is still an elite DL program, especially strong in third grade," said Dr. Gomez in his evaluation form.

McClendon's DLE program has seen considerable growth and improvement since 2018, when just one teacher, Mrs. Patricia Zingg, received a star in the annual evaluation. Since then McClendon has seen consecutive years with four educators receiving stars, including the third consecutive star for Zingg and the second consecutive star for Wilfredo Camacho.

Maria Hernandez (3rd) received her 1st star

Jose Padilla (2nd) received his 2nd consecutive star

Wilfredo Camacho (1st) received his 2nd consecutive star

Patricia Zingg (3rd) received her 3rd consecutive star.

In addition to their stars, both Mrs. Zingg and Mrs. Maria Hernandez were invited by Dr. Gomez to present at the National Best Practices Conferences later this month.

The Gomez & Gomez Dual Language Enrichment Model was developed by Dr. Richard Gómez and Dr. Leo Gómez in 1995. The Gómez brothers are retired professors in Bilingual Education whose research is focused on language and academic issues affecting bilingual learners. They have spent the last 25 years constantly evaluating and perfecting their dual language education model which is now being implemented in over 700 schools across the country.

Today is the FINAL DAY to fill out the 2021-22 calendar survey! Please take time to fill out the survey as we greatly value your input! This survey is for all students, staff, and parents in the district.

https://forms.gle/QyAS1zRWjyR1SqvS7

Celebrate with us on February 25th, ten years of Digital Learning Day (#DLDay)!

The Alliance for Excellent Education (All4Ed) launched Digital Learning Day to celebrate innovative teachers and improve students' learning experiences and outcomes.

#DLDay is an online celebration where educators share great ideas, amazing stories, and promising practices through social media and within their own schools and communities.

Celebrate by sharing the greatness that is going on in your classroom!

Please, tweet any wonderful ideas and activities involving Digital Learning in your classroom during the week of February 22-26th. Use #DLDay and include @CommunityEdTech and your campus Twitter handle.

Make sure you know Edge Middle School's new campus number! Call in at 972-843-6600, or fax at 972-843-6601.

Sean Outlaw (Olivet Nazarene), Kolton Purkins (Sterling College), Ty Simpkins (Hardin-Simmons), Zach Smith (Lyon College), Brenna Bottoms (Western Colorado), and Alison Robertson (Hesston College) all signed with their intended schools Wednesday, February 3. Recap the festivities with this short recap video!

We are so proud of these Braves! Not many people get an opportunity to play sports at the next level - and all six of them have earned that honor!

Just remember that no matter where you go or what you do, you're #AlwaysABraveToUs!

If you would like to add the digital version of our 2020-21 district calendar to yours, just watch the tutorial linked above!

https://www.communityisd.org/Page/2

Community ISD will be launching a podcast on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else podcasts may be found. Click here to subscribe!

The first episode will be released soon.

Our McClendon Elementary Principal, Mr. Gilberto Salinas, has been a part of the Texas Air National Guard for over 8 years.

On Friday, January 8, he received his most recent orders, deploying as part of a COVID-19 relief mission in the Austin, Texas, area.

Mr. Salinas wants everyone in the #BraveNation to know he is very excited to serve Texans in need, and that Mrs. Melanie Cottongame will be the acting principal on campus for an undetermined amount of time.

Please join us in thanking Mr. Salinas for his service, and reach out to Mrs. Cottongame if you need to reach someone on campus!

Due to inclement weather, we did not get to present January's Brag on a Brave honorees yet. We will present January's Brag on a Brave certificates next week!

If you don't know, Brag on a Brave is a way for you to compliment a Community ISD employee, student or volunteer that you observe demonstrating the Traits of a Brave: being generous, humble, passionate and wise. The nomination form is available at https://bit.ly/2TU0Cd1. The deadline for February's Brag on a Brave is February 26!

The USDA has extended the nationwide free school meals program through the rest of the 2020-21 school year! That means that EVERY single student in Community ISD can receive a free meal from the CISD Child Nutrition program.

However, that does not mean that parents that qualify for free and reduced school lunches don't need to register for the program through CISD Child Nutrition. That program is used for so much more than school lunches - it also funds many other programs at the state level including technology

Utilizing dual credit opportunities, 12 Community High School seniors are on track to graduate with an associate's degree from Collin College in the spring. They'll make up the first group from CHS to accomplish this! Learn more by clicking here or on the picture above!

Just as a quick reminder, here are some of the guidelines that the CDC, TEA, and UIL have asked us to follow in order to prevent COVID-19 from spreading on campus.

1. Close contact is defined by the school district as being within six feet of infected person for 15 minutes or longer with one or both parties not wearing their masks. Anyone determined to have been in close contact with someone will be contacted by the school district and asked to quarantine.
2. If both people wear their masks, that is not close contact.
3. If the interaction is less than 15 minutes, that is not close contact.
4. If the distance was more than six feet, that is not close contact.
5. If you are in secondary contact (contact with a person who was in contact with a COVID-19 case), you do not have to quarantine.
6. Social distance whenever possible by remaining at least six feet from anyone not in your household
7. When it is not possible to be socially distant, wear a mask properly - i.e. completely covering your nose and mouth
8. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm water as often as possible.

For athletic schedules, please check our Rank One website.

All February

Black History Month

American Heart Month

National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention

Parent Conference - Secondary

February 25

National FFA Week

February 20-27

Latino Family Night

March 1

Visit your campus and district web calendars, or check the CISD mobile app for a complete list of upcoming events.

Email: info@communityisd.org
Website: communityisd.org
Location: 611 FM 1138 North, Nevada, TX 75173
Phone: 972-843-6000
Facebook: facebook.com/communityisd
Twitter: @communityisd