November 13, 2020
Food and Fellowship

As we prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday, we celebrate a time when two communities came together, sharing food and fellowship while giving thanks to God. As mentioned last week, CCLS will be gathering food for KirkCare food pantry to support families in our area. We’ll be collecting the food beginning next week and through November 23. In another fellowship opportunity next week, Ms. Albers’ 8th grade class is scheduled to have a video conference with our friends at Wilhelm Loehe School in Germany. The students will have a chance to build global friendships and help the English class prep for their exam. All in all, it is Christ that unites us as a community here and across the world, and for that we give Him thanks!

In our local community, we are aware of recent announcements of pandemic-related restrictions. As we stated in our Back to School Plan this summer, CCLS has - and will continue to - monitor the local landscape in making decisions for our school. We are blessed to have willing teachers and resources to adapt instruction to respond to changes, when needed. At this time, CCLS will continue to provide on campus, in-person, instruction for our students. We are thankful for all opportunities we have to offer Christ-centered education at CCLS!

Matt Hoehner
Executive Director

...Early Childhood... CCLS will continue to provide a safe, healthy, loving, learning environment for all of our little ones. We need your help to keep everyone healthy so that we can stay in school! If your child is displaying any symptoms (yes, even allergy-like symptoms) contact their pediatrician to see if further evaluation is needed. We also have amazing medical professionals at CCLS that would be happy to talk with you and answer your questions! Thank you for making decisions with extra caution this year as you monitor your child for symptoms. Blessings for a healthy, joy-filled week ahead! 
...Elementary... The challenge is on! We are collecting canned goods and non-perishable items for Kirk Care which is a food pantry located in Kirkwood. The Middle School Students have challenged the elementary students to see which campus will bring more items. The winning campus will receive a free dress day! I know that the kindergarten through fourth grade students will step up and bring in lots of goodies. (Just a reminder that breakable containers are not allowed.) Students may start bringing their items on Wednesday, November 18th. Let's go elementary students! 
...Middle School... 2020 Fall Honors Awards: As promised, we will celebrate students for their accomplishments earned during the first quarter. You are certainly welcome to watch the entire video as all students names appear on screen in addition to their name being announced. If you do not choose to watch the whole video I would recommend watching the introduction, the specific grade of your child, and the special recognitions.
The video is segmented in six parts as follows:
  • 5th grade academic recognition - starts at 2:00
  • 6th grade academic recognition - starts at 3:45
  • 7th grade academic recognition - starts at 6:11
  • 8th grade academic recognition - starts at 8:18
  • Special recognitions - from minutes 10:24 to the end
CCLS Email Breach
In the past few days CCLS was the target of a cyber social engineering attack resulting in a phishing and spoofing campaign. Although the Google Apps system was able to catch and mark these emails as spam and suspended a majority of breached accounts, a few compromised accounts managed to send out emails requesting you to click on a document link.

These compromised accounts have been removed and further investigation is taking place into the origins of the attack. At no point was any sensitive information obtained.

If you have received an email from an unknown or suspicious “@ccls-stlouis.org” please refrain from opening any link found in the message and delete the message right away. CCLS will never ask you for your password information and all documents sent out through Google Drive will always be available without the use of signing in.

If you are unsure of the trustworthiness of an email please feel free to reach out to our IT Director, William Vann, and he will be happy to verify the contents of the email. You can reach him at wvann@ccls-stlouis.org.

To learn more about social engineering attacks and how to spot them check out this short video from Google: https://youtu.be/XEtvwzN_xJk
Message from CCLS Medical Professionals
As we head into winter, we would like to remind you to please keep your child home if presenting with any symptoms of illness. Our partnerships with local physicians have been helpful in monitoring trends of symptoms for children. Children who are testing positive for COVID are presenting with generally mild symptoms such as a low grade temperature (ex. 99.5-100), runny nose, sore throat, congestion, upset stomach or cough. Not all children have a fever and some children have “allergy symptoms”. If there is any question of illness, please err on the side of caution and keep your child home particularly as we get close to the upcoming holidays.

As we move into winter we are asking families to email health@ccls-stlouis.org if there are any questions or concerns about COVID. Our leadership team and medical professionals will reach out to you to determine the next steps! We hope this makes contacting CCLS easier when these difficult situations arise! 
Find out about our SCRIP program -- it is "free money" on your TADS account, or donated to CCLS, for buying gift cards to places you already shop or gifts for Christmas, birthdays, etc. The next SCRIP order will be Nov. 30 due to Thanksgiving week. That would be a great time for you to try out the SCRIP program if you haven't used it before! Here are a couple new offers: A new vendor has joined GLSC - Sonic! The gift cards come in $10 and $25 dollar increments and you will receive 7% back. Shutterfly is also offering a 2.75% bonus with 10.75% back.

Learn more under the "Scrip & Giving Back Program" tab on MYCCLS, or contact Sherry Jokerst at Scrip@ccls-stouis.org, or 314-822-7774.
Make Donations to CCLS with AmazonSmile
Did you know your purchases can make a difference? Designate CCLS to automatically receive a percentage of your Amazon purchases when you do your holiday shopping at AmazonSmile. Just make sure you shop at smile.amazon.com instead of just amazon.com! You can even designate CCLS on your Amazon mobile app to make sure those purchases also generate donations! Simply go to your settings, select AmazonSmile and choose CCLS.
Big Rake 2020
Are you interested in serving in the community? Join Webster Gardens at the Big Rake on Saturday, November 21 at 9:00am and Sunday, November 22 at 12:00pm. Join us as we rake yards for those who aren’t able to do so on their own. To get all the details and to sign up, click HERE or text wgrake to the number 31996 to get a link to sign up. 
Attention 8th Graders!
Applications to Lutheran High School South are now being accepted, and LS has a video message to share with 8th grade families:


Early Application Deadline (free to apply): November 15 (qualifies for you for exclusive LuSo swag and among the first to receive acceptance letters early December) https://www.lslancers.org/admissions/become-a-lancer
Financial Aid Application ($35): Open Now https://www.lslancers.org/admissions/tuition-and-affordability

Upon acceptance, families are invited to put down a $250 deposit holding your spot in the Lutheran South Class of 2025 (in December/January that goes toward tuition). The deposit qualifies you for early course selection in February. After these deadlines we will move to rolling admissions.