COVID TESTING INFORMATION FOR STAFF

Dear Staff:

Free, school-based testing for COVID-19 is an important layer of protection to keep our children and staff in the classroom. Testing in schools for grades K-13 and staff helps us quickly detect COVID-19 and reduce the risk of further spread. Providing testing at school ensures everyone has easy and convenient access to testing services. 

That’s why Craven County Schools is partnering with Mako Medical to ensure every school in our district has the resources it needs to have a strong COVID-19 testing program. NCDHHS is providing access to testing supplies and trained staff, in addition to funding to hire additional school nursing staff to help keep our students and staff healthy.

All 26 schools in our school system will offer COVID-19 testing. In order to participate in this program staff will be required to provide electronic consent to opt in. Testing will ONLY be for the staff who are registered, and it will be conducted using the gentle nasal swabbing technique. We encourage all staff to register for this free and effective program.

If interested, it is easy to enroll to participate. Simply click on the link here to access your registration link. Select the link for your school and follow the instructions to complete the registration for “Self Registration.”

We will start testing on Monday, August 29th so please complete the registration form as soon as possible if you are interested in participating in this program.

Due to COVID-19 community spread, this is the component of the Craven County Schools testing program:

• Diagnostic Testing. This type of testing focuses on testing when a student or staff has symptoms of COVID-19 or confirmed exposure to the virus.

Flexibility and reliability are key to any strong testing program, and diagnostic testing is the best approach to slow the spread of COVID-19. Current CDC guidance states that schools can offer diagnostic testing for students and staff with COVID-19 symptoms or who were exposed to someone with COVID-19, 

There are a few things you can count on in Craven County Schools testing program, including that our tests are: 

• Quick, easy, and dependable. 
• Administered by a school nurse, or other dedicated staff trained to conduct COVID-19 tests. 
• Offered at no cost to students and staff.
• Gentle swabs that only go into your lower nostril. (These are NOT the uncomfortable testing swabs that go far into the upper nostril.) 
• Easily accessible because testing is done curbside at your registration site from 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. and from 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m when school is in session.
• Offered to help keep our staff in the classroom. 

Your privacy is a top priority. COVID-19 testing results are kept strictly confidential and treated as private medical records. Testing results are shared with local and state public health agencies to ensure we are doing everything we can to slow the spread of COVID-19. This information may be used in contact tracing by the Craven County Health Department to notify close contacts, but your identity will not be shared with contacts and privacy will be maintained. 

If you test positive for COVID-19 you will be informed as quickly as possible by the testing laboratory and your school nurse or trained school staff. You may also be informed by your local health department as part of contract tracing. Additional information will be shared on the next steps regarding isolation based on your situation. 

If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact the school nurse at your school. We look forward to offering this service to our students and hope it will be a convenient option for our staff. Thank you for your partnership as we continue to offer many layered prevention strategies in safely ensuring our children and staff are able to stay in school.

Sincerely,

Luanne Mack, RN

District Lead Nurse

Craven County Schools

TECHNOLOGY UPDATES:

Welcome Back, Staff!!!!  

The tech department has been busy making some changes and updates to some processes. There is a lot going on: ClassLink, Digital Keys, Teams, MacBooks, iPads, and more. 

If or when you have any questions about these tech items or other things, please let us know.  

• Antuan, at our Help Desk, is ready to assist: He can be reached at 252-514-6393 option 1.
• Put in a tech request at 1to1plus.Cravenk12.org
• Linda, our Office Manager, is available to help with inventory, budget questions, and tech quotes. She can be reached at 252-514-6393 option 2.
• Your assigned technician: Rob, Michelle, Josh, Louis, Lantz, or Jared is our team of awesome school-level tech support.
• Our webpage: https://www.cravenk12.org/Page/13374 . Here we have resources about the Digital Key, Teams, and ClassLink.

Please reach out with any questions!!!

Beginning this school year, Craven County Schools students in grades 6-12 will all utilize MajorClarity, a newly adopted, online career and college readiness platform. MajorClarity will help students build a foundation that is essential for preparing them for life after high school.

This platform provides one location for students, counselors, parents, administrators and other educators to house and access future planning resources.  Directly through the platform, students will access academic and career planning tools. They can explore a broad range of career and college options. MajorClarity guides students through taking ownership of their career readiness and postsecondary planning.

This platform provides counselors and other educators with real-time digital access to and data on student’s personalized academic career plans, which will make the communication with parents/guardians more effective and efficient.

MajorClarity includes personality assessments, career interest inventories, individualized career guidance, virtual college tours, resume-building, scholarship access, college admissions, and access to participate in interactive career-specific activities and video interviews from people directly in the field.

Implementing MajorClarity will help Craven County Schools strengthen its ability to accomplish our mission of educating all learners to personal, professional, and civic success through challenging and personalized instruction.

MajorClarity Overview

MajorClarity.com

 CCS Digital Learning_The Spark newsletter

or bit.ly/ditfspark

NCDPI Newsletters

Need academic information from NCDPI? Subscribe and Connect with each Area in the Office of Academic Standards  

Do you want to stay up to date on the latest news, opportunities, resources, standards updates, etc. from one or more of the NCDPI Office of Academic Standards content areas? Sign up today to receive newsletters and announcements from the area(s) or topic(s) of your choice.

School Field Trips

Please ensure you are aware of all requirements when planning a field trip. Check with the administrator of your school who is responsible for approving field trips if you have initial questions before submitting any documents to the Curriculum and Instruction Division. This will help prevent forms from being returned and the review process being delayed. Use the checklist to help ensure you fully complete the process.

All needed instructions and forms are on the Craven County Schools website, which you can locate using the following steps:

Log in to the district website > Staff Resources > Forms > Field Trip Checklist -Start Here

Please ensure you meet the deadlines as stated and that all required documents are accurately completed and included when you submit the field trip packet. Please do not submit separate documents. Requests that miss the deadline will not be considered unless it is due to late notification from the host site or the trip is based on progression through rounds of competition.

If you have any questions, please contact the designated staff member:

• Career & Technical Education: Wendy Wells
• Elementary & Secondary: Melody Howell
• Exceptional Children’s: Seante Williams

2022 AP Teacher Week

These sessions provide key details for the start of the 2022-23 academic year and best practices for using the digital resources in AP Classroom.

Watch on YouTube

AP Classroom Tutorials

Get insights and best practices for using the digital resources in AP Classroom.

Watch on YouTube

Tips from Teachers

Learn strategies for making the most of your instructional time.

Watch on YouTube

If you are interested in supporting this worthy cause for one of our parents, the link to sign up is: https://runsignup.com/Race/NC/NewBern/BoldLikeBritt

All donations and proceeds from this event will stay in Craven & Carteret counties to educate kids about the dangers of drinking & driving & fund checkpoints.