Good Morning CHS Students!  We hope you are starting to get accustomed to doing your studies and connecting with your teachers in a distance setting.  Given the asynchronous makeup of this work, attendance is going to look and work much different than it looked when you came to the building and followed a scheduled routine.    During this time of distance learning, attendance will be recorded as an unexcused absence if you are not completing work assigned by your teacher(s) or not connecting with your teacher(s) to work through reasons for non-completion.   You can think about this as a simple checklist:

1. Follow the schedule your teacher has posted and complete your work by the timeline stated on the schedule
2. If you are unable to complete your assignment on time due to circumstance (illness, funeral, etc.) or you need your teachers assistance to work through the task, connect with them to make arrangements for completion.
3. If either of these two points are satisfied, you will not be marked absent.

 One of the biggest differences you will experience with this attendance model is the increased amount of responsibility expected of you to maintain pace with your studies.  When we meet face to face, you have the constant interaction with teachers to remind you of and reiterate deadlines. With the absence of constant interaction, you need to study your schedules and organize/prioritize your time accordingly.  Moreover, overpreparing and working ahead any opportunity you have will help alleviate the anxiety of upcoming deadlines.   

 In closing, since responsibility is a key foundation to growth and development in your formative years,  our hope is that unexcused absences are minimal or non-existent.   If it does occur, do know an unexcused absence during this distance learning time has the same implications as an unexcused absence throughout the normal school year.  Also know, you will have differences in the frequency in which attendance is taken in your classes.  By studying your schedules and timelines, the completion dates of content should give you much insight into this frequency. 

 Enjoy the remainder of your week!!!  #rollPats

Counseling Letter to CHS Students

March 27, 2020

With this week coming to a close, we are looking forward to the start of next week and the beginning of distance learning.  Although the delivery model will be different, teachers have been working for the past several days to create resources and materials to support learning and foster conditions for student success.  In your preparation for next week, please take into consideration the points below:

1. All students will receive communication from each of their teachers by Monday morning indicating the classroom plan for the week.  These same plans will be posted to our school website under the ‘Distance Learning’ link on the main page.  We anticipate having  plans linked on our website by Monday afternoon but assure students will have this information in individual communication before the start of their day.                                                                                                                      
2. To repeat a district communication from last evening, the plan is to begin distance learning on Monday, March 30.  With that said, some classes may not begin with a ‘new learning’ topic until later in the week as teachers continue to work with students on materials from this week and last and may be reserving time to allow students to acclimate to the new procedures in their learning.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
3. Each class will be set up in an online learning platform (Google Classroom or LearnBPS, etc ).  Within this platform, assignments, due dates, links to additional content/resources will be available to students. There will also be situations where teachers facilitate group discussions and tutorials using technology which allows ‘face-to-face’ connections.  When new learning/face to face experiences are facilitated by the teacher, abilities to record the session exist and can be posted in the online environment for students who missed the session or want to go back and review the session.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
4. A majority of this learning will take place in an asynchronous format.  In other words, there will be no pre-defined schedule for students to work on classes.  The benefit to this is having the ability to work on studies during times which work for the family dynamic.  We recognize normal routines are completely upside down for many and want to honor commitments older students have with added duties of childcare for siblings, helping run family business, etc.  With that said, it is imperative for student success to set aside time to engage in and commit to work daily.                                                                                                                                                                                                      
5. Every teacher will have established ‘Office Hours,’ which will be posted along with the weekly schedule.  During this time, students will be able to make live/direct connection with their teacher regarding their class.  To support the asynchronous aspect, some of these hours will be during the typical school day and some may be in the evening.  Certainly, questions can be asked of teachers outside the office hours, but the immediacy of response will have a different turnaround time (within 24 hours rather than right away).  Also, this schedule will maintain fluidity as some topics may require more time with some requiring less.  When these changes happen, the schedule will be adjusted and shared with students.                                                                                                                                                                                    
6. Check email and online class setup frequently.  Every student has received a communication and request to connect from every teacher.  An established connection has been made with most classes, but we continue working to follow-up with students who have not responded to ‘ALL’ of their teachers.  If you see an ‘Unexcused’ absence in PowerSchool for the past two days, it indicates the teacher has not heard from the student.  A simple e-mail to the teacher indicating receipt of information and ability to access the online class will clear this up.  Moreover, teachers continue to develop and put content in the courses, so the sooner students review this information and insure ability to access and open the information, the better.

In closing, the staff at CHS misses the face-to-face interaction with students and looks forward to the day our school and community celebrate in normal routine.

CHS Admin Team

March 25, 2020

Our faculty has been reaching out and connecting with students over the course of the past several days through e-mail and group communication tools.  As a way of tracking connectedness, we are going to have our teachers use the class attendance feature in PowerSchool to indicate a connection has been made.  It likely seems a little goofy we would be using an absence code to indicate this but we see a lot of benefit to parents and the school in using this existing function.  First, parents and students are used to seeing PowerSchool attendance and many have the app on a phone or portable device.  Second, this prevents multiple receipt of the same message getting sent from different staff indicating a connection has not been made.  Third, this system has built in reporting issues which generates reports to allow us to efficiently make targeted follow-up connections with students and families. 

Therefore, beginning this afternoon, teachers will begin marking students absent in PowerSchool if communication has been made to students from the teacher but the student has not responded back to the teacher confirming a connection.  As a parent, if you see an absence in any class this week, it means the teacher sent communication, asked for a response back, and is awaiting a response back.  Any subsequent support you can provide in visiting with your son or daughter about this communication and supporting the necessary connection would be greatly appreciated.

Beginning tomorrow, staff will begin contacting families for those who have not connected with their teacher.  If barriers exist (i.e. device not working properly, no viable network connection, etc.), our staff will be working with you to get the necessary configurations to determine a connection going forward.  If you see no absences and receive no call, you can be rest assured your child has established connection with his/her teachers.

Lastly, all ‘attendance’ put in for this week will be deleted once it has served this connection purpose.  Again, we are using something that already exists because of some unique features it allows and it does not have anything to do with your child not being someplace they were supposed to be.  Our goal is to have every necessary connection established over the course of the next 4 days.

Steve Madler

Principal

3/23/2020

Good evening Century High School students and parents.  We hope this message finds you in good health and surrounded by loving supports during the ever developing pandemic in our state and nation.  This message will be intentionally brief as we don’t want you to get bogged down with details and end up with information overload.  To manage this, we are going to be sending out short pieces of information throughout the week.  Most messages will be posted on our website and sent through e-mail.  We are also developing a group of key communicators amongst the students who will help disseminate this information on some of their more popular modalities of communication.  Moreover, official district information which affects all schools will continue to relayed like it has over the course of the past week. 

Over the course of the past days and continuing this week, teachers will be reaching out to students to connect with them regarding items that need to be taken care of as it relates to classes.  Of greatest need is confirmation that a ‘distance’ connection can be made so we have time to eliminate any barriers which might prevent this from happening.  At some point tomorrow, we will have a schedule set up for students to be able to come to the building to retrieve materials and resources which are essential for them to continue their learning in a distance format (i.e. Art supplies, musical instrument, chromebook/textbook in locker, etc.).  This schedule will be controlled and managed in a manner consistent with NDDoH recommendations.  Also, we are not certain how big of a need this will be as many students carry their essentials with them and may have taken most items home prior to the previous break.  However, we will balance and adjust if the need is greater than anticipated in order to ensure safety for all involved.

 In closing, although we continue to muddle through the unknown of what the coming days will bring for all, we feel confident that the faculty and students will maintain resilience and develop even stronger bonds through these unforeseen adversities.  During conversations with staff today, there was an air of excitement to re-engage in learning which is part of the fuel needed to take us in a positive direction to places we’ve not been before.  You are the other part of this equation and together, there is no doubt we will accomplish incredible things.  #rollPats

Steve Madler

Principal

3/24/2020

We hope you and your family are doing well during this challenging time.  Teachers have been reaching out to students in preparation for the possibility of going to an online learning environment and working to develop curriculum and platforms to advance student learning.  We understand there may be essential academic materials that students may have left at school that will be needed to continue learning in this environment.  In an effort to prevent contagion we will not be having students come into the building.  Below is a google form to be completed by the student indicating what necessary items the student needs to have from school. We will gather the necessary items so that a student can drive up to school and have the items delivered to them following the schedule below.  We want to emphasize this is for essential items needed to continue student education in the next couple of weeks.  These essential items would include band instruments, Chromebooks, and art kits.  Students will be able to collect other items such as shoes, books, etc. at a later date.

CHS Essential Items Pick Up Form

On Thursday, March 26^th, at the specified times and locations students may drive up and stay in their car to pick up the following essential academic items:

     8:00-9:30 (students with the last names A-E)

     9:30-11:00 (students with the last names (F-K)

     12:00-1:30 (students with the last names (L-R)

     1:30-3:00 (students with the last names (S-Z)

Chromebooks       Door 1        main door on west side

Art Kits                 Door 7        east side of building

Band/Orchestra Instruments    Door 10                             east side of building by band rooms

CHS PROM POSTPONED - A DATE WILL BE DECIDED AT A LATER TIME

Prom 2020 Newsletter

BPS expanded its food distribution sites to 23 total locations, so review the schedule for locations and times. For frozen food safe handling instructions, click here.

No BPS meals April 10, 13 & 27: There will be NO to-go meals on Good Friday, April 10; Parent-Teacher Conference Day off on Monday, April 13; and the Possible Storm Make Up Day on Monday, April 27.

Donate to Family Assistance Fund
The Bismarck Public Schools Foundation (BPSF) has established a COVID-19 BPS Family Assistance Fund.  Those that wish to donate may do so through the foundation website or by mail. To donate online, go to https://www.bpsfoundation.com/donate/ and click “COVID-19 BPS Family Assistance.” To donate by mail, send checks to the BPS Foundation at 806 N. Washington St., Bismarck, ND 58501 and write “COVID-19” in the memo line. Families seeking assistance are encouraged to reach out to their counselor or social worker who will connect them to established community resources as well as submit requests for funding needs that cannot be met within existing resources. The BPSF thanks those who have already reached out to volunteer and/or provide monetary donations to help those within our community who are struggling.

Donate to Student Feeding Efforts
BPS has had many kind offers to help with student feeding. If you want to make a monetary donation to help feed students in need, go to https://www.bismarckschools.org/Page/3381 and follow the instructions listed. If you are not currently a MyPaymentsPlus user, you can set up an account! 

Our homeless program liaison is helping to collect personal care items for families in need in our community. This includes things like diapers, wipes, tampons, feminine pads, etc. Pick up/drop off times, dates & locations are listed on this poster.

Bismarck-Mandan Area Resources

For Adopt-a-Block information, click here. The Banquet continues to serve to-go meals and distribute perishable food products. Click here for more details.

Bismarck Public Schools will not have classes Friday, April 10 in observance of Good Friday and Monday, April 13 due to parent-teacher conference day off.

Bismarck Public Schools will not have classes Friday, April 10 in observance of Good Friday and Monday, April 13 due to parent-teacher conference day off. 

The Bismarck School Board will meet at 5:15 pm at the City-County Building at 221 N. 5th Street. The public is invited to attend the meeting or watch it LIVE on cable channel 2.