RSU 64 -

Pool testing results this week have identified three positive cases of COVID-19 at CCES, one positive case at CMS and one positive case at CHS. Close contacts of positive cases are being notified of their need to quarantine.

A special Congratulations to our school nurses, recipients of the Maine School Boards Association 2021 Distinguished Service Award. This year, MSBA chose to recognize Maine School Nurses for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you RSU 64 School Nurses Mrs. Mandigo and Mrs. Bean! We appreciate all you do!

All COVID-19 test pools in RSU 64 are negative this week! Have a great weekend!

RSU 64 will be closed on Thursday, November 11 in honor of Veterans’ Day.

In partnership with PCHC, a COVID 19 vaccine clinic for children ages 5-11 will be held at CCES on Nov 9 from 3-5pm. Information is coming home today to all parents of PreK-Gr6 students. Advance registration for the clinic is necessary. If you are interested, please register your child/children by emailing or calling one of our school nurses. nmandigo@rsu64schools.org nurse.amy.bean@rsu64schools.org

Good Morning! We have been notified of our pool testing results for testing on Tuesday, October 26. We have one positive pool at CCES, three positive pools at CMS and two positive pools at CHS. All secondary testing is now complete and positive individuals have been identified. All pool participants and close contacts of positive cases have been notified. If you have questions please contact your school principal or one of our school nurses.

Good Morning! All of the follow up testing of our positive and indeterminate pools is now completed. We have not identified any additional positive cases in the follow up testing done yesterday or today. Thank you for your patience and I apologize again for the communication error yesterday regarding the indeterminate pool at CMS.

I apologize. I misspoke earlier. The indeterminate pool at CMS has not completed secondary testing. It is being done now. I will let the school community know if we are able to identify a positive in that pool. Again, I apologize for the error in my earlier message.

All pool testing results are confirmed from the lab. In summary, this week we had one positive pool at CCES, one positive pool at CMS and one that they were not able to determine as positive or negative. When this happens, we test all individuals in that pool. All individuals in the indeterminate pool at CMS tested negative. We also had four positive pools as CHS this week. All secondary testing and contact tracing has been completed and all parents have been notified.

RSU 64 is in desperate need of substitutes for all areas but especially Food Service and Custodians. If you are available at short notice and would like to be considered, please call 207-285-3334 for an application and next steps. Thank you for helping to keep our schools open for our students during these challenging times!

Good Morning! All pools at CMS are negative. With the exception of the two pool cases I communicated about last night via email, all other pools at CCES are negative. We are working on follow up testing at CHS on two pools that we have not had confirmed negative results on. We will notify you once those two pools are completed. Thank you for your continued patience!

We were notified by the lab that all pools at CCES are negative except one pool being labeled “indeterminate”. This means one pool was neither positive or negative. We have completed secondary tests on all individuals in that pool and all results are negative. There are NO positive pools this week in RSU 64.

We have been notified by the lab that all pools at CMS and CHS are negative. We are still waiting for test results for CCES but will notify you when we get more information. Thank you for supporting pool testing!

We have been notified by the lab of one positive pool at CHS. All other pools at all three schools are negative. We will complete secondary testing today in an attempt to identify and isolate the positive case. If your student is in the positive pool you will be notified of the secondary test result. Thank you for participating in pool testing. This kind of screening is helping to keep students in school and keep us open to in person learning!

We have been notified that there has been a rather large cyber attack on the company that manages our phone services at CMS and CHS. This attack is still impacting nation wide callers using Verizon Wireless accounts and may continue for some time. This attack is also impacting several other companies in addition to the one we use. If you are unable to reach one of our schools, please contact the Superintendent’s Office at 285-3334 and we will coordinate communication with the school.

If you cannot make our ARP ESSER III forums at 12:00pm and 5:00 pm and would like to share your thoughts about the needs of students in relation to Covid -19, please feel free to email me dkerrigan@rsu64schools.org

Healthy Friendships: Your Questions Answered Dr. Lauren Holleb, Licensed Psychologist, Certified Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Provider, University of Maine at Augusta Assistant Professor of Mental Health and Human Services 55 mins. via Zoom This session will provide an overview of friendship and peer acceptance during childhood and adolescence, discuss its importance to socio-emotional adjustment and well-being, and ways that parent(s)/guardian(s) can identify and help students who may be struggling socially. The session will provide an evidence-based discussion of friendship, aspects of friendship that afford risk and resilience, how friendships differ based on sex and developmental level, and practical ideas for how to handle social challenges. 6-6:55 p.m., Thursday, October 21st Zoom Link in Events!

It appears Verizon wireless customers are having difficulty reaching CMS and CHS. If you are a Verizon wireless customer and need to reach CMS or CHS please call the Superintendents Office at 285-3334 and we will forward messages until the issue is resolved.

What kinds of activities do you think would support lost learning opportunities and the impact of Covid-19 on RSU 64 students? We are actively seeking community and family input regarding creating safe and healthy learning environments, addressing lost instructional time and other issues pertaining to the impact on Covid-19 on all students in order to create our grant application for the American Rescue Plan (ARP-Esser III.) An online forum will be held tomorrow, Tuesday September 28, 2021 at 12:00 pm and 5:pm for one hour each. A link to the event can be found on the events page.

As you may know, the federal government has made available, through the American Rescue Plan, funds for schools to address the academic impacts of lost instructional time through evidence-based interventions that respond to the academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs of all students and particularly underserved student groups and to implement prevention and mitigation strategies (aligned with CDC guidance to greatest extent practicable.) We are actively seeking community and family input regarding creating safe and healthy learning environments, addressing lost instructional time and other issues pertaining to the impact on Covid-19 on all students and their families. If you are interested, please reach out to Danette Kerrigan, Curriculum Coordinator at dkerrigan@rsu64schools.org or 207-285-3334 as soon as possible.