Host: Tracie Helmbrecht

Guests: Letrece Griffin, Chief of Communications and Jacqueline Bryant, Interim Executive Director of Communications

This first of four episodes looks into how the CCS Communications Department handled the COVID-19 school closure and what systems and structures needed to be put in place to ensure that all students, families, staff and stakeholders received timely and current information. Latrece and Jacqueline take us back to the very beginning of the worldwide closure and how the district pivoted from remote teaching and learning to hybrid and finally to socially distant in person teaching and learning. They also discuss some of the lessons learned and some of the changes made out of necessity that have become a permanent fixture in how Communications reaches our community. 

Host: Tracie Helmbrecht

Guests: Jeff Row, Director of Buildings & Grounds, and Chris Baker, Director of Safety & Security

This second episode of the CCS ESSER Roundtable Discussion delves into how Buildings & Grounds and Safety & Security operated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.  In this discussion, Jeff and Chris take us back to the initial closure and how the two departments were forced to restructure the scope of the work. Jeff and Chris help stakeholders understand the response, preparations that needed to be made while also discussing the continued support given to our district as we safely reopened. 

Host: Tracie Helmbrecht

Special Gusts: Rodney Stufflebean, Director fo Transportation, and Joe Brown, Executive Director of Food Services

Transportation and Food Services can only operate when schools are open. Or so we thought. Rodney and Joe take us back to March 13, 2020, and help us understand the immediate shift in resources needing made due to the pandemic. In episode 3, we learn how both departments were able to use COVID-19 relaxed regulations to keep our students fed, and use buses as hot spots throughout our communities. We learn specifically the support given by Transportation and Food Services to ensure our students remained nourished and had access to the necessary Wi-Fi connections as teaching and learning went 100% remote. We also are taken back to the changes needed to support hybrid and eventual return to full time in person teaching and learning.

Host: Tracie Helmbrecht

Guests: Betty Arey, Supervisor of Payroll and Courtney Hale, Interim Director of Talent Management

When the schools closed, many wondered what would happen to their livelihood. How would necessary paperwork get turned in if the district was shuttered? These were the exact questions faced by Betty and Courney when COVID-19 forced all CCS buildings to close, including HR and Payroll. Betty and Courtney share with us the necessary and immediate changes needed and how ESSER funding allowed the district to move to a more paperless system and ensuring not one single payroll cycle was missed during the closure. Some of these systems and structures made out of necessity have become permanent and we learn how these permanent changes continue to support and respond to the pandemic closure.