On behalf of the NCES Faculty & Staff, we are proud to announce and congratulate our Sept. 2021 Viking Pride winners! Pictured from left to right: Adley Rose (grade 2), Alex Pilkington (grade 3), Ellie Fink (grade 5), Emma Bodily (grade 5), Samuel Perego (grade 7), Kennedy Harl (grade 8), and Jadyn Climer (grade 8)
Per Health Dept., a student who is quarantined as a close contact from a positive COVID test cannot attend school for 14 calendar days. Other options that could possibly allow a student to return in fewer than 14 days are unavailable to our students due to our mask optional policy.
Dr. Kent Young
Hello! This is Betsy Martens from Nauvoo-Colusa Elementary. We were notified today by the Hancock County Health Department of a laboratory confirmed positive case of COVID-19 at Nauvoo-Colusa Elementary. The positive individual was last in the building on Thursday, August 26th. The HCHD is conducting contact tracing and will notify individuals whom they determine to be close contacts. Parents of all students at Nauvoo-Colusa Elementary should continue to monitor their children for symptoms. Students who are sick or exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 should not be sent to school. Thanks!
Hello! This is Betsy Martens from Nauvoo-Colusa Elementary. We were notified today by the Hancock County Health Department of a laboratory confirmed positive case of COVID-19 at Nauvoo-Colusa Elementary. The positive individual was last in the building on Monday, August 23rd. The HCHD is conducting contact tracing and will notify individuals whom they determine to be close contacts. Parents of all students at Nauvoo-Colusa Elementary should continue to monitor their children for symptoms. Students who are sick or exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 should not be sent to school. Thanks!
Hello Parents! This is a message from Mr. Cox and Betsy from Nauvoo-Colusa Elementary.
There will be a girls basketball meeting tomorrow after school. Please make arrangements for your girls to stay. There will be a bus that will bring baseball boys and basketball girls back to Warsaw High School.
School pictures are Friday! Please make sure students arrive on time.
We are inviting everyone to join us at our Open House on September 1st from 4:30pm-6:30pm.
Please make sure to read the Return to School Protocols for Students that is posted on the Nauvoo-Colusa website. You can find this under Documents!
Parents and Students:
The Nauvoo-Colusa Board of Education passed a resolution to make masks optional on the school bus and at school during the 2021-2022 school year. The administration encourages masks to be worn but students will not be disciplined if they choose not to wear one.
Hello, this is Chad Cox, Nauvoo-Colusa Elementary Principal. Due to a delay with building construction projects, we will move back the first day of school to August 23, 2021. We will make up days on October 11, 2021 (Columbus Day) and on December 20-21, 2021. Winter Break will now be from Dec. 22, 2021, to Jan. 2, 2022. The tentative last day of the 2021-22 school year will now be May 20, 2022, unless there are additional snow days. Nauvoo-Colusa and Warsaw will remain on the same school calendar for 2021-22. Reminder: The first day of school will be on August 23, 2021. An "Open House" event is still to be determined for a later date.
Hello Nauvoo-Colusa Parents/Guardians,
My name is Mr. Chad Cox. I am the new principal at Nauvoo-Colusa Elementary School this year. I hope this message finds everyone healthy, happy, and energized from a great summer break! I am excited to start the 2021-22 school year. I am writing this letter to share information about me. I was raised and educated in the Abingdon and Avon (“A-Town”) schools. After high school, I served three years in the United States Navy, where I was stationed in Bremerton, Washington. I got my Bachelor’s Degree in History from WIU. I taught in public schools at the high school and middle school levels in Illinois and Colorado until 2004. While in Colorado, I earned my Masters in Ed. Administration from the University of Phoenix, at a Colorado campus. I served 8 years as a high school principal, 6 years as middle school principal, and 4 years at the PreK-5 level, mostly in small, rural schools. I chose to come to Nauvoo so I could utilize my education and experience to help us fulfill our vision and mission and prepare our students for high school. I love to teach, coach, and lead with a team of dedicated educators like you. I am willing to listen, learn, lead, and/or follow, to get the best out of every student, every day. I have been in education as a teacher, coach, and administrator for 20 years. I am excited to be working at Nauvoo. I look forward to the challenge and opportunity to serve our PreK-8 students and their families. I believe, “It Takes a Village,” to raise and educate our children. I am excited to be in a district and school who values people over programs and holds high expectations for our students and staff. I feel Nauvoo is a great fit for me and my family. I am excited to join our team of educators to help our students learn, grow, and succeed in school and in life. My school email is chadcox@nauvoo-colusa.com. I close my introduction and welcome with one of my favorite quotes, from Margaret Mead, that I feel epitomizes my educational philosophy and aligns well with a small school like ours: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
With Viking Pride,
Chad M. Cox
Nauvoo-Colusa Elementary School will no longer require COVID-19 checklists to be filled out and will no longer be checking temperatures for bus riders and students entering the school building. Parents are still encouraged to screen their child/children before coming to school. If your child has any COVID-19 symptoms or any other illnesses, please keep them home. Siblings of the ill child will need to stay home as well.
Students are still required to wear their masks and to practice social distancing.
The Hancock County Health Department received notification that an individual within the Nauvoo-Colusa Elementary/Jr. High School has received a lab-confirmed positive COVID-19 test result. This individual was present on December 1, 2020. The Hancock County Health Department has worked closely with the school district to ensure that all guidelines have been followed. Nauvoo-Colusa CUSD #325 has and will continue to follow the recommended CDC guidelines to clean and disinfect the school. The Hancock County Health Department and Nauvoo-Colusa CUSD #325 are sharing this information to provide education, ease uncertainty and suppress rumors. Rest assured that the school district is working very closely with the Hancock County Health Department to reduce the risk of additional transmission. The school district and the health department have conducted contact tracing and identified those who were in close contact with the individual. These individuals have been provided quarantine guidance. All other students, teachers and faculty that were not identified as close contacts are designated as low-risk exposures and are asked to monitor for symptoms. If symptoms begin, it is recommended that individuals contact their healthcare provider to determine if a COVID-19 test is necessary. Symptoms reported among patients with COVID-19 include mild to severe respiratory illness with fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of sense of taste and or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting and diarrhea. The Hancock County Health Department strongly urges people to take COVID-19 seriously. It is everyone’s responsibility to help reduce the spread of illness. People should cover their cough or sneeze, wash hands with soap and warm water and stay home if they are ill. In addition, face coverings should be worn in public when a distance of at least six feet from other persons cannot be maintained. If additional positive cases are confirmed within the school district, parents and guardians will be contacted. If you have any additional questions, please contact the Hancock County Health Department at 217-357-2171 or Nauvoo-Colusa CUSD #325 at 217-453-2231.
The Hancock County Health Department received notification that an individual within the Nauvoo-Colusa Elementary/Jr. High School has received a lab-confirmed positive COVID-19 test result. This individual was present on November 2, 2020. The Hancock County Health Department has worked closely with the school district to ensure that all guidelines have been followed. Nauvoo-Colusa CUSD #325 has and will continue to follow the recommended CDC guidelines to clean and disinfect the school. The Hancock County Health Department and Nauvoo-Colusa CUSD #325 are sharing this information to provide education, ease uncertainty and suppress rumors. Rest assured that the school district is working very closely with the Hancock County Health Department to reduce the risk of additional transmission. The school district and the health department have conducted contact tracing and identified those who were in close contact with the individual. These individuals have been provided quarantine guidance. All other students, teachers and faculty that were not identified as close contacts are designated as low-risk exposures and are asked to monitor for symptoms. If symptoms begin, it is recommended that individuals contact their healthcare provider to determine if a COVID-19 test is necessary. Symptoms reported among patients with COVID-19 include mild to severe respiratory illness with fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of sense of taste and or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting and diarrhea. The Hancock County Health Department strongly urges people to take COVID-19 seriously. It is everyone’s responsibility to help reduce the spread of illness. People should cover their cough or sneeze, wash hands with soap and warm water and stay home if they are ill. In addition, face coverings should be worn in public when a distance of at least six feet from other persons cannot be maintained. If additional positive cases are confirmed within the school district, parents and guardians will be contacted. If you have any additional questions, please contact the Hancock County Health Department at 217-357-2171 or Nauvoo-Colusa CUSD #325 at 217-453-2231.
Parents! This is a reminder. If your child stays home sick from school, we must have a doctor note for your child to re-enter. The note must say there is an alternative diagnosis instead of COVID-19.
All students enrolled in the Nauvoo-Colusa School District remote learning or in-person learning, regardless of income will receive free breakfast and lunch through the end of the school year. This program is only for students who are enrolled in the Nauvoo-Colusa School District.
The Hancock County Health Department received notification that an individual within the Nauvoo-Colusa Elementary/Jr. High School has received a lab-confirmed positive COVID-19 test result. This individual was at school from September 15, 2020 through September 17, 2020. The Hancock County Health Department has worked closely with the school district to ensure that all guidelines have been followed. Nauvoo-Colusa CUSD #325 has and will continue to follow the recommended CDC guidelines to clean and disinfect the school. The Hancock County Health Department and Nauvoo-Colusa CUSD #325 are sharing this information to provide education, ease uncertainty and suppress rumors. Rest assured that the school district is working very closely with the Hancock County Health Department to reduce the risk of additional transmission.
The school district and the health department have conducted contact tracing and identified those who were in close contact with the individual. These individuals have been provided quarantine guidance. All other students, teachers and faculty that were not identified as close contacts are designated as low-risk exposures and are asked to monitor for symptoms. If symptoms begin, it is recommended that individuals contact their healthcare provider to determine if a COVID-19 test is necessary. Symptoms reported among patients with COVID-19 include mild to severe respiratory illness with fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of sense of taste and or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting and diarrhea.
The Hancock County Health Department strongly urges people to take COVID-19 seriously. It is everyone’s responsibility to help reduce the spread of illness. People should cover their cough or sneeze, wash hands with soap and warm water and stay home if they are ill. In addition, face coverings should be worn in public when a distance of at least six feet from other persons cannot be maintained. If additional positive cases are confirmed within the school district, parents and guardians will be contacted. If you have any additional questions, please contact the Hancock County Health Department at 217-357-2171 or Nauvoo-Colusa CUSD #325 at 217-453-2231.
Parents-
If you choose remote learning to begin the school year, we ask that your child continue with remote learning through the end of the first quarter. If remote learning doesn't work for your child, he/she may start face to face learning here at the school at the beginning of the second quarter.
If you choose face to face learning at the school we ask that you continue with this choice through the end of the first quarter. Under special circumstances, your child may switch to remote learning with the approval of the administration. Be aware if this situation happens, your child will be ahead of the remote learning process and will have a week off before remote learning would start.
Dear Parents & Guardians,
The following information is intended to help you with your decisions as you decide whether your student will do face-to-face, remote, or home-school learning this fall. The following procedures were drawn up and board approved in accordance with regulations given to us by ISBE. When you enroll there will be a form to indicate whether you prefer remote learning or face-to-face learning. Please enroll your students in a timely fashion so we can finalize plans for busing and allocation of supplies. If you are homeschooling, of course you would not register, but we would ask that you simply let us know so we can finalize plans.
Face coverings will be required for all students any time they are in the school or on a bus. The exceptions for this will be if the student has a doctor’s note stating why that student should not wear a mask, when the student is eating, playing a band instrument, or is outside and can maintain social distance. We encourage parents to provide masks for their students, but the school will have masks available if needed. If a student refuses to wear a mask, then they may be moved to a remote learning situation.
Students must be screened each morning before boarding the bus. Parents are permitted to self-certify their student. This will need to be done every morning. We will provide the forms to parents. If a student does not have a completed form, then the bus driver will take the student’s temperature and complete the form. If the student shows symptoms of Covid they will not be permitted to board the bus. If the student shows symptoms while at school, they will be separated from the other students and parents will be called. Students who are symptomatic may not return to school until the student has been fever-free for 72 hours without fever-reducing medication and 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared.
Bus routes will be rearranged or added to in order to keep the number of riders under 50. Students who ride the bus will enter through the gym door. Bus unloading times will be staggered so that the first group of students can reach their rooms before the next bus unloads. Students who are brought to school by car will enter through the office door and will either show Betsy their self-certification form, or will have their temperature taken and a form completed in the office. When dismissing at the end of the day. Students will be dismissed by bus route or by car riders, so that we limit the number of students in the hall. Parents generally will not be allowed in the building (unless permission is given beforehand), but we will have staff members to meet Pre-K and kindergarten students at the door until the students learn the routine. We will also have staff to meet 7th graders to help them find their rooms. Parents are encouraged to transport their students.
Lunches have been rearranged to limit the number in the cafeteria at a given time. 2nd grade will eat with 3rd-6th grade and the Junior High will be split into two groups, with one eating in the cafeteria and the other in the new gym. Breakfast will be served as usual unless numbers exceed 50.
Teachers (especially those in the younger grades) will be encouraged to hold classes outside when weather permits. With social distancing, this will provide a break from the masks. PE classes will be encouraged to do the same and to modify curriculum when inside to something less strenuous. The music curriculum will also have some modifications to limit singing. Junior high students will have staggered passing times to limit numbers in the hallway.
Students are encouraged to bring their own water bottles. They may be filled at the water fountains without sanitizing between fills. If students drink from a water fountain it will need to be sanitized before the next person uses it.
The school will provide a chrome book for each student in grades 1-8. Kindergarteners will be provided IPads. These will also be provided to those students who are remote learners along with whatever other materials are needed for the class. Students who are participating in remote learning will run on a schedule a week behind their classmates who are attending school in-person. This will allow students participating in remote learning to receive close to identical instructional opportunities as those students who are participating in in-person instruction. To provide instructional opportunities to students participating in remote learning, the District will record in-person lessons. The recordings as well as class materials will be made available to students participating in remote learning each week. Students are to return completed school work and class materials, including recordings, as applicable each week, when the next week’s school work is picked up.
The school day will be from 8am until 2pm this year.
I am sure there are some details that we will need to work out, but this is the basic plan. Thank you for being patient as we work through this trying time.
Dan Ayer
Attention Nauvoo-Colusa Alumni and Friends!
Our esteemed Viking, Erik, (Did you know he had a name?) who has watched over our school since he was donated many years ago, is badly in need of some attention. Standing guard, in the elements, watching over our school and its children has taken its toll on him. He needs some repairs and paint. Erik will also be getting a new view, as he will need to be moved to accommodate some new construction. We received an estimate for repairs, which is in the neighborhood of $7000. Erik will also need a new concrete pad to stand on.
A few years ago, we put out some feelers to see if anyone would be interested in donating to these repairs, and received a very positive response. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to put things in a holding pattern. Erik was recently mentioned in an article in the March 2019 issue of Illinois Country Living magazine. This, along with the construction project, has brought the idea of getting him repaired back up to the forefront. We are now ready to move forward on getting Erik the Viking back to his proud glory.
We have an account at the State Bank of Nauvoo called, Nauvoo-Colusa Boosters Account. Anyone willing to donate can send donations, made out to that account, to State Bank of Nauvoo at P.O. Box 218, Nauvoo, IL 62354.
