No Fragrance Request– In the high school hallway, we have a teacher and a student who have a very severe sensitivity to fragrances (body spray, perfume, etc). Recently it has been very strong, and we ask that if you can talk with your child about not putting on extra fragrance at home, it could cut down on the issues for the teacher and student. Because MS Language Arts and Spanish meet on the high school hallway, we are sharing this with MS parents as well.

Each year CCS has an annual mission and service project around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. This year we are supporting and taking donations of toys or gift cards for the Twin Valley Food Pantry's annual toy drive . This past Friday, an all school assembly was held introducing the ministry to our students.

Each year on a special night near Christmas, the food pantry collects toys and gift cards that allows parents who are struggling financially to come and select toys or gift cards for their children. We are asking our children and parents to consider making a donation to this worthy cause that not only meets the needs of many in our community, but demonstrates the love of Christ and furthers the Gospel.

Cold Weather is Soon Upon Us? (Maybe)

Friday, November 1st marked the change in the appearance code. Shorts are no longer permitted unless the temperature for the day is forecast to be 60 degrees in Morgantown.

See “here” for a refresher on our appearance code.

Tardies and Absences– with winter in the near future, we know sickness is a real possibility. As I work to best support our students in the middle school, we have realized there are many students who have been absent and/or tardy numerous days in the first trimester. Although this is listed in our Parent/Student handbook, I would like to link you to our ATTENDANCE/TARDY policy, so you can familiarize yourself with it. In middle school, it is the job of the student (a parent can also help them) to inform teachers of their absence, check FACTS/Google classroom, and make up any missed assignments.

What to do

if your Student

is absent from school...

Notifying the School of Absences

It is the responsibility of the parent/guardian to contact the school office with the reason for the absence as soon as possible on any day a student is absent. Messages can be left on office voicemail at any time. A staff person in the CCS office will call for information regarding an absent student for whom no information has been received.
If a parent/guardian does not contact the school to provide information about the absence, the absence will be considered unexcused. If parents/guardians would like to request an excused absence, they need to notify the school within three days. While notification does not automatically excuse the absence, no absence will be excused without notification. If no notification occurs within 5 school days upon return to school, the absence will be identified as unexcused and will not be changed unless granted by the Head of School.
Not sure when to keep your child home from school? HERE are our guidelines.

This year our Fall play is Silver Belles and will be performed on Thursday and Friday, November 7 & 8. The director and cast have been working and rehearsing feverishly to prepare for the show.

Come celebrate the holidays with the Silver Belles! While the ladies of Silver Meadows Retirement Home are getting ready for Christmas, scheming mogul Frank Davenport has plans to evict them and turn their home into a luxury hotel. But when Frank’s son Nick is sent to deliver the news, he discovers his old flame Kate is Silver Meadows’ fiercely dedicated manager. The more time he spends with her and the wise, witty, wonderful women under her care, the harder it gets to tell the truth – but luckily for him, the Belles know a thing or two about handling life and love. Can they guide Nick to save Silver Meadows and have a happy holiday after all? Both heartrending and hilarious, Silver Belles gives the gift of laughter, tears, and old-fashioned Christmas magic.
Tickets are available online under events on the CCS website or at the door.
Come on out for an enjoyable night and support our student actors, actresses, stage,crew, and lighting,and sound people.

MS boys basketball tryouts are on Monday, November 11 from 3:00 p.m.-5:15 p.m. in the high school gym.
MS girls basketball tryouts are on Tuesday, November 12 from 3:00 p.m.-5:15 p.m. in the high school gym.

Both boys and girls should have already signed up with Mr. Yoder.
Students should have an updated sports physical to participate.. Click here for the sports physical form.
If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Yoder, CCS' Athletic Director

CCS is excited to invite all parents, grandparents, and caregivers out to our campus on Tuesday, November 12th from 6:30-8:30pm for our Protect Young Eyes parent night.

On Wednesday, November 13th, the PYE team will then be presenting to our students (K-12) in specific age groups with age appropriate materials during the school day.

God has blessed CCS in such an incredible way that we are offering this event FREE to anyone who can come, but space will be limited, so register as soon as possible.

If you feel led, there is an optional donation portion of the registration that will go directly to help fund this school event.

REGISTER HERE-- share this link with any parents, grandparents, or caregivers you know and with your churches. Knowledge is power, and I believe this will be an event that blesses our school community as we work together to help guide our students through the ever present challenges of growing up in a tech centered world.

About Protect Young Eyes

Chris McKenna started PYE because at the time, plenty of people were talking about online problems, but no one was telling parents HOW to fix them. Their mission is to show families, schools, and churches how to create safer digital spaces. They do this through a well designed resource hub on their website , through powerful presentations, and a private learning community where you can "go slow" and learn with other, like-minded families. Chris has been an advocate in some of the darkest spaces in our world. WATCH HERE as he presents before the Senate Judiciary Committee (disclaimer- the statistics/material spoken about is adult themed and viewer discretion is advised- but it is very important to hear)

This is going to be an important presentation that I urge you to consider clearing your schedule to be a part of. Whether you have a Kindergarten student or an 11th grader, this information will hold extreme value.

The end of the 1st marking period is November 15. At this time teachers will be closing out and averaging the students' grades. Students should be encouraged to finish the marking period strongly until the end.

Report cards will go live in FACTS' Family Portal on December 9. You can keep up with the progress of your students by checking on your student's grades on FACTS through the Family Portal. Please note that any student that fails a class for the 1st trimester will be ineligible to participate for the first 15 days of the basketball season.

Parent/teacher conferences are Monday and Tuesday, November 25 & 26. Students will not have school those days. You may sign up for conferences with your student's teachers by clicking here and following the instructions given.

Thanksgiving break this year is November 25-29 for students. Teachers will be at school on the 25th and 26th for parent/teacher conferences. Please note that school resumes on Monday, December 2 See below for an opportunity to send a Thankful Lollipop Gram to your student.

Another organization committed to helping parents and families in this digital world is ScreenStrong. ScreenStrong has resources and materials that reveal how detrimental significant screen use can be to children's and adolescent's brains by changing brain chemistry leading to behavioral changes and addiction. Myself, Mrs. Turner, Miss Good, Mrs. Rubendall, and Mrs. Sing had an opportunity to hear the founder, Melanie Hempe, of this organization speak at a Biblical Worldview Immersion Conference we attended this summer.

ScreenStrong empowers families to prevent screen addiction and reclaim their kids from problematic screen use (social media, video games, and pornography). Our solutions are not screen-free; rather they replace toxic screen use with healthy activities, life skill development, and family connections.

The result? Strong kids. Strong families.

ScreenStrong successfully helps parents around the world prevent and reverse their children’s dependence on addictive screens. We help parents understand the science and identify solutions that address the problem at its core so they are empowered to delay smartphones and social media, and replace video games with healthy hobbies.

Below is an article that I received in an email recently.

Parents, We’ve Been Scammed

Smartphones are stealing our kids’ childhoods. So why aren’t we more upset?

Melanie Hempe

Oct 30

READ IN APP

That’s because smartphone companies and app creators have scammed us. They told us this technology was harmless, even beneficial for our “digital natives.”

It was all a hoax.

This toxic technology is stealing our children’s childhoods and futures. The science is clear. But instead of giving in or giving up due to a sense of guilt (after all, we gave it to them), it’s time we stood up against these scammers, stood up for our kids, and made a change.

How Did We Get Here?

As parents, we teach our kids about “stranger danger” and how to spot an online scammer, yet we’ve fallen for the biggest hoax in parenting history: that every teenager needs a smartphone in their pocket. How did this happen? How did something that promised so much (safety! connectedness! happiness!) do so much damage to our children’s lives?

To understand how this all unfolded, let’s consider how any great scam is built.

Scams rarely begin with obvious red flags; instead, they start subtly, with half-truths that make you feel in control. Smartphones are no different. They’re not entirely bad—banking apps make depositing a check incredibly convenient. But, ultimately, they take more than they give. Before we realize it, the device we handed our children to text friends or call us after practice ends has taken far more: it’s impacted their family bond, stripped away innocence, and even compromised their mental health. And it all happened right in front of us.

Here is how smartphone companies were able to pull this scam off.

1 - They Built Trust

Like any successful scam, this one began by building trust. The smartphone has become the authority in our lives, so much so that if something appears on that small screen, it must be true. The grooming was subtle. The phone was cute, fun, and easy to use. “It’s just a screen,” we said. “What could go wrong?” But we missed that everything on that screen was carefully designed to capture our children’s attention and trust.

The smartphone came with a promise for teens: This is your ticket to fame. For parents, it offered a balm to ease our worries: Your child will feel happier and more included, plus you will always know where they are. With this promise, we let our guard down, giving the scammer control over our children’s emotional and social lives.

2 - They Exploited Vulnerabilities

For any scam to work, the scammer must find and exploit a vulnerability in their target. With teenagers, it couldn’t have been easier. Adolescence is marked by an intense need to belong, and the smartphone promises to fulfill this need with apps, games, and social media platforms designed to exploit basic human desires: novelty, fear, excitement, sexual desire, greed, and FOMO (fear of missing out). Social media, in particular, feeds the teenage dream of being noticed and famous, offering platforms that reward impulsive and superficial behavior with instant feedback.

The key was to get our children to act quickly and impulsively without reasoning. When their primal needs were triggered, their capacity to heed reason and rational advice—whether from parents, teachers, or even their own inner voice—disappeared. The trap was set.

3 - They Made It Easy & Irresistible

Scammers know that the easier the scam, the faster it works. What could be easier than a smartphone? It is a device so intuitive that even a four-year-old can figure it out without any instruction manual. It’s portable, available 24/7, and endlessly entertaining. It promises happiness, popularity, and connection and keeps those promises on an infinite loop.

Repetition is key. Smartphones ensure that the promises are delivered repeatedly, making it hard for anyone, especially a teenager, to escape their pull. The more they hear, “This will make you happier,” the more they believe it. They fall deeper into the scam.

4- They Manufactured Urgency (And FOMO)

For any scam to work, it has to create a sense of urgency. The faster the trap is sprung, the better for the scam artist. Smartphone culture capitalizes on this urgency. The younger children are when they get a phone, the more damage is done and the more tech companies profit. As soon as one child in a friend group has a phone, the others feel left out and want one, too. This peer pressure creates a sense of urgency for parents, leading us to think, “If my child doesn’t have a phone like their friends, they’ll be left out. They need one to fit in.”

Yet child development research shows that delaying smartphone use is healthier. But when confronted with the fear of our child being socially left out, we often let emotions, rather than facts, guide us. (Note: Kids without phones usually spend more time with friends.)

5 - They Created Dependency

A classic scam doesn’t just deceive—it builds dependency. The smartphone, once a simple tool, quickly becomes indispensable. What starts innocently—using it as an alarm clock or to listen to music—soon escalates into full dependency. Teenagers, in particular, are conditioned to feel lost without their phones. With their entire social world compressed into a 6-inch screen, this device begins to dominate their time, attention, and emotions, much like a scam artist pulls the strings of their mark.

This isn’t by accident. Tech companies enlist behavioral scientists to craft addictive designs, ensuring users are hooked as swiftly as possible. Like any addiction, smartphone dependency begins with a single use and rapidly expands from there.

6 - They Incited Groupthink

Scams thrive in groups, relying on the power of conformity. Once one person buys in, others are quick to follow. Smartphones exploit this dynamic through cultural acceptance. Often, parents permit their child to download an app or join a platform because a friend already has it. And just one friend is often enough to make us think, “If everyone else is doing it, why shouldn’t we?”

This social pressure tempts us to follow along, assuming that if other parents approve, it must be safe. But in doing so, we may overlook what’s truly right for our own family and our child, according to science and our values.

The Result: The Biggest Scam in Parenting History

The promises of the teen smartphone were grand: better learning, stronger connections with friends, healthier family dynamics, and improved mental health. But instead, we find ourselves facing the opposite. Our children are more isolated, anxious, and depressed than ever. We’ve lost family time to screens, and rather than fostering real-world connections, our kids are trapped in a digital illusion. The adage rings true: if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Realizing we’ve been duped has a profound emotional toll. Regret can be paralyzing, tempting us to avoid facing the issue. But until we do, we can’t move forward to reclaim our family’s well-being.

Many parents are stuck in this situation today—trapped by guilt and shame and weighed down by the fear that it’s too late to turn back. Ultimately, this is what the tech culture counts on: that we’ll feel so stuck that we won’t take action.

The solution? Get educated and trust your instincts, and don’t look back with regret over past mistakes. Remove the smartphone during these most vulnerable adolescent years. You can change course, and ScreenStrong is here to help.

Join our Connect group and meet other parents who have freed their children from the traps of technology and given them their childhoods back. No matter where you are in your parenting journey, it’s never too late, and your child’s well-being and even their life may depend on it.