CCCS is an independent study program offering both Edgenuity online and text based courses.  The North Highlands campus provides a small, safe, and personalized school environment where students thrive on the individual attention they receive.  All CCCS North Highlands students are provided with a Chromebook or other type of device so they can do their school work almost anywhere.

A typical week for a student at this campus includes a group Zoom meeting on Mondays, small group learning activities, individual teacher appointments, and one or more Career Technological Training or elective class.  Students may attend additional days for study time with teachers, peers, and paraeducators. This campus is home to three of our school’s five CTE programs:  Animal Science, Nursing Assistant/Home Health Aide, and Web Development.

The CTE courses at this site provide students with opportunities for hands-on learning in our outstanding learning labs, and for internships after they have completed some of their classwork.  In the past internships have led to job offers for our students.  The Animal Science pathway begins with learning about various animals we keep as pets, and introduces veterinary care concepts.  The Nursing Assistant/Home Health Aid pathway teaches students to take care of seniors both in their own homes or in a facility.  Web Developments teaches students how to write codes and develop web pages.   Other CTE pathways are under development.

School Culture
Our teachers and staff participate in Capturing Kids Hearts, a program which has been proven to improve educational outcomes and to build relational capacity with students.  Following CKH practices has helped the North Highlands Campus to develop a “relationship-driven campus culture” https://www.capturingkidshearts.org/. Community Collaborative Charter School is proud to be chosen as CKH Showcase school for our second year.

Our Emphasis on Goal Setting and Social Emotional Learning
CCCS North Highlands students enroll in high quality on-line classes through Edgenuity with in-person teacher and para-educator support available throughout the week.  Our campus focuses on teaching students planning and self-management/group cooperative skills.  Weekly group Zoom and on-campus interpersonal skills training include CKH and Move this World concepts and practices, which teach students methods for improving relationships with others. Weekly teacher meetings include students reviewing and reflecting on the previous week’s schedule, then proposing and discussing their plan for success in the weeks to come. 

North Highlands Campus Staff

Name:Jon Campbell

Title: Principal
Hometown: Nevada City, CA
Education: National University: M.S. in Eduation; CSU Chico: B.A. in Social Science; Clear Administrative Credential; Clear Teaching Credential
Interests and Hobbies: Family, sports, and outdoor activities.

Name:Michelle Jordan

Title: Vice Principal
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Education: Oregon State: BA in History; UC Davis: Single Subject English and Social Science; Multiple Subject Credential
Interests and Hobbies: Hiking and camping, reading, Shakespeare and any drama – especially musicals, puzzles, politics.

Name:RaeAnn Bower

Title: CTE Mentor
Hometown: Lincoln, Ca
Education: Registered Veterinary Technician
Interests and Hobbies: Paddleboarding, Playing Basketball with my 3 boys, Fostering puppies and kittens

Name:Norma Chadwell

Title: IS teacher
Hometown: Sacramento, CA
Education: AS in Animal Health Technology; BA in English; MA in Curriculum and Instruction Credentials: Single Subject ELA and Administrative Services; Supplemental Animal Science
Interests and hobbies: crafts, hiking, training and showing dogs.

Name:Lenore De Leon

Title: CTE Teacher
Hometown: San Fernando Valley, CA
Education: Rio Linda High School Graduate 13 years as a CNA
Interests and Hobbies: Reading, cooking, and hiking

Name:David Zwerdling

Title: Information & Communication Technology CTE Instructor
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
Education: B.A. Economics, Miami University; Preliminary CTE Credential
Interests and Hobbies:  Hiking, Programming, Dogs

Hello, I’m Mrs. Chadwell, and I’m excited to introduce you to the North Highlands Campus, and to Career Technical Education (CTE). The North Highlands Campus is just one mile from the main campus, and I look forward to sharing it with you!  Students at this campus are enrolled in Independent Study classes just like the main campus.  Here, we will enjoy large, comfortable classrooms, a student lounge and office, and beautiful classes/labs for teaching careers in Animal Care and in Nursing Assisting/Home Health Aide, and Web Development.  We hope to add more career pathways soon.

My pathway to North Highlands includes lots of varying experiences. I began my working career as an Animal Health Technician working in veterinary hospitals in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Then, I worked as a supervisor in a Microbiology lab before moving on to teaching.  I began my teaching career as an English teacher and Freshman Class Mentor.   For one school year, I taught ELA in rural Texas, then came back to California. My teaching journey led me to CCCS, where I teach Independent Study and coach the CTE teachers. Working with students as they learn to become veterinary or nursing assistants lets me enjoy the best of all my experiences in one place--I hope you come join us soon!

Hi, my name is Mr. Zwerdling, but you can call me Mr. Z!  I have been a software engineer for over a decade, focusing mostly on internal business process middlewares and frontends.  I love writing software, designing intuitive interfaces, and sharing my enthusiasm with students. 

My interest in software development started young, with a fascination with the broad capabilities of computers.  My undergraduate career focused on building simulations in economics and ecology.  After college I focused mainly on business process management software.  Some projects I have built over the years include a graphing library, federal government contract workflow management software, and a procedural graphic design application for recreating photos using text.  Technically speaking, I am interested in strongly typed functional languages such as Rust, and pragmatic development practices such as agile and kanban.

I have always enjoyed working with students in all subjects.  Since 2017, I have taught computer science after-school clubs for middle school.  In 2020 I completed my preliminary CTE credential and an internship with a high-school programming class.  I am excited to join the CCCS team and bring this exciting, in-demand field to the CTE program!

For a complete list of online resources for our curriculum, please go to:

classes.cccs-sacramento.org

Pathways

CCCS offers three pathways:  Animal Science; Design, Visual, and Media Arts; and Patient Care. Upon enrolling in CCCS, each student will choose a pathway of primary focus based on his or her interests and goals.

Animal Science

Veterinary Science

Veterinary Science 1A/IB This class will explore careers in animal care such as pet grooming, exhibiting, training, boarding/pet sitting, military service with canines, and veterinary medicine.  Students will learn to identify over 70 dog breeds and 15 cat breeds, and begin to learn the language of the animal care industry.  In addition, medical terminology and introductory anatomy concepts will be introduced.  Students are required to complete six hours of volunteer time at Front Street Animal Shelter. The course ends with an analysis & evaluation of some of the major animal welfare/rights groups in the news today, and how they can affect the animal care industry and private pet ownership.  Students are eligible to earn 50 hours toward Certified Veterinary Assistant (CVA) certification.  Field trips are required and may occur on Saturdays.

Veterinary Science 2A/2B This course begins focused training for work in the fields of veterinary medicine and/or pet grooming and includes both classroom and lab components.  Students will be enrolled in the ACT online curriculum to begin earning certification.  Most online assignments must be completed at home prior to class. The classroom component will include an in-depth focus on veterinary medical terminology, anatomy and physiology of animals and the major diseases of companion animals.  The lab component includes handling of animals including proper lifting, gentle restraint, and performing minor procedures such as trimming nails and cleaning ears.  The lab component also includes a required field trip to an American Kennel Club (AKC) event, and participation in caring for orphan kittens in the spring.  Students are eligible to earn 100 hours towards Certified Veterinary Assistant (CVA) certification.  Field trips are required and may occur on Saturdays.

Veterinary Science 3A/3B This course includes learning and practicing job specific skills and curriculum to prepare students to be Certified Veterinary Assistants.  CVA candidates will complete all ACT (Animal Care Technologies) online curriculum assignments prior to class time.  Candidates will learn how to position patients for xray and ultrasound examination, use veterinary hospital equipment such as a centrifuge, autoclave, Doppler blood pressure monitor, UV light, and IV fluid pump from guest instructors currently working in the industry.  The lab component includes routine off-campus assignments/field trips in veterinary settings.   Students are eligible to earn 100 towards Certified Veterinary Assistant (CVA) certification.  Field trips are required and may occur on Saturdays.

Design, Visual, and Media Arts

Web Development 1/2/3

Patient Care

For the 2020-2021 school year, CCCS is offering several web-based courses that will help prepare students for a future career in the health professions.  These courses include:

• Medical Terminology
• Health Science Concepts
• Health Science and Medical Technology
• Nursing Assistant*

*There is a classroom component to this course that will provide training in the area of basic Home Health Care skills.

For CCCS high school program students, the lack of in-person connections between students, families, and school staff was and continues to be a barrier toward connecting with resources especially during a pandemic. When need increased exponentially with our community. There was a moderate impact on our core instructional model and program implementation due to our usage of online curriculum through Edgenuity along with a one-to-one student Chromebook access, but students who are part of our identified special subgroups and socio-economically disadvantaged students both expressed need for increased support. For small group, lab science and CTE courses, there was high impact due to the lack of access to required hands-on resources required for activities connected to program completion. CCCS teachers have transitioned these courses to online instruction with adaptations and modifications made that emphasize key learning objectives. For the Fall 2020 semester, teachers have been able to create initial course supplies packs and have continued to survey students for their needs in order to build these packs on a continuous basis. CCCS administration and support staff have worked since the beginning of the pandemic-related school closures through the summer to the present providing family outreach services and connections with community resources upon identified need and/or requests. Both K-8 and 9-12 grade programs have outreach teams or care teams that collaborate on an ongoing basis around meeting the basic needs of students.

All CCCS HS students are issued Chromebooks, and wireless internet devices upon request, to allow full access to core curriculum through our web-based education platform, Edgenuity. For core curriculum, CCCS will have 100% continuity of delivery and content to access to exactly the same A-G course offerings. CCCS also offers classroom-based CTE classes, academic classes, support classes, and labs, and as many of these courses as possible will be offered in an online format. Students will continue to have access to synchronous and asynchronous learning through Zoom or Google Meet for our CTE classes (Photography, Animal Science, Nursing Assistant, Auto Detailing) our academic options (Film and Literature, Shakespeare through the Arts, writing instruction), and student support classes (Student Reach, Onboarding program: a class supporting new students, and weekly small group classes with the teacher). The number of labs has increased to better support distance learning and the most vulnerable student populations. Students can access academic support via Zoom or Google meet with paraeducators, five math labs with credentialed math teachers per week, an ELD Lab, a photography lab and a science lab. Teachers will continue to have individual meetings with their students on Zoom or Google Meet weekly, during which they assess and support the student’s academic progress and personal well-being.

CCCS will offer both synchronous and asynchronous instructional opportunities each week in all live classes. As a non-classroom based instructional model school, CCCS will continue to assess pupil progress through daily engagement logs, work completed and submitted for each student and through monitoring of curriculum embedded formative and summative assessment outcomes. In CCCS’s online coursework, which was already a part of the school’s curriculum prior to COVID-19, student progress will continue to be assessed by learning logs and work completion within the online curriculum platform. A record of student work samples for all courses will be collected to justify time value of work completed for attendance purposes. We are dedicated to providing all students access to support in their online curriculum as well as live access to teachers and tutoring.

To that end, all students in the high school program will be expected to participate as follows:

• Students will meet with their teacher each week for both a Monday “Teacher Team” virtual class of one and one-half hours and an individual one hour teacher appointment/meeting at their scheduled day/time.
• Students will work at a minimum of four hours/day (based on five weekdays) in online curriculum to stay on track.
• Students will use Google Classroom for teacher team, CTE, elective and writing assessment assignments.
• Students will communicate with the teacher at least two additional times per week.
• Students will communicate with teachers or paras to open tests, must take unit tests on school laptops and with Go Guardian protections.
• Students will be expected to complete six credits every four weeks to stay on 4 year graduation track.
• Students who fall behind will be assigned paraeducator tutoring in one-half hour increments based upon the course/concept needs.
• IEP, EL, and credit recovery student groups will have regularly scheduled one to two hours/week paraeducator or resource specialist support.
• Brand-new students will attend Onboarding classes for four successive Fridays.

To facilitate these expectations, teachers will monitor and record student progress in Edgenuity and attendance at meetings/classes. Students will complete Weekly Reflections that ask them to reflect on how well they used their academic time and to track progress towards their educational goals. When students fall short of expectations, we have a detailed intervention system in place, including parent/student calls, meetings with administrators and counselors, and success contracts that outline next steps.

This plan was created through an on-going collaborative engagement process including parents/guardians, students, staff, community partners, and other stakeholders. Our school leadership team and educational staff collaborated to analyze our data and identify the greatest needs of our students and families. This feedback and subsequent data was used to drive the goals, actions and services embedded throughout this plan. We will be continuously looking at the expressed needs of students and families in order to ensure their needs are met throughout this school year. When we are able to welcome students back on campus during the 2020-2021 school year, we will prioritize the most at-risk and most academically in need student populations. There will be student and family re-orientations to clarify general safety best practices around social distancing, wearing of masks, and personal cleanliness as a part of our updated on-campus expectations for students and stakeholders

Welcome Parents! Below you will find some resources to help you and your student navigate through school. You will find our Parent/Student Handbook, community resource guide and referral phone number, low-cost internet access, and financial aid information. We hope you join us at our Financial Aid Workshops throughout the year as well as our College & Resource Fair in the Fall and our Career Fair in the Spring. If you need more information or further assistance, please contact Ms. Decker by calling 916-286-5161.

Resources

• CCCS K-8 Student Handbook 2021-2022
• CCCS HS Student Handbook 2021-2022
• Family Resource Guide
• Student Calendar 2020-2021
• Annual Notifications 2020-2021

Questions? Please call the community resource referral line for Sacramento at (916) 498-1000.

Links to Cost-Saving Programs for Internet, Utilities & More

• Affordable Internet through AT&T
• Affordable Internet through Comcast/Internet Essentials
• Low-Income Assistance from SMUD

Community Mental Health Resources

• 916-368-3111 24-Hour Suicide Prevention Crisis Line
• Text 741741 – Crisis Text Line
• 916-875-1055 or toll free 888-881-4881 Mental Health Access Team: Monday-Friday, 8 am- 5 pm. Call for an over the phone assessment and receive referral to a mental health service provider.
• 916-875-1113 Minor Emergency Response Team: 7 days a week 10:00am-7:00pm.

2150 Stockton Blvd. Sacramento CA 95817.  Emergency mental health evaluations.

• 916-520-2460 Mental Health Urgent Care Clinic (MHUCC), 2130 Stockton Blvd. Building 300, Sacramento, CA 95817: Monday-Friday, 10 am – 10 pm, Weekends and Holidays, 10 am – 6 pm.  A walk-in clinic for individuals with an urgent mental health need.
• 916-874-6015 Community Support Team: Monday-Friday 8:00am -5:00pm

Provides assistance to families with accessing mental health services.

School Mental Health Resources

• 916-286-5199 ext. 2151 Community Collaborative Charter School Counselor