That has resulted in more teamwork for students and an opportunity for families to engage with school staff, according to Principal Stephanie Coble-Day.

“We brought that back this year,” said Coble-Day. “And we are playing live and in-person teams from this area and from the Boone, Ames and Des Moines area schools that we play.”

Seventy-five students are enrolled at Community Christian in kindergarten through eighth grade. That is 12 more than the school had last year. CCS also has 23 students in its 4-year-old preschool program.

The last two years have been a joy for Coble-Day. One positive thing about this year, though, is the inclusion of parents and families.

“I feel like both years have gone really well,” Coble-Day said, “because we still have ongoing COVID concerns, but I feel like we are able to have families in the building more actively because of athletics and we had our Christmas program. We were able to have more families in the building and participate instead of virtually or Facebook live.”

With families able to participate more, Coble-Day has taken advantage.

“We are getting to know families better this year,” she said. “Last year I really focused on getting to know the kiddos and this year trying to get to know families better at events and building up our relationships.”

The school has had its share of illnesses compared to last year.

“In October (2021) we felt we had quite a few kiddos sick and right now in January there are quite a few kids and families sick,” Coble-Day said. “But we have had some extreme colds and the flu as well as COVID. It’s been more extreme this year — a combination — hasn’t been any one thing.”

Community Christian has the option for virtual learning. It has not had to go that route this year.

“We do Google Classroom, but we haven’t had to use or require that except for when students are out individually,” Coble-Day said. “We have not had to use that building-wide this year even though we have the means and the technology.”

Coble-Day sees having smaller class sizes as a benefit.

“We are keeping in par with public school districts,” Coble-Day said. “We have a little smaller class sizes and get to dig into having really great relationships with our kids and our families.”

She’s looking forward to seeing how students perform on assessments.

“We do FastBridge assessments and Iowa Assessments, so we really just hope to see growth in our students and we are seeing that,” Coble-Day said. “I think that’s because we have such great teachers committed to our students. And really focused on supporting the kids, whether that’s pushing students ahead or giving them that support in a needs area. We are looking forward to seeing the assessment when they get finished.”