www.towntimes.com
Volume 26, Number 26
Friday, September 25, 2020
Library Bakery’s tasty goods can’t be beat rolls out eLearning service By Bronwyn Commins Special to Town Times
The Durham Public Library has announced the launch of HelpNow – an on demand eLearning service for students in kindergarten through college. HelpNow offers personalized homework help in core subjects, as well as SAT preparation. Resources for adult learners are also included. The service is available on any Internet-enabled device with a Durham Public Library card and to all patrons, in-person, at the library. Live tutoring is available from 2 to 11 p.m. daily and a writing lab, lesson library, language lab, collaboration tools and more are available 24/7. In addition, HelpNow provides study tools such as a Test Center to help with standardized tests and practice subject-specific tests, like math and science, as well as access to an extensive library of online flashcard sets in hundreds of subjects. HelpNow is funded by PALS: The Friends of the Durham Public Library. Library Director Christine Michaud states, “We know that this is a difficult year for students and families and we wanted to offer a service that will support learning at home. With certified tutors and thousands of skill-building lessons and tools, we hope families find this to be a useful resource.” To learn more about HelpNow, visit the library website, durhamlibrary.org. — Press Release
If you ever participated in the CVEF Trivia Bee at Strong School, then you were a winner, even if your team didn’t score the most points. I don’t mean in the “we’re all winners!” manner of thinking. I mean, because as a participant, you were rewarded with the most perfect cookie you have ever seen and tasted.
The one neatly packaged in a small cellophane bag, flawlessly decorated, complete with a shiny ribbon. The one you looked at and thought, “I will eat this when I get home,” and then you quietly savored it in the corner of the library after you excused yourself to “find your jacket” (wink, wink). Later, when you met your family at the car, and they asked, “Did they give you anything for participating?” you replied, “No, but it was fun.” I guess they never noticed the crumbs on your “lost” jacket. Yes, pretty much everything at Kim’s Cottage Confections located at 271 Baileyville Road, Middlefield, is perfection. Of course, the cookies, but also the pastry twists, the scones, the muffins, and, oh boy, the cakes.
Kim Terrill, owner of Kim’s Cottage Confections in Middlefield.
See Bakery, A15
High schools shift to full team practices By Greg Lederer Record-Journal staff
In looking to bring high school sports back amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference has emphasized the importance of a gradual process that can change on a daily basis. At the end of last week, state schools learned that they had moved one key step closer to returning to regular-season competition on Oct. 1. Last Friday, the CIAC sent out an email to athletic directors informing
them that schools could move from cohorts to full-team practices as part of phase two of their sports plan. The move went into effect Monday. In the email, the CIAC writes that the plan is fluid and in a perpetual state of evaluation. The CIAC added that COVID-19 health data in Connecticut will continue to be monitored. In factoring in recommendation letters from the Connecticut Department of Public Health, the CIAC Board of Control has made multiple changes to its original fall plan, including taking a 10-day pause from
in-person conditioning activities Aug. 14 to Aug. 24. In the current model, teams started non-contact workouts in cohorts of 10 athletes on Aug. 29. The hourlong sessions, consisting of conditioning and skill work, ran through Sept. 20, so that the CIAC had time to evaluate health data from two weeks of in-person school instruction and then see if full-team practices could begin on Sept. 21. In being given the green light to move forward, soccer, girls volleySee Practices, A10