“Whoever is happy will make others happy too.” – Anne Frank
Good news! I just went 5 straight days without being hit, kicked or spit on! Winning!
Office Photo Updates – below is the latest progress in the office. Chris Mills is pictured here with his handy work. He really put a lot of extra attention into this project and deserves a little recognition. Thanks for you hard work, Chris!
I’ve decided that I want to get a puppy and name it Covid. I know it’s difficult to fathom, but this will pass. It will take time, but there will be a day when this is simply history. The reason I want a puppy, named Covid is that I want to remember the positive experiences that arise from this little critter that keeps crapping on the carpet, peeing on the couch and chewing our shoes. The opportunities to sit a room with my kids and wife with no pressure to be somewhere have been rare, but now it’s every day. Believe it or not, I think my kids value school more than ever and I don’t think they will ever take it for granted again. In the future I cannot ever imagine myself being truly angry at my own dog. So anyway, I came up with this crazy idea that a puppy named Covid will be in place in the future to remind me of all the silver linings to this experience. Now if I could just convince Amy to let me get a puppy!
I left my initial Q&A intact but added new information which should be italicized and in blue. Disclaimer: all this could change with a simple shift in the wind – Seriously!
Will we make up the days? I don’t know yet.
Will the rest of the year be called off? I don’t know yet.
Will we shift to distance learning? Most likely.
Yes, but we are calling it a Continuation of Learning Plan.
What will distance learning (Continuation of Learning Plan) look like? That’s for us to determine. I think the most valuable question for us to ponder is the following; “How do we want to maintain our community connection during this difficult time and what do we want that to look like with the current restrictions on socializing?”
We will be doing something between normal school and online school. We are not going to meet the requirements to be a fully accredited online school and we clearly cannot conduct business as we used to, so we are creating an in-between realm of distance learning.
The district is coming up with “expectations” as a starting point for us to work with; once these are shared we can start to envision what our work-day will look like. These will be ready to share with you on the 30th.
My initial rough thoughts (mine only) are that we can expect to work in teams to create content and instruction to be shared with families. We can expect to develop a process for students to return work for feedback from you. And we can probably expect some “office hours” set up for students to reach you virtually.
When do we start distance learning? Unofficially, I believe we will start on April 1st with students…and no, this is not an April fool’s joke.
What about internet access for all families? Solutions are in the works.
Service providers have really gone above and beyond to provide service for anyone who needs it. It does require the family to reach out. Also, the district is working on providing a limited number of hotspots to address some more challenging areas.
What about Kinder and 1st grade without iPads? I don’t have a good concise answer for this question just yet.
This is still evolving, but as you can see from Shay’s email some paper packets will be provided upfront and we will work in teams to create the future packets or other materials to provide for families.
What if students don’t do the work we send?
We will cross that bridge if and when we get there. My first response is to put your energy into the ones who do the work and maybe let me work on the few that don’t.
What about the All School Storyline? As you may have already seen from Alicia’s email, this will be postponed to the Fall.
When can we come back to the building? Your first official day back still remains Monday 3/30. This week’s days are being treated similarly to snow-day closures, so anytime you put in this week would be considered voluntary. We also need to adhere to the Governor’s directives of keeping group gatherings small.
Our first day back together will be via WebEx virtual meeting. Yes, you can still come to the building, but it won’t be required to be here and we will not be meeting in large groups in one room.
What about SBAC testing? As of today, the requirement still stands, so I will assume we still need to complete this, but I am fully aware that could change at any moment.
No new information yet. This requirement has been relaxed or removed in other states, but I have not seen it in writing for us yet.
What about the variety show and 5th-grade promotion? I think it’s safe to say these will both need to look very different in order to comply with restrictions on gatherings.
At the time of writing this, I do not have any new information changing our return date of April 28th, however I am mentally preparing myself to miss the remainder of the year based on what we are seeing across the nation (hope for the best, but prepare for the worst).
How will we communicate if we can’t meet in groups? WebEx – it uses your devices Facetime app along with other tools. It takes a little getting used to, but it’s a powerful tool. Look for invitations to join WebEx meetings from me in the near future. We’ve been practicing with it as an admin team and I think you will find it pretty darn user-friendly. If you receive invitations from me in the next couple of days feel free to join and practice with the tool. These will just be low pressure, low expectations experiences so don’t join if you are already busy.
We can use this tool with each other and with students (it’s on their iPads).
Thank you to everyone who jumped on to the different WebEx meetings this week. I will never be able to accurately express how appreciative I am to work with each of you. Your willingness to fumble through using this tool will greatly help our future virtual meetings. Some of you noted the value of being able to see and hear each other which I think is going to strongly be felt by our students and families.
I’ve included the links from Scott and Christie below;
•When you want to start or schedule a meeting:
•Our getting started video and troubleshooting site:
• WebEx quick start guide:
https://www.webex.com/webexremoteessentials.html#webex-meetings
•Virtual Learning/Teaching Live + Recorded Classes:
•Transition to Virtual Learning/Teaching Resources: