BWRSD Community Update 4/17/20
Message from Jonathan Brice, Superintendent of Schools
Dear BWRSD families,
Thank you for your role in supporting distance learning in BWRSD. The success we are experiencing is a testament to the collective effort of students, parents, staff, and the broader community. Our distance learning focus is on providing an academically challenging and supportive experience for all BWRSD students. In order to accomplish this, we are actively reviewing feedback about the status of distance learning implementation and making modifications to improve student success. One key concern raised during the prior week has been about student workload. To address the concern about student workload we are taking the following three steps: reiterating the importance of all students taking time for lunch, streamlining assignments at the elementary level, and providing students with a virtual support day. Information about these steps is presented below.
Today’s update has information about the following topics:
Student Art Project
Make Time For Lunch
Streamlining Music, Art, Library Science, Health, & Physical Education at Elementary Level
Virtual Support Day - Friday, April 24, 2020
Be the Light - 4/20/20
New Registrations for Kindergarten 2020-2021 Accepted Online
Special Education Update: Access to Student IEPs and Intervention Plans
Parent Support Network: Virtual Parent Workshop Series and Parent Support (provided by RIDE’s Office of Special Education and Student Support)
Tech Issues/BWRSD Online Tech Support for Families
Student Art Project
Check out this video from one of our talented students!
Make Time for Lunch
Please make sure that your student has a half hour lunch break. This is important for all students!
Streamlining Music, Art, Library Science, Health, & Physical Education at Elementary Level
We had a great conversation with our elementary special area teachers this week. They are doing an amazing job of engaging students in innovative ways! Based on the discussion, we decided to make the following adjustments to the schedules that would be consistent across the district.
Itinerant lessons will be posted on Monday to give students and families the flexibility to work on assignments throughout the week. These teachers will still host daily google hangouts with students, but posting the lessons will allow students to work at their own pace to complete these fun and engaging lessons.
Parents should expect five lessons per week: 1 music, 1 art, 1 library, 1 health and 1 PE.
Lessons and assignments should take approximately 30 minutes to complete. Some students will complete the assignments in a shorter amount of time, some will complete the assignment in the average amount of time, and other students will take more than the average amount of time to complete the assignments. If your child takes more than 45 minutes to complete one of these activities, please stop them.
Virtual Support Day - Friday, April 24, 2020
Next Friday, April 24, will be the first Virtual Support Day in BWRSD. No new assignments will be provided for this day. All assignments should be completed by Friday afternoon. All students will check in for the day and then spend the day in self directed activities This day will be dedicated to supporting the social emotional health and wellness of students:
Students that are behind may use the day to catch up on their assignments for the week,
Teachers and specialists will conduct google hangouts for students that self identify or have been identified as needing additional support.
Completing special area assignments in Music, Art, Library Science, Health, and Physical Education.
Students that have completed their assignments for the week should use the day to read and relax.
Be the Light - 4/20/20
We are planning a tribute to honor and show support for all medical personnel, senior citizens and our Graduating Class of 2020 seniors. On Monday, 4/20/2020 at 20:20 (8:20 pm) for 20 minutes, the lights on the Mt. Hope High School Football Field will be turned on, and everyone is encouraged to shine a light in your window(s) to celebrate and recognize the Class of 2020! Please spread the word, post on social media, and promote the event. Let’s all BE THE LIGHT! Be the Light 4/20/20
New Registrations for Kindergarten 2020- 2021 Accepted Online
We have begun registering children for kindergarten. Any child who will be five (5) years old on or before September 1, 2020, is eligible to register. BWRSD offers a full day kindergarten program at all of our elementary schools. If you need to register your child and have not already begun the process, please complete the following steps:
Visit our website at www.bwrsd.org.
Select the “Registration” tab
Click on “2020 Kindergarten Registration” on the left side of the page
If you have not already created an account, please do so on the “New Student Registration Screen”
Follow the directions to register your child.
Once you have completed the online form with your child’s information, please email, fax, or mail in your supporting documents
A Kindergarten Orientation Session will be scheduled prior to the start of the new 2020-2021 school year. If you have questions regarding kindergarten registration, please contact Terri Moreira at (401) 253-4000, ext. 5104 or terri.moreira@bwrsd.org. You can fax any documents to (401) 253-1740.
Special Education Update: Access to Student IEPs and Intervention Plans
Special Educators, specialists, and staff have begun uploading IEPs and other documents into Aspen for parents to view. The IT Department has provided the following steps for parents to use to access these documents.
Log into your Aspen parent account (email portal@bwrsd.org if you need help).
Click on the Family top tab.
Click on the Documents side tab. Any documents uploaded for your student will be here.
Parent Support Network: Virtual Parent Workshop Series and Parent Support (provided by RIDE’s Office of Special Education and Student Support)
There are three opportunities for parents to learn more about Social Emotional Learning on Wednesdays starting April 22 at 4:00pm-5:00pm. Additionally there are opportunities for Parents Supports in Spanish (on Thursday) and in English (on Tuesdays). Please register ahead of time for this training, and call us if you need a lesson on how to use the internet or telephone to participate or if you have any questions about the training (401-222-8333). After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the training.
- Registration link: https://attendee.gototraining.com/r/9177466732712924929
- Basics on how to use Go To Training: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tkpZqNNhGA
BWRSD Online Tech Support for Families
Having issues with your student’s device or while working on certain applications online? Please send an email to our Technology Helpdesk at BWRSDTech@BWRSD.org for support during this time of Distance Learning. The email account is accessible 24 hours per day, and you can expect a response within 1 school day.
The most common issue for not being able to access apps such as STEMscopes is that students may not be going in through CLEVER, our single sign-on platform, or that families need to have students login to the Chrome browser with their BWRSD credentials. Here are directions.
Sincerely,
Jonathan T. Brice
Jonathan T. Brice, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
1. BWRSD Distance Learning Plan
2. Parent Resources for Google & Seesaw Classrooms
3. COVID-19 Information
4. BWRSD Community Updates