At Dakota Meadows, we will be starting the school year using the Hybrid model. Under this model, 50% of students can be be at school at one time. On the days students are not in school, they will be expected to engage in Google Classroom distance learning activities. Students will be divided into two groups (Scarlet and PRIDE) by HOUSEHOLD in Infinite Campus. Using the household means students from the same family with different last names will be attending school on the same days. Group 1 (SCARLET) will attend school Monday and Tuesday. Group 2 (PRIDE) will attend Thursday and Friday. Wednesday's school attendance will rotate weekly between the two groups. Families will be notified of the student trail, advisory and group placement by September 2nd.

Please be mindful of the impact one small change causes within our system. We will not be able to honor requests to allow switching between the two groups. As always emergency situations will be handle on an individual basis. We apologize for the inevitable challenges this causes families.

The graphic below shows the days of the week each group attends school.

Click on the calendar to see the days each group should plan to attend school under the hybrid model. Please note that Group 2 will be attending in person on the first two days of school, Thursday, September 10th and Friday, September 11th. We look forward to seeing Group 1 students for the first time at Dakota Meadows on Monday, September 14th.

The calendar includes on Distance Learning day per month for all students recently approved by the school board. As opposed to Tuesday Late Start Days, one Wednesday each month will be designated a Distance Learning day. No students report to school on these days.

Under the Hybrid learning model, all students will start their day in advisory and stay in that room while teachers rotate to them in order to facilitate learning. The goal is to keep the exposure of students and staff throughout the day to a minimum. Some movement between classrooms will occur to accommodate special education programming, EL and specialized classes like AVID and Geometry. Other details about the Hybrid model include:

• Hybrid Bell Schedule - Click on this document to see our daily schedule. Due to the change to two tiered busing, our school day begins and ends 25 minutes later than in previous years. A student day at DMMS runs from 8:35-3:20.
• In order to accommodate staggered arrival of classes to the cafeteria, lunch times are approximate on the schedule.
• Students will be assigned a door to enter in the morning, have an opportunity to pick up breakfast, and then go directly to their advisory classroom and assigned seat. Students will be expected to follow mask and social distancing guidelines during this time. An arrival plan will be taught so everyone is familiar with health and safety expectations.
• Student behaviors related to the refusal to wear masks and social distance will provide opportunities for reteaching, restorative circles, or a possible move to the DMMS Online Academy.

Prior to this communication, we had assumed students choosing the Distance Learning Option Model may not have a teacher from DMMS and may not be grouped with students from DMMS. Thanks to adequate staffing, this has changed. DMMS students choosing the Distance Learning Option model will be placed in an online section with a DMMS teacher and DMMS students.

Parents wishing to choose the Distance Learning Option model should indicate that preference when completing census information on the Parent Portal. This information allows us to create DMMS student schedules. The Distance Learning Option Model will be referred as the DMMS Online Academy.

We wanted to provide parents with an academic schedule students MAY follow on days they have Distance Learning. We picture the schedule as something that can be used whether a student is a Distance Learning student or a Hybrid student on distance learning days. The schedule is an option. If a student is capable of self-paced learning and engages in the work to a high level of quality while following their own schedule, that is an option. Feel free to click on the link to view the DMMS Distance Learning Academic Schedule.

The goal of Open House is to give students the opportunity to meet their advisory teacher and begin to feel a sense of belonging and association with Dakota Meadows prior to the beginning of the school year. Typically our in person open house would take place Monday and Wednesday evenings the week before school starts. Since we do not want to bring large groups of people together this year, our Open House will move to a virtual format. Teaching teams will be making FlipGrid videos that will be sent to families on Thursday, September 3rd along with an administrator welcome video.

Entrance conferences are scheduled for Tuesday, September 8th from 12-8 and Wednesday, September 9th from 8-1. 6th grade conferences may take place in person or virtually, but only virtually for 7th and 8th graders. Strict health expectations will be in place for families coming to DMMS for conferences. A sign up link for conferences will be shared with families through the Parent Portal.

If you haven't already, please log into the Infinite Campus Parent Portal, complete the census verification form, and make a choice for distance learning or the district safe learning plan. If you need to set up an account or have problems logging in, please email ICsupport@isd77.org

6th Grade families and students new to DMMS need to come to the Dakota Meadows Cafeteria (Door 8) to pick-up Chromebooks. Please see the flyer below for dates and times.

**THE FAMILY CENSUS IN THE PARENT PORTAL NEEDS TO BE COMPLETED BEFORE DEVICES CAN BE ASSIGNED AND SENT HOME.**

If your child is eligible for busing and plans to use the bus service, please email tbaumg1@isd77.org the following information:

Student Name

Student Home Address

Student's School

Student's Grade

Parent Name

Parent Phone Number

Although we are anxious to get students back in all of our buildings in our district, the safety of students and staff is our #1 priority. Many of the non-negotiables are included in the infographic below. There are expectations that ALL schools MUST follow.

Infinite Campus Parent Portal

Please make sure you are able to log into your Infinite Campus Parent Portal account.

If you have problems logging in or need to set up an account, please contact our Infinite Campus support team at ICsupport@isd77.org

Device Repair (Grades 6-12 Only)

In preparation for the upcoming school year, if your child's chromebook is in need of repair, please send an email to familytechhelp@isd77.org and set up a time to get it repaired or replaced. Please take care of this as soon as possible.

WE CARE for the educational, emotional, and physical health of all students and take each component seriously. We are committed to providing a quality experience regardless of the challenges we face and look forward to providing you with more detailed information throughout the coming days and weeks.