We have started a new journey together! Yesterday was “Day One” of online and remote learning, and we are up and running for “Day Two.” I am so proud of our teachers, staff, students, and families for coming together and putting forth a Herculean effort to make a plan that has lifted off. We will figure this out together. There will be questions and there will be bumps, but we will navigate it all together. You are not alone. We’ve got this.

It’s important for you all to know that the academic work is designed to practice, review, enrich, and to keep us all moving forward. There will not be grades entered into a gradebook, but your child’s teachers will share feedback and information that helps your child make progress. This may look like scores or comments or suggestions, your child's teacher will work through that with you. Any feedback of any kind is purely to help your child, you as a parent/guardian, and your child’s teacher to keep moving forward together and to be prepared to get back into our regular classroom structure and setting on April 20. Our work together and the information we share in any form is for us to keep track of where we’re at and use it to make a plan for when we are back together. If you have any questions about this, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or your child’s teacher.

Another piece of our academic work is to keep our community together. Within our small school family we have communities of different sizes that are special and an integral piece of all of our daily lives. At LLCS we will be working hard to keep our students tied to one another and to their teachers, to keep our families tied to our school staff so you have resources, information, and support as needed, and we will also be working hard to keep our teachers and staff in contact with one another so we can support each other, continue to make each other smile and laugh, and create a routine and structure that can guide us and our school district through this challenging experience.

We have created an “Academic Home Base” on our website (www.longlakecsd.org). All families or caregivers can go to this website to see what resources are linked for each grade level. Mr. Sass has done a terrific job of working with our teachers to update our website and to make it as easy as possible for students and families to locate resources. You will notice in the resources that teachers have created a “Suggested Daily Schedule.” Our goal behind this is to give students and parents a place to start from that is age and grade level appropriate. These were shared as a helpful tool and by no means are a requirement. I encourage you to check out the “Academic Home Base” page and if you have any questions or feedback please let me know. Each day presents us with different challenges, but this also prompts us to dig into our creativity and problem-solving skills so we will make changes as needed.

Mrs. Cohen, LLCS's school counselor, has created a page that will allow our students and families to continue counseling and to gather wellness resources. We continue to work with Citizen Advocates for school-based mental health counseling. They are now offering tele-health as an option for all students enrolled, and can also take new referrals. Please reach out to me if you would like to complete a referral and I can help guide you through that process.

Over the past few days we have made a lot of progress. I can’t emphasize enough how much I appreciate our small school community. The feeling I have in my heart right now is the kind of gratitude we have all experienced when anyone in our small, rural Adirondack communities needs help. We always pitch in. We always come together. We always find our way. I think this is happening all over the world, and I am grateful for that too, but I couldn’t be more thankful to be here at this time. We’ve got your back and we know you have ours too, because that's just how we do things.

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll do my best to find it. I will always do my best to get right back to you. At this point email is the best way to contact me. I check it routinely and can do so if I am working remotely or at school.

Sincerely,

Ms. Noelle J. Short

Superintendent/Principal

nshort@longlakecsd.org