From the Superintendent
West Irondequoit CSD update from Aaron Johnson
January 7, 2022
Greeting Families:
With changing COVID-19 guidance and blustery winter weather, it certainly has been a back-to-reality week in Western New York. As promised, below is an outline of the Remote Learning Plan our administrative team, led by Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, Mrs. Chrissy Miga, has developed. Short staffing at schools has been in the news all week and, again, our planning is to ensure that we are ready if we need to switch to remote. Whatever duration that may be, we would expect it to be brief.
We also want to let you know we revised a few points regarding Isolation and Quarantine on our website today. Find that at this link. For your reference, here is also a link to the Monroe County Department of Public Health site. We hope the County, as it has promised, will continue to provide more clarity moving forward.
Wishing you a warm and safe weekend.
In partnership,
Aaron R. Johnson, Ed. D
Superintendent of Schools
POTENTIAL REMOTE LEARNING PLAN
As mentioned earlier this week, our administrative team has been making plans in case we may need to do shift to remote instruction. Obviously, we don’t know the potential duration of any shift or which schools/buildings could be impacted. However, we have developed and shared a plan with our staff, which is outlined in general below.
K-6 LEVEL: Students will be provided a daily schedule from their classroom teachers that generally mirrors a student's typical day. Students will still engage in their specials, whether synchronously or asynchronously, at their typically schedule times. At the K-3 level, students will access work through the Seesaw app. At the 4-6 level, students will access work through Schoology. If you need help with either the Seesaw or Schoology learning platforms, please read more on our Tech Department Knowledge Base page or reach out to your teacher ASAP.
7-12 LEVEL: Students will follow their in-person schedule in a remote/virtual learning environment. They will meet with teachers via Microsoft “Teams” and access coursework through Schoology (or other specified platform for specialized courses). To learn more about Teams, click here and use the “Teams” drop-down under Microsoft O365.
BALANCE: K-12 instruction will be a mix of synchronous instruction via Microsoft Teams and asynchronous work as developmentally appropriate. This means we are taking into consideration tolerance and ability of electronics across K-12, just as we did with previous hybrid learning.
RELATED SERVICES: If your child receives services from a Related Service Provider (like counseling, speech, OT/PT, intervention), services will be provided virtually as practicable.
ATTENDANCE: It will be taken each day for K-6 students and each period for 7-12 students, just as it is during in-person instruction.
EXAMPLES: Synchronous/Asynchronous Instruction that teachers could employ during their scheduled classes could include but are not limited to:
- Whole group check-in on Microsoft Teams; smaller instructional groups participate in direct instruction for remainder of period. When students aren’t participating in the lesson real-time, they are working independently. Return to the Teams meeting for a whole group closure.
- Whole group check-in on Microsoft Teams; students are then released to independent work for the remainder of class period.
- Whole group check-in on Microsoft Teams; whole class lesson engages all students for the entire class period.
- Individualized group check-ins previously communicated to students; asynchronous work assigned as needed. Whole group or individual group closure.
- No whole group check-in; small group work utilized throughout the period through assigned student times.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Email: public_info@westiron.monroe.edu
Website: westirondequoit.org
Location: 321 List Avenue, Irondequoit, NY, USA
Phone: 585-342-5500
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WestIrondequoitCSD
Twitter: @WestIrondequoit