Superintendent's Scoop
August 2020
Dear Parents/Guardians:
1. all students in grades K-12th grade are encouraged to have an electronic device at home to access and complete school work. Kindergarten-2nd grade students, with parent permission, will receive a Kindle Fire. Third-twelfth grade students will have the option of checking out a school-issued Chromebook. If your family has a device that your child may use at home and take back and forth to school (hybrid students), a school-issued device is not required.
HLCS has applied for a $116,000 federal grant to purchase 300 Chromebooks with the intention of providing each child in our district a school-issue device. However, with the demand from schools for devices, our shipment of new devices is not anticipated until mid-October. Students who use home devices to begin the year will have the option to receive a new, school-issued Chromebook when the shipment arrives. By the end of this calendar year, HLCS will be a 1-to-1 school district!
2. Charter Spectrum offers discounted Internet service to all families with students enrolled in Houghton Lake Community Schools. To learn more about the this option, contact Charter Spectrum at 1-855-243-8892 and ask for the Charter Spectrum Assist program.
3. families without stable Internet access may request paper/pencil copies of the work students need to do at home. Parents/guardians should contact their child's teacher to make this request.
4. HLCS will use part of the grant money above to purchase a limited amount of hotspots to distribute to families who do not currently have Internet service and who qualify for assistance. The hotspots will provide Internet service, on a limited basis, for students to complete digital work. However, hotspots do not work in areas that do not have cell phone access. Lack of Internet access is a struggle for all rural schools in Northern Michigan. While the hotspots are in the works, the demand for hotspots is extremely high. We do not have an estimated timeline for shipment. If you are a family that qualifies for assistance and are interested in being considered for a hotspot, please fill out the Hotspot Request link below.
We are so excited to get our school year fully underway! Please contact your child(ren)'s teacher and/or building administrators with any questions you might have. Every question improves the programming of HLCS and strengthens our home-school partnership!
Sincerely,
Julie A. Brown
Superintendent
Accelerate Parent Demo!
Email: testoberv@geneseeisd.org
Password: welcome20
Family Training for Remote Learning
Collins Elementary teachers and administrative team will host a family training that is geared to help parents and students be ready when classes move to this platform! Training dates:
Please access this Zoom training link to participate:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83637343584?pwd=cjQ0NzRiMjVpbzBGVjNyVy9NdUxGUT09)
Training will be recorded and shared for those who are not able to attend the training. All families, kindergarten -12th grade, are invited to attend!
Thursday, Aug 20, 2020, 06:00 PM
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RSVPs are enabled for this event.
Family Training for Remote Learning
Collins Elementary teachers and administrators will host a family training that is geared to help parents and students be ready when classes move to this platform (this is a repeat for the Thursday evening training)! Training dates:
Please access this Zoom training link to participate:
Training will be recorded and shared for those who are not able to attend the training. All families, kindergarten -12th grade, are invited to attend!
Friday, Aug 21, 2020, 09:30 AM
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RSVPs are enabled for this event.
Stay Healthy and Safe at Home!
Take a video applying the practice and post it to the HL Bobcat Facebook Page!