Weekly Communique
October 9, 2020
Message from Dr. Pacatte
Returning to In-Person Instruction
Early next week D56 families will receive a copy of the plan to return students to school, in what is referred to as a ‘Hybrid’ format. Basically that means schools are servicing students at home and in school. Due to the remaining social distancing guidelines, we are still not in a position to resume school as normal. The plan you will receive is lengthy and will require you to read it in full in order to make a solid decision for your family. Along with the plan will be a link for you to, once again, select In-Person or Remote and Bus or no Bus. This time the form is mandatory for all families to complete. We are going to treat this form like we do registration and require completion. Which means we will be calling to get the information if you do not complete the form. The timeline for completing the form and the link to the form will be sent home along with the plan. The plan will be sent via email. We will send out a text message to alert you to go into your email of record for all of this information.
Here are 5 critical pieces of information to keep in mind:
- This plan will only be used when the metrics for our community allows. If we wanted to start today we could not as we are just coming out of a week where our Incident rate was well above the allowable rate.
- There is no perfect plan that will make everyone happy. We are doing our best to offer something that will help families who wish to stay in Remote and families who wish to return to In Person instruction.
- The In Person program will be very similar to the Remote program you have been in for the first quarter. Teachers will not be pulling students to a small group table, they will not be on the floor with kids counting blocks - they will be conducting remote learning for kids in and out of the classroom. It is essentially a change of location. It meets existing guidelines for schools.
- While we will make safety for everyone our number one priority, there is no way to know the safety practices of all families and employees. We all know the safest option is to stay in our homes. Unfortunately, remote learning doesn’t work for all students. It was intended for a few weather closures here and there, not a months long substitution. Even so, if it is working for your children, please consider remaining in remote learning and staying home.
- The Lake County Health Department has indicated that while schools are bringing students back we must be prepared to pivot quickly back into remote. This is their ongoing guidance and I do not anticipate it to change any time before the the next school year.
District 56 will be one of approximately 17 Lake County school districts bringing some students back into their buildings. Most have scheduled to start some time this month. We are sharing and learning from one another’s experience, which is very helpful. While each community has their own challenges and metrics to respond to, we are all in this together.
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Mrs. Carnduff's Questers!
Viking Running Club
Coach Graham and Coach Szostack are so excited to announce that the first ever Viking Running Club is up and "running"! We are enjoying every one of our forty-four students from Viking and River Trail (6-8th grade) who have joined in the fun. We meet at Viking Middle School, Prairie Trail School, and Wadsworth Park. We also have a wonderful virtual group. "Running is not about how far you go, but how far you have come!" -Bart Yasso