Clarifications on remote learning
Week of March 30th, update as of 6:00pm
Dear Parents and Guardians,
I want to let you know that I realize the letter that I just sent is causing additional questions and has created some concerns. That was not my intent, and I apologize for the lack of clarity.
We met as a staff this morning and determined that a scheduled time for teachers to be accessible to students is imperative to ensure we're able to meet all students' needs. Students will not be expected to be on their iPads all day long. Our teachers are planning lessons and other engagement opportunities that will allow for flexibility, while also understanding the uniqueness of this situation for everyone and wanting to reduce "screen time" and have assignments "off-line."
Also, regarding attendance, we started taking attendance before Spring Break. Attendance is only being taken for the purpose of making sure that we stay connected to all students and families. Please know that this will not be held against any student. We do not want this to add stress or anxiety. The intention is to support students if they are not having opportunities to connect with school staff. We are well aware, of course, that many family variables during Remote Learning impact both attendance and classwork.
Attendance/absences will not be held against students, but rather will be a matter of the school charting daily engagement for purposes of staying connected to students and families. A student who participates in any part of activities in a day of Remote Learning will be counted as attending the full day. A student who does not participate in any activities in a day of Remote Learning will be marked in our system with a neutral designation, which will not be counted against the student’s record. Likewise, we want to make sure students learn well and complete their work, but we also understand the variations in each student’s home learning experience and focus.
For tomorrow, we are going to run the schedule that I laid out in my previous email, and I will be checking in with teachers throughout the day to see how things are going. We know that we will need to be flexible and possibly make changes. Again, I apologize for the lack of clarity in my previous message. Please feel free to share your experiences
I will be sending a follow-up email to you tomorrow evening.
Thank you again, Eric