Elmwood News (4/6/20)
Week of April 6-10
Message from Principal Polomsky
Elmwood Parents & Community~
It's hard to believe we have already been apart for two weeks, and that we have finished two weeks of e-Learning. I know I have said it before, but I am still truly amazed and inspired by our Elmwood staff members. Their collaboration and dedication to students has been top notch, and I am more proud each and every day of our staff. I also continue to be amazed and inspired by YOU...Our Elmwood parents and community. We know that you are working hard at home, supporting your children with their learning and also trying to balance your own work among many other things. It is not easy, we applaud you, we are here for you.
As a reminder, this upcoming week is Spring Break! This means that there won't be any e-Learning sent out as we are asking students and teachers to 'unplug.' We encourage you to do the same when possible and enjoy this time with your family!
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.
My direct email is: lpolomsky@naperville203.org should you have any questions.
Stay Well,
Lisa
Peek at the Week (Remote Learning Style)
Spring Break~ (March 30-April 1, 2020). We are asking all staff and students to take a break from e-Learning to enjoy time with family and relax.
Monday, April 6th- No e-Learning (Teacher Plan Day- see below)
Tuesday, April 7th- -Remote Learning starts today!
Wednesday, April 8th- Remote Learning continues
Thursday, April 9th- Remote Learning continues
Friday, April 10th ~ No School
April 6, 2020 Professional Development Day
April 6, 2020 will be a professional development day for our staff. Students will not be participating in Remote Learning on this day. It is important that our staff has time to continue to plan and collaborate in preparation for what comes next for our students. At this time, Tuesday, April 7, 2020 will be our first day of Remote Learning and school is tentatively set to resume on Wednesday, April 8, 2020.
K-8 Google Hangouts
This was recently activated to support e-Learning for grades K-8. During spring break this application will be deactivated for grades K-8 since e-Learning will not be in session.
Meal Assistance
The meal pick-up day for spring break will be Monday March 30th from 11:00 - 12:00 (pick up five days worth of meals). More information can be found here.
Summer School Payment
Even with the uncertainty that the next few weeks brings, we still plan to move forward with our plans for Summer Learning 2020. If circumstances change and we need to re-evaluate our summer offerings, we will communicate those changes in an expedited manner. As of now, registration continues to be open both online and through paper registrations. Paper registrations can be dropped off at the District 203 offices, 203 W. Hillside. Although the building is temporarily closed, there is a mail slot through which registrations can be dropped. Summer learning staff will pick up the registrations on a regular basis. Online registration can be accessed at, https://www.naperville203.org/domain/1054. High school students who wish to be added to a waitlist for Online US History, Online American Government, Online Consumer Economics, or Driver Education can email the high school directors, Heather Schild, hschild@naperville203.org, or Tom Gebbie, tgebbie@naperville203.org.
CONTINUING EDUCATION RESOURCES
The Illinois State Board of Education curated the following free resources to assist districts, teachers, and parents during this unprecedented time. The intent is to provide free or temporarily free learning resources for teachers and parents to support student learning while Illinois’ schools are closed. ISBE is currently aware of the following program offering free internet access to Illinois families to support learning during the school closures.
- AT&T
- AT&T is expanding “Access from AT&T,” our low-cost home internet offering to qualifying households AT&T will continue to offer internet access for qualifying limited income households at $10 a month through our Access from AT&T program.
- They’ve expanded eligibility to Access from AT&T to households participating in the National School Lunch Program and Head Start.
- Additionally, they are offering new Access from AT&T customers two months of free service.
- All AT&T consumer home internet wireline customers can use unlimited internet data.
- AT&T is redirecting more resources to provide communication services and tools for first responders, health care professionals, educators and other essential customers. This additional support will help ensure these customers can continue providing critical support to the country and their communities, particularly to first responders using the FirstNet network.
- Spectrum Free Broadband: Spectrum is offering free internet to students in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Starting March 16, 2020 the company will offer free broadband and Wi-Fi access for 60 days to households with K-12 or college students who do not already have a Spectrum broadband subscription. Installation fees will be waived for new student households. To enroll, call 1-844-488-8395.
- Comcast is taking steps to implement the following new policies for the next 60 days, and other important initiatives:
- Comcast has opened their Home Hotspot network for all non-Comcast customers. If you rent router/WiFi equipment from Comcast, you can enable it to help out those around you in this unprecedented time of need. Comcast promotes it as secure and will not impact your own network experience. Plus, they have removed any network caps for the next two months. Considering all Illinois schools will be closing for the next few weeks, sharing your resources with your neighbors could help students out (regardless if they are our specific students). Please consider turning this option on at the following: https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/disable-xfinity-wifi-home-hotspot
- Xfinity WiFi Free For Everyone: Xfinity WiFi hotspots across the country will be available to anyone who needs them for free – including non-Xfinity Internet subscribers. For a map of Xfinity WiFi hotspots, visit www.xfinity.com/wifi. Once at a hotspot, consumers should select the “xfinitywifi” network name in the list of available hotspots, and then launch a browser.
- Pausing Our Data Plan: With so many people working and educating from home, we want our customers to access the internet without thinking about data plans. While the vast majority of our customers do not come close to using 1TB of data in a month, we are pausing our data plans for 60 days giving all customers Unlimited data for no additional charge.
- No Disconnects or Late Fees: We will not disconnect a customer’s internet service or assess late fees if they contact us and let us know that they can’t pay their bills during this period. Our care teams will be available to offer flexible payment options and can help find other solutions.
- News, Information and Educational Content on X1 and Flex: For those with school-age students at home, we’ve created new educational collections for all grade levels in partnership with Common Sense Media. Just say “education” into your X1 or Flex voice remote. To help keep customers informed, we also have created a collection of the most current news and information on Coronavirus. Just say “Coronavirus” into your X1 or Flex voice remote.
- 24x7 Network Monitoring: Underpinning all of these efforts, Comcast’s technology and engineering teams will continue to work tirelessly to support our network operations. We engineer our network capacity to handle spikes and shifts in usage patterns, and continuously test, monitor and enhance our systems and network to ensure they are ready to support customer usage. Our engineers and technicians staff our network operations centers 24/7 to ensure network performance and reliability. We are monitoring network usage and watching the load on the network both nationally and locally, and to date it is performing well.
- Mediacom - In response to the covid-19 virus, Mediacom's "Connect2Compete" plan is free for 60 days and they're increasing speeds. This is available to families with students on free/reduced lunch. Regular price is $10/month and there's no installation fee. Website is https://mediacomc2c.com/ or 1-855-904-2225 to sign up.
Should you have additional questions or concerns, please contact us at COVID19@isbe.net. Thank you for the work you do each and every day in keeping our children safe, healthy, and supported inside and outside of school.
Elmwood Elementary School
Email: lpolomsky@naperville203.org
Website: https://www.naperville203.org/elmwood
Location: 1024 Magnolia Ln, Naperville, IL 60540
Phone: 630-420-6341
Twitter: @Elmwood_Eagles