FPHS Parent and Student Memo
May 18, 2020
Franklin Pierce High School
Dear Parents and Students,
Please, take the time to read through this memo carefully as we are trying to provide as much information each week as we can via this memo.
In this week's memo:
- Reminders from OSPI and FP Schools regarding grading.
- How to purchase Yearbooks!
- Results from the Parent Feedback survey.
- AP Testing.
- Student and Family Resources
- Senior/Graduation Information
- Prom!
- Summer School
- HW Center: new access method and code in the "Resources" section.
On-going reminders:
- State guidelines recommend that high school students should be spending a maximum of 3 hours per day (or 30 min per class per day) on continuous learning.
- Teachers are hosting classes and office hours during the times listed below. Students should remain closely connected with their teachers to receive instruction, enrichment, and guidelines for improving grades.
- Our Homework Center is open daily from 11am to 12pm for live, remote tutoring from our Academic Support Team. See the link in the Resources section below.
- Communication is key: please reach out to your teachers, advisors, and counselors to address any needs regarding academics, resources, or technology.
As always, stay tuned for more information. We wish you all the very best. Stay safe and be well! We're all in this together!
Reminder: No school this Friday or next Monday for Memorial Day!
Parent Survey: Thank you for sharing your feedback!
Parents,
Thank you for taking the time last week to share your feedback and help us better understand how things are going on the home front and how we might support your child more. I've posted a snapshot of the responses in the charts below. I've shared your feedback with our teachers to help them better serve our students.
Some key take-aways for us based on the anecdotal feedback you provided were:
- Our teachers will be more clear about expectations during class time. This time is used as a blend of instructional time, academic support, and office hours.
- If you are have technological issues, please contact your teachers or the IT Help Desk right away. We want to help.
- Our teachers will communicate assignment expectations to students and parents to keep parents better informed.
- There was a wide range of requests from parents from "more work to better prepare my child for next year" to "no more work, please, we're overwhelmed." We will do our best to accommodate both scenarios and everything in between. Our teachers will assign work they feel will prepare students for success next year, but we want our students and families to be able to be selective in what they can handle. The first priority is to make sure students are passing all classes in order to earn their required credits toward graduation. All work completion beyond that is going to depend upon the individual student and family's situation at home. If there is additional support we can provide, please let us know.
Data from questions 1 and 2 are below:
FPHS 2020 Prom!
Have you thought about what your prom might look like this year? Worried we couldn't pull one together for you? Well, have no fear we are going to make it happen! It may look different and you will need a positive attitude and an open mind to make it the best ever, but you will be making history! Hope you drove by the school on Wednesday last week to pick up your PROM BAG with details and props for the Great Gatsby Masquerade, but if you did not please check out the PROM WEBSITE for all the specifics!!!
Quiz: Can you spot the FPHS teacher in the prom photo above?
AP Testing Reminders
- Testing begins Monday, May 11th. Be sure to verify your testing date and time by logging into your College Board account.
- What Students Need on Exam Days – This webpage includes a great summary of all the things students should be considering for exam day, including some helpful guides, reference sheets and printouts that students can use to support their preparation.
- Exam Day Experience –This link has a great YouTube video that gives a 4-minute walkthrough of what students will need to do on exam day.
- AP Exam Demo – AP Exam demo is officially live. Anyone is welcome to test the experience and practice with their submissions
For any questions or concerns, please reach out to Mrs. Rosario at lplaskett@fpschools.org
Additional Info to Support AP Exams:
- AP 2020 Trouble Shooting Tips (Highly recommend that you share this with your students) - Outdated browsers can cause testing errors. This link provides some great troubleshooting tips and actions students can take.
- Accessing E-Tickets - Students should access their e-ticket through the email that was sent to them. If your student is accessing their e-ticket from their MyAP account, I recommend that they do this the night before and save their e-ticket. In the event they have trouble accessing their ticket through MyAP, refreshing the home page will help.
- Submitting Responses/How do I know if I’ve successfully submitted a response?
- When a student finishes the exam and their submission has been received, they will see a screen that says “Congratulations, Your Exam is Complete.”
- When a student finishes the exam, but their submission has not been properly uploaded, they'll see a message that says, “We Did Not Receive Your Responses (s).” In this case, students can request a makeup at cb.org/requestmakeup.
- In a limited number of cases, a student's response may be successfully uploaded, but their file can’t be accepted for scoring (for example, due to a virus). When this happens, the student will receive an email from us letting them know about the issue, and that they'll automatically receive an e-ticket for the makeup exam.
- Can students submit a PDF of their handwritten work? Yes, so long as they combine all photos of their handwritten response into a single PDF for that question.
Important: Once photos of their handwritten work are saved as a PDF, they are no longer considered photos by the system, but documents: PDFs are document files, not image files. So when the timer reaches 5 minutes remaining, the student must click the “Attach Response” button within the exam and then select “Attach Text File” to locate their saved PDF, rather than the “Attach Photos” button.
- Can student submit an HEIC file of a photo of their handwritten work? Recent iPhones and iPads save photos as HEIC files. HEIC photo files can’t be submitted “as is” in the online exam. They must be converted to an accepted file format. Here are two ways students can do that:
- Update their Apple device settings before the exam so that their photos will be saved as .jpeg files: Settings > Camera > Formats > Select “Most Compatible” OR
- Resave the HEIC file as an accepted file format: the easiest way to convert an HEIC file is for students to email it to themselves using the iPhone or iPad Mail app. The attached image will automatically be converted to a JPEG.
For this week:
- Check your school email daily. Email your teachers with questions.
- Check Teacher Ease for missing assignments and get those assignments turned in to your teacher. You must be passing your classes in order to earn credit.
- Make up any missing or late assignments for Advisory (portfolios).
- Check Canvas for class materials and resources.
- Work on the assignments provided by your teachers in Canvas.
- Attend your Canvas classes according to the schedule above.
Priorities for Parents:
- Check your email daily. Email teachers or staff with questions.
- Monitor your child's grade and progress via Teacher Ease.
- Designate specific blocks of time each day for your child to work on missing work and assignments.
- Your child should spend additional time reading for at least 30 minutes daily.
- Your child should be getting some exercise and physical activity each day.
- Your child's "screen time" should be limited each day. The American Heart Association recommends a maximum of 2 hours per day.
- Your child should still be getting about 9 hours of sleep per night in order to perform at his or her best.
- Your child should be learning new things each day: new cooking recipes, chess, backgammon, how to balance a checkbook, follow the stock market, listen to a podcast on real estate investment, learn how to change the oil in a car, learn the history of [fill in the blank], take a virtual museum tour, write a letter to a local legislator, research your family tree, plan a vacation, etc. The list is only limited by your imagination and your child's interests.
- Make sure your child is attending his or her online classes according to the schedule above.
Guidance from OSPI and FPS about Grading and Learning:
As the impacts of the virus have unfolded, OSPI continues to provide guidance to school districts and policymakers. Their work has been grounded in three core principles: compassion, communication, and common sense. OSPI has focused schools across Washington on continuous learning with a deep understanding that distance learning models often exacerbate existing inequities.
As the learning continues, K–12 system leaders, educators, parents/guardians, and students have asked OSPI to provide more detailed guidance related to student grading policies. This guidance and subsequent rule adoption will focus on the following framework:
Grades 9–12 will be graded using the following principles:
- Do no harm!
- Every student will get an opportunity to improve their grade with their March 17 grade as a baseline.
- No student will receive a “pass, fail or no credit" grade in an academic course, unless directed by an IEP.
- It is important for students to continue to engage in the learning being presented during the closure to reduce learning loss, prepare for the next year, and improve their grades from March 17.
- Every class taken during the closure period will be given a statewide designator on the high school transcript to denote the unique environment in which the course was taken.
- Students assigned an “INCOMPLETE” for a course will not receive credit for the course until a grade is earned and will be given multiple opportunities to reengage in the learning standards in order to earn credit.
2019-2020 Yearbook: You won't want to miss this one!
Yes, Cardinals, there is a 2020 yearbook! And it's epic!
This unpredictable and unusual year has thrown us all for loop, but it is also allowing us to create a unique, one-of-a-kind yearbook that includes plenty of coverage about this historic year: a COVID-19 spread, a national Year-In-Review, and a special senior supplement!
Purchase a yearbook using the link below and treasure positive memories of an unprecedented year in history! The cost of our 2020 Yearbook is $55, plus tax.
Purchase your yearbook HERE: Search for Franklin Pierce HS and follow the directions.
Additional Note from the Yearbook Staff: "The class of 2020 has sacrificed so much already. We are COMMITTED to giving seniors the yearbook they DESERVE to commemorate this year's special memories. Donate a yearbook to a Senior so they remember the last chapter of their high school career in a positive light. Let's make sure our seniors know THEY ARE NOT FORGOTTEN. Visit the same link above. Submit the order under the name of the Senior you want to donate a yearbook to. If someone has already bought your special senior a book, you may note the name as "Donation" or it will be gifted to a senior in need."
Summer School!
Resources
School Resources:
- District Website: https://www.fpschools.org/
- IT Help Desk for Students and Parents: 253-298-4647, 7:30AM to 4PM
- TED Talks: a great place to learn from some of the world's brightest minds on a variety of subjects: https://www.ted.com/talks. Listen to a new one every day!
- Free library card with access to audiobooks: https://www.piercecountylibrary.org/services/library-card/library-card.htm
- FPS Breakfast and Lunch Program: www.fpschools.org/meals
- FPS Education Resources: https://www.fpschools.org/exended-closure-resources-and-information/closure-educational-resources
- FPHS Homework Center: Mon - Fri, 11am to 12pm. Connect with our Academic Support Team for assistance in any class. Go to Microsoft Teams > Join a Team and use the following code: hxv89I5
- AP Testing, SAT, ACT info HERE.
- Resources for Continuous Learning.
- Want to add Canvas to your phone? Android or iOS. Once you download the app, search "fpschools" to find our district.
- FPHS Facebook page.
- Info for Running Start 2020-21.
COVID- 19 Resources:
- District Website: https://www.fpschools.org/
- Gov. Inslee's COVID-19 updates web page: https://www.governor.wa.gov/tags/covid-19-coronavirus
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
Community Resources:
- District resources and partners: https://www.fpschools.org/departments/family-engagement-office/community-resources
- Check with your phone and internet provider: many providers are offering free and/or unlimited data, internet etc. during the Stay Home, Stay Healthy order.
- Financial Resources: https://dfi.wa.gov/coronavirus/financial-resources
Seniors--Class of 2020 Resources:
- Grad pics: Students, we're collecting cap and gown pics for our Virtual Graduation. Please, use the link in the next bullet to submit your pics. We're still hoping to be allowed to host a delayed graduation ceremony in July or August, but, in the meanwhile, we're putting together a virtual graduation in case we don't get permission for a "live" graduation. We need a cap and gown pic from every senior!
We are committed to supporting you through one of the most significant disruptions in the history of public education in America. We recognize that in the midst of a global health crisis, you will miss out on opportunities to fully experience your senior year of high school. The questions found at www.fpschools.org/classof2020 represent some of the questions that we have heard over the past two weeks. While the responses represent our current thinking, it is likely that some of the answers will change in the weeks ahead. Please know that we will do our best to keep you updated of these changes so that you can plan accordingly.