I'll continue to emphasize that it is our full intention to begin school on August 24th with students in attendance at our brick and mortar buildings. Our Return to Learn plan is in alignment with the governor's Proclamation of Disaster Emergency and provides that 'in person instruction shall be the presumed method of instruction'. But, we need to plan for all types of contingencies. The Board of Directors is planning to meet on August 10th to make a final decision about our opening plans. In the event it becomes necessary to implement our remote learning plan, it is important to point out this decision can only be made in consultation with the Iowa Department of Education and Iowa Department of Public Health (see page 2 of the proclamation).
The question then is, what does it look like? We have spent quite a bit of time studying and debating this issue and I think it is important to clearly articulate the expectations from both an educator and parent perspective to avoid surprises later on down the road. For starters, it will look vastly different from what it looked like this past spring. Our plans from this past spring were implemented quickly without a lot of planning and no training for our faculty and staff. With the benefit of time, planning, and training we are much better prepared to provide a quality educational experience for our students. Be assured if, and only if it becomes necessary to implement our remote learning plan, it will be far superior to the experience of this past spring.
But please do not be confused. Remote learning cannot replace the value of face to face instruction. We will be unable to replicate [remotely] what happens during the school day when all the students are here in our buildings. That is why we are so insistent on face to face instruction with students in attendance on August 24th. Yet, here is what you can expect to see under a remote learning environment at Hudson.
A significant departure from this last spring, you can first expect daily instruction. This will be required learning and student attendance will be recorded in compliance with Iowa's compulsory attendance law. The navy blue highlighted line in this table illustrates how much daily instruction your child will be exposed to in the event we have to implement our remote learning plan. These instructional minutes are based on data gleaned from other states around the nation that have subsequently articulated remote instructional minute guidelines. Please note, Iowa currently has not offered any guidance on this matter. If and when Iowa provides guidance, we will follow that. We have also relied on the feedback you provided in our most recent survey to families to help form our guidelines.
As you can see from the depiction above, opinions are varied when it come to the amount of time parents believe children can concentrate and complete activities. Granted, this graphic is presented in total, for a disaggregated illustration by grade span, please refer to this link. It is interesting to note, there was no clear majority opinion even when considering these options. Nevertheless, this data did help to formulate these guidelines. It is also worth pointing out that if our remote learning plan is activated, all teachers and other employees will still be expected to work regular hours from our physical buildings. We do this so they not only have access to all the curriculum materials and technology needed to provide remote instruction, but so they are readily available to answer your questions, emails, and provide other assistance that you may require in a remote setting.
Voluntary Offsite Learning
Not to be confused with remote learning, voluntary offsite learning is reserved for those parents who choose to participate in learning offsite while onsite regular instruction is occurring inside our brick and mortar buildings. You may choose to make this determination for health reasons or own personal choice. There is no prerequisite for this option. We just ask that you please sign up by August 1st and that you make a commitment for at least a quarter.
Technically a hybrid, this learning model is designed to meet the needs of parents who request offsite learning accommodations for their children the duration of the public health emergency or until they (parents) determine their child can safely return to traditional in-person learning. Under this model of instruction, students will have access to the curriculum material that is being delivered ‘onsite’ and have responsibility for completing coursework. This most closely resembles the type of learning that is employed when a child is ill. The difference here however is that students and parents can expect a daily ‘check in’ period with the teacher(s) where we can provide instruction, answer questions, and take attendance as required under the Compulsory Attendance Law. Please understand, this type of learning is not a replication of regular onsite learning. A sign-up form was sent out yesterday for those interested in this model of instruction. It is included again here for your convenience.
When this model is utilized by families, we are asking they make the commitment for a minimum of one quarter. If you have multiple children in your family, please fill out a form for each child who will be participating in voluntary offsite learning. Please complete by August 1, and don't forget to complete the regular school registration process.
In next week's post, we'll talk about our hybrid model. We'll discuss how it works and under what circumstances it will be deployed.
LMS Software and Hardware
Regardless of whether or not you choose to participate in voluntary offsite learning or if, at some point we need to implement our remote learning plan you can expect an experience as different as night and day from this past spring. In addition to the points already discussed, we are prepared to deploy our entire fleet of computers this year district wide. Device configuration and timing were not friendly this past spring. As we prepare to launch the new school year, all our computers are brand new. Each student grades 3-12 will be issued an iPad with rugged/combo keyboard that will support learning at school and at home. Further, our current inventory suggests we have enough devices to deploy in grades K-2 as well. This was a significant issue for us last spring and a lot of credit needs to be extended to our tech department and all the extra hours they put in to prepare our devices.
We received quite a bit of feedback regarding our communication protocols as well. Teachers were using multiple platforms to communicate, making it difficult as parents to know where to go or where to look for information from you child's teacher. Was it Facebook? Twitter? Email? This year we are streamlining the process as much as we can, while at the same time leveraging our teacher's current skill set. K-2 will use Seesaw, 3-6 Google classroom, 7-12 Canvas.
Where Improvement is Still Needed
Our greatest deficiency right now is the connectivity divide. If it seems like every survey we send out to you asks whether or not you have high speed internet access, we are. In our most recent survey on technology access, 9.29% of households responded that they either did not have internet access or that broadband access is not available at their address. We are working hard to solve that problem, but we'll ask for your continued patience.
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