Reverse Teacher Parade
Don’t forget the “reverse teacher parade” today with staggered times beginning at 11:00 a.m. Here are the guidelines again: Parent Parade Letter, 4-9-2020 . I saw something similar on the news last night, and participants were not following the governor’s orders. We can do better.
No one is allowed to be outside of their cars, and all convertibles, hatches, sunroofs, and even windows must be closed throughout the entire route.
Governor Reynolds’ Next Announcement by the End of the Week
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has repeatedly said that she will give us at least two weeks notice regarding the next step for schools. That timeframe will put us at sometime between Wednesday and Friday. Lately, her news conferences have been at 11:00 a.m. They are live on Facebook and YouTube. I’ve also found it on Mediacom cable at 6.3.
Right now, all the momentum from the Department of Education down to the smallest of schools is for the closure to continue. It, honestly, would be hard to switch the momentum to be open again on May 1st. Before spring break, I had mentioned that we were trying to figure out how to keep our supplies of toilet paper and hand sanitizer to continue in sufficient quantities to keep school open. I can’t imagine switching to finding masks for 500 people each day, if masks were to be required. If I were a betting man, I would say that the closure will continue. We’ll see what the governor says this coming week.
Closing the Books on the Third Quarter
We can’t keep putting off the end of the third quarter. Final third quarter grades should be entered early this coming week by teachers, and we’ll try to get the report cards finalized and emailed by the end of the week.
Transitioning to Instructed, Required and Assessed
Last weekend, I previewed that we would be starting the transition from remote learning that has been “guided, supplemental and optional” to “instructed, required and assessed.” By the time the transition is complete, there will be an instructional piece, expected student work, and feedback from teachers for each of the absolutely essential standards students need before the next grade. This process begins the week of April 13th with the exception of preschool, which will remain at the voluntary level for however long the closure lasts.
Sixth through 8th grade students will move to “instructed, required and assessed” on Monday through the use of Google Classroom, with which the students and staff are already familiar. Changes to the Zoom meetings for students and the addition of a Zoom meeting just for parents was emailed to families on Friday. The Zoom meetings themselves are optional for both students and parents so don’t panic if attendance is not possible. The “instructed” part of “instructed, required and assessed” does not mean the instruction has to be live, and instruction will look entirely different than the teacher in front of the classroom model that we all envision in education. Zoom meetings are to connect with students, answer questions and allow students to connect with each other as well. The Zoom meetings are not where the “instruction” part takes place. The emailed information can also be found by clicking on your child’s teacher’s name on the front page of our website, www.olvjfk.com. Hopefully, before the week of April 20th, we will have a weekly calendar or spreadsheet that students and parents of all PS-8th graders can access to see a schedule of all of the Zoom meetings.
Preschool through 5th grade are transitioning to a content delivery system called Seesaw. Kindergarten and 5th grade are piloting it for us this coming week so kindergarten and 5th grade will be “instructed, required and assessed” beginning April 13th as well. Information for kindergarten and 5th grade is also being emailed to families and will be posted on the kindergarten and teachers’ pages on our website. Feedback from parents and these teachers will be used to guide us for the remaining grades.
Preschool and 1st through 4th grades will use the .pdf templates available via email and posted on teachers’ webpages for one more week. Then, they will switch to Seesaw for the week of April 20th as well. During the week of April 13th, preschool and 1st -4th grade teachers will be narrowing down the work to the required essentials but will not have the systems in place yet for students to submit work on a large scale or to efficiently offer feedback. That will start the week of April 20th.
Specials (art, music, band, P.E., and social-emotional learning) information is available by clicking on the teachers’ names on our website, www.olvjfk.com.
“Grading” for the 4th quarter and each activity will switch to a Pass/Incomplete basis. Pass indicates that the work has been completed at an acceptable level of mastery. Incomplete indicates that the work illustrates an incomplete mastery yet. Emphasis is on progress towards achieving the identified student learning goals. We do not want to use even a P/F marking system as we are truly in uncharted waters. Specials teachers will use a P/blank system. We will have required daily religion activities for students (Lord knows we need them!), but there will not be anything that students are required to submit back to teachers. Religion, therefore, will be blank on the 4th quarter report card.
In addition to the minimum required activities, teachers will try to provide appropriate extensions for students to do more work and/or work of differing degrees of difficulty as well.
Together, we can make sure that students do not lose 25%-30% of a school year. We can do this!
Third Round of Chromebook Pick Up
Thanks to our previous two rounds of Chromebook pick up, the technology access survey parents completed, and conversations with families, we are currently down to about 20 PS-8th grade students from 14 families that really have internet or technology device issues. Even after working to find solutions for these families, we will still have about 60 Chromebooks left at JFK. They will not do anyone any good sitting at school. We will, therefore, have a third round of Chromebook pick up. If you believe it is necessary for there to be a/another JFK device at your PS-8th grade home, please come to pick one up on Tuesday between 7:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. or Thursday between 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. All of the social distancing precautions that we used during the bag pick up last week will be in place. Preschool families who have not yet picked up their personal belongings may also pick them up during these times.
Donations, Tithing, Tuition Payments and Registration for Next Year
Just like your family, OLV and JFK are making sure that we have our financial house in order. We, too, are working with all of the recent government legislation and funding to see how it might help us through these uncertain times.
That said, both the school and the church are still dependent upon your regular contributions and payments. Donation buttons are also located on the front page of both the school (green) and parish (blue) sides of our website. Tuition payments can also be made via debit/credit card over the phone. Emily Sanderson will be in the school office on Tuesday and Thursday of this week.
Tuition payments for this school year: Fr. Jake and Finance Council approved the following statements regarding flexibility for tuition payments. They want to work with people even if it goes well into or through next school year too.
“From March 30th, 2020 through August 31, 2021, the Finance Council gives the Pastor authority to negotiate with families on how to pay their tuition payments.
All families who request a school contract for the 2020-2021 school year will not be denied a contract based upon how much tuition they owe the parish.
Any questions or concerns about tuition payments or contracts can be directed to Fr. Jake Greiner, greinerj@diodav.org or by calling 563-391-4245.”
Tuition Contracts for Next Year: We still want to continue the registration process for next school year. Returned tuition contracts helps us plan for next year as well. Please return your tuition contract as soon as you can, even without paying the registration fee now. That can be paid later, if necessary. At the present time, we are extending the discounted registration fee (discounted to $100) until June 1st. If you need another copy of your tuition contract, please contact Emily Sanderson at emily.sanderson@olvjfkmail.com.
School Meals
Recognizing the need that some families have for meals, ANY child between the ages of 1-18 years old may receive a lunch and breakfast at no cost at one of the following locations beginning on Monday, March 23, 2020, between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. It is not a requirement that the child currently be receiving a free/reduced price lunch; it is available to any child.
- Achievement Service Center, located at 1702 N. Main Street
- Note: this site replaces DLC/Keystone
- Davenport Sudlow, located at 1414 East Locust Street
- Davenport Williams, located at 3040 North Division
- Davenport Frank L. Smart, located at 1934 West 5th Street
- Davenport Wood, located at 5701 North Division, Davenport
The child no longer has to be present to receive the free meal. A sack lunch and breakfast for the following morning will be handed out on Monday through Friday.
Please open the trunk of your car or leave a seat open where staff can place the food. This step will help reduce contact and practice a higher level of social distancing.
OLV parish bulletin: Click HERE or use the following link/url: https://www.olvjfk.com/olv/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/April-12-2020.pdf
Stay well! Our Lady of Victory,…pray for us.
Chad
