I hope you and your family are staying well. Things are changing so fast that as you try to plan for one thing, it’s changed again. At Our Lady of Victory and JFK, we’ve been doing the same: planning for the immediate changes while also keeping in the back of our minds what some of the next issues might be. As a school, we are currently closed through April 12th and reopening on April 13th. That may change.
Last weekend, our conversation was focused on cleaning/disinfecting, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper. (And, that was before the run on toiler paper began!) What was our stock? What is our daily usage? What is happening along our supply chain? One question at that time was if schools were still open, how long could JFK itself stay open if these supplies begin to run out? That question changed dramatically on Sunday when Governor Reynolds recommended schools close until at least April 13th. Since then, it’s been 24/7, what do we do during this interim closure while also keeping in the back of our minds that a closure could be longer. While we don’t have answers to every question and scenario yet, the following are some of the things that we’ve been working on. Some of the below is repeated from email messages sent earlier this week.
Changes to the School Calendar
While the governor and legislators are allowing schools to not make up lost instructional time, we recognize that the value of classroom education trumps all other means of instructional delivery. Our current plan is to, therefore, make up six days. We will return to classes on Monday, April 13th, which had previously been a day off for Easter Monday, AND we will extend our school year by one week to June 12th. The Davenport Community School District is also planning on returning to classes on April 13th so there will be bus transportation. Unless the DCSD also extends the school year, however, there is no bus transportation for JFK students on June 8 – 12. While we understand the challenges that many families will face without a week of busing, we believe that the value of classroom instruction at JFK provides a greater good during these times.
To give us greater flexibility with the use of time when we do return to classes this spring, the federal government has waived federal testing requirements, and we will will pick up instructional time that way.
I don’t know if we can go much longer into the summer. There is some discussion in education circles to ask the governor and legislators to allow an earlier start date than August 23rd. The state fair has been sacred in Iowa, but these are extraordinary times. We used to start classes several days before August 23rd, and a few days earlier is probably about as far as we can go. Air conditioning in the entire building would give us much more flexibility!
You may also be noticing that the parish and school calendars are “shrinking” as events are cancelled and removed from the calendar or marked as cancelled.
Educational Activities and Engagement During the Next Three Weeks
Some of the next big questions were how do we keep connecting with students and families over the next three weeks and how do we continue to provide guided educational activities that can be done by students. Every “educational” business is pushing their products at this time. (My email in-box is overflowing with offers at this time!) Many of them have great benefits for students, and many of them can still be used at any time of the year as supplements to schools. But how do we guide students and families through the smorgasbord and provide some focus to what JFK students need?
Beginning on Monday (technically after spring break), teachers will be identifying and sharing with families educational activities that can be done at home by students of each grade level and within each subject area. We will have a template that will list goals and the options for religion, English/language arts (which includes reading), math, science, and social studies. Art, music/band, and physical education will have activities by grade strand: K-2, 3-5, 6-8. These activities will include online components and links to educational resources, project-based learning or hands-on activities, and other activities intended to keep students learning. The template will also be organized with suggestions for five days during each week of our closure.
These activities will assembled in a .pdf format and emailed to families and posted on teachers’ pages of our website, www.olvjfk.com. (Click on “contact us” and scroll down the pages.) Please do not expect this information until at least late Monday or even Tuesday. Although many teachers have begun to do this work during the spring break, it does take time to prepare.
These activities are not required to be done by students, and students do not need to do every option listed, but we believe the activities will allow students to continue to be engaged in learning during the upcoming school closure. As the template is being prepared, I have viewed it on both my laptop and cell phone, and it seems to look good on both. In fact, the .pdf file was looking better on my cell phone! If, after receiving the information, you believe that your child absolutely needs a hard copy and you cannot print it yourself, please contact the school office so arrangements can be made for pick up. Otherwise, we are attempting to avoid additional person-to-person contact and many different people coming to the school. (We are also keeping in the back of our mind that we may be facing a “shelter in place” order like some states, including IL.) The best way to contact someone in the office is via email: angie.hillebrand@olvjfkmail.com and emily.sanderson@olvjfkmail.com.
Without question, any form of remote learning greatly benefits from digital tools, and equitable access becomes an issue. Even as I’m preparing this Principal’s Post, I’ve experienced my own “spotty” internet connection at times and have cried out in frustration, “Now is not the time!” I have to remind myself that if I’m having these issues, so are teachers, students, and families. We will have some options that do not require online access more than looking at the .pdf file.
We are currently (as in over the weekend) trying to configure our Chromebooks so they can be used outside the school, if you believe it is absolutely necessary to use a school device. The diocese requires that internet access be filtered for inappropriate content when using school machines regardless of whether the machines are used inside our building or outside the school building. Our filtering is currently done only through the school’s network, and we’re seeing what we can do to change that at an affordable cost. We’ll have to inform you later if we’ve developed a solution.
We have also been looking at how we can continue to connect with students and families during our closure. We have the option to give email access to students in the 3rd through 8th grades. We will turn on email for student use, and more information on how students can access it will be available from teachers next week. While we can access students’ accounts, we do not have real time monitoring software in place. If you do not want the account turned on for your students’ use, please let us know. Whether or not we continue to have them turned on once regular classes resume has yet to be determined.
We have also been determining what other platform we can use (and train staff on!) for remote meetings, including being able to have optional remote meetings with students. We have settled on Zoom and will be rolling that out to staff on Monday, and they will be sharing details on how that can be accessed by students. Please remember that staff members are learning as fast as they can too, and there will be hiccups along the way. I was experimenting with my wife in one room and me in another room the other day. We could not get the audio to work through the computers and our connection. It was only after about 30 minutes of frustration that we realized that the sound was turned off on one of our computers! Staff may also be able to record meetings or just themselves with a message and post them, but doing these types of things at a business/school level is different than taking a video on a personal cell phone and posting it to a personal Snapchat. To do it easily at a business/school level often costs money and requires more time to set up than less than the week we’ve had.
Deserving of Special Recognition: Dianne Siefers
We could not do any of this work at school, and some of the things at the parish level as well, without our amazing technology coordinator, Dianne Siefers. She exemplifies all that is embodied in our slogan, “There is a difference in education.” She is more than deserving of her own heading in the Principal’s Post!
Tuition Payments this Year and Registration for Next Year
We understand everyone’s financial concerns during a time of so much turmoil. We have our own as a church and school. We also have about 70 full-time and part-time employees about whom we are concerned. Parish and school leadership members are continually assessing our situations.
Fr. Jake is working on more communication regarding this year’s tuition payments. Flexibility in payments will be a key component.
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.
ECLC and Child Care
There are many behind-the-scenes discussions going on regarding child care, particularly focused on child care for those children whose parents are in “critical roles” that were identified by the State of Iowa and contained in an email to you earlier this week. I provided information to the State again this morning, and things may change in this area as well as we go farther.
JFK’s ECLC is currently closed for three weeks. By making up one week of school in June, there is a difference of two weeks. We will not be charging for two weeks, and we will be refunding the amount for those who have already paid or are doing monthly ACH payments.
We also closed ECLC four days this past week. We will only charge $40 for the week, regardless of parishioner or non-parishioner status. Again, we will refund the difference for those who have already paid or are doing monthly ACH payments.
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.
- DLC/Keystone, located at 1002 W Kimberly Road
- 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 must be present to receive the free meal. A sack lunch and breakfast for the following morning will be handed out on Monday through Friday.
Cultivating Our Future Capital Campaign
While we, of course, are still accepting donations and pledges to the Cultivating Our Future capital campaign, and it is going remarkably well, it is on the “backburner.” In other words, it is not receiving the public attention that one would normally expect of a capital campaign. There are more important immediate concerns. Any HVAC project we’d like to do this summer may be delayed.
OLV parish bulletin: Click HERE or use the following link/url: https://www.olvjfk.com/olv/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/1032800016A-032220.pdf
Once again, please remember that this information is relevant for where we are at right now. As things change, I will continue to share as best as I can.
Stay well! Our Lady of Victory,…pray for us.
Chad
