Thanks, Liz Andersen, for this share! Love it!
THANK YOU to all the certified staff joining for the Remote Teaching Institute tomorrow! This is going to be a great opportunity to dig in on strategies for remote teaching and learning!!!
and
Kudos to Michele Burgess, Paula Kvacik, and Sue Pinkawa for being SUPERWOMEN last week in collecting and organizing all the family choice data. You are rock stars and I love you more than words!
and
Thanks to everyone who made the 8th grade diploma/picnic happen. Amazing as always! Our kids are so lucky to have you in their corner!
Thanks especially to Jill Becmer for being the ultimate party planner!
-From Heather
FALL PLANNING UPDATE
Nearly 2 weeks ago, our Board approved our Blended Learning model, with full remote as a family choice option. We have all spent countless hours over the past two weeks trying to navigate the logistics and scheduling in order to meet as many scheduling needs for our students and families as possible, especially for students who are entitled as IEP, 504, or EL.
The Illinois State Board of Education is pushing us to get kids in school, and also offered updated guidance on planning for Learning in the Fall (actual document linked here and my "big picture notes" shared here). And trust me, we want nothing more than to have all of our kids back on site as soon as possible...as soon as SAFELY possible.
However, the guidelines from ISBE, the CDC, and the Illinois Department of Public Health continue to be adjusted with shifting clarification. Many of the requirements they are putting forth are making it increasingly difficult for us to get students and staff back on campus. Here is a short summary of a few of the roadblocks we are trying to navigate at this time:
1. Quarantine guidelines are going to cause significant disruption daily. We have yet to receive an official “decision tree” guidance from Lake County Health Department in regards to who/when to quarantine. Since their information from the CDC continues to be adjusted, they have also had to adjust their guidance documents for us. I was told on Friday to anticipate this information sometime this week. Some notes on this topic:
*In local summer school examples (including ours!) schools were dealing with quarantine issues on a daily basis among staff and students. This was just with small numbers of students on campus. We are fearful of the disruption that will be caused to everyone when we have large numbers of students/staff on campus daily.
*As quarantine becomes an issue, we will quickly be short in the number of adults available to fill needed roles on campus. Even in a classroom with desks 6 ft apart in a cohort of kids where adults rotate in to teach, one case could take out all those students and up to 7 staff members.
2. It was shared this week by the Lake County Health Department that any student or staff member who has one of the symptoms for COVID-19 will be required to provide either a negative COVID test or a doctor note to return. This will be a huge hurdle for families and staff, as the list of symptoms includes symptoms of other common illnesses. This requirement alone is going to cause massive disruption to the attendance of staff and students.
3. There are increasing infection rates in Lake County, which has pushed the county into a “warning” status.
4. It was clarified with me on Friday by the Lake County Health Department that if we can’t maintain 6ft social distancing at all times then alternate plans need to be developed. Prior guidance said to maintain the 6ft. “If possible”. Given this new clarification, we are having trouble guaranteeing this will happen at all times.
5. Rates in Wisconsin continue to increase. It is likely that they will be added to the mandatory quarantine list. We have several staff who live in Wisconsin.
5. The daily screening of all students continues to be an issue that we are trying to address as to how to best handle. To assure that every student has been screened before they get onto a bus is not an easy situation to resolve. This even presented itself as an issue at the 8th grade picnic, where a student came with a fever and was sent home. She then returned approximately 20 minutes later with video of them taking her temperature at home. I could not allow her into the event since she initially presented with a fever, and this led to a conflict that I wish we could have avoided.
There are more to come as we get more information from LCHD and CDC, and Christy, Bob, Julie and I are working collaboratively to develop a concise list to inform our decision-making.
We want our kids in-person because we know that educationally and socially that is what is best for them. However, given these significant safety concerns, we want to revisit our Fall Opening Plan in a virtual Special Session Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, July 27 at 5:30 PM. Meeting link is shared here:
I share this with you in an effort to be transparent regarding the issues we are trying to work through as a consortium of districts and, to be honest, my concerns for opening in-person at this point. I am sure you are seeing that many of the Lake and McHenry County school districts are shifting to a full remote learning environment to start the school year for these same reasons and concerns.
Please know that I understand the impact that these decisions have on our students, staff, and families and the stress that I know this is causing. Tuesday evening's Board meeting gives us the opportunity to review our plans and determine what is the right course of action given all the facts we know as of now.
We remain in this together...ONE TEAM, ALL IN!
Please know that I understand the impact that these decisions have on our students, staff, and families and the stress that I know this is causing. Tuesday evening's Board meeting gives us the opportunity to review our plans and determine what is the right course of action given all the facts we know as of now.
We remain in this together...ONE TEAM, ALL IN!
DIGGING IN ON THE ISBE RECOMMENDATIONS
While I'd encourage everyone to review the recommendations or at least my notes, I want to make sure everyone is aware that the guidance states the expectation that, in each 5 clock hour (minimum) contact day, 2.5 hours of synchronous (live) learning with real-time instruction and interaction between students and their teachers takes place. We must factor this in when discussing schedules and instructional design, and we'll be working together to learn more and provide training for how this can be brought to life! Please feel sure to share your great ideas, too!
Here's a great nugget I found in my Facebook feed today...
INNOVATION LEARNING PROGRAM DETAILS
As I emailed last week, I'm thrilled to share that Innovation Learning can provide on site supervision/remote learning support to K-8 students as needed for staff and our families. I have also confirmed that they can provide programming should we need to shift to full remote learning. Here are the flyers of information for the programming planned for the Blended/Remote Choice options currently in place:
Registration is now open. Please know that there will be a minimum number of enrollment required for the programming to "go", and, should we shift to full remote, they will update the flyer and information.
As I emailed last week, I'm thrilled to share that Innovation Learning can provide on site supervision/remote learning support to K-8 students as needed for staff and our families. I have also confirmed that they can provide programming should we need to shift to full remote learning. Here are the flyers of information for the programming planned for the Blended/Remote Choice options currently in place:
Registration is now open. Please know that there will be a minimum number of enrollment required for the programming to "go", and, should we shift to full remote, they will update the flyer and information.
FLASH BACK...FLASH FORWARD TO SUMMER CURRICULUM WORK!
THANKS to everyone for your work to complete the FLASH BACK reflection to help us know where our students' gaps exist!!!!
The FIRST priority for any summer curriculum work is to use the FLASH BACK information to better understand what kids need. This then should be used to help plan starting the year. The tools you need are linked below:
LINKS:
PreK-8 Flash Back Standards
Exploratories Flash Back Standards
Case Manager Flash Back Reflections
THANKS to everyone for your work to complete the FLASH BACK reflection to help us know where our students' gaps exist!!!!
The FIRST priority for any summer curriculum work is to use the FLASH BACK information to better understand what kids need. This then should be used to help plan starting the year. The tools you need are linked below:
LINKS:
PreK-8 Flash Back Standards
Exploratories Flash Back Standards
Case Manager Flash Back Reflections
COVID-19 SAFETY PROCEDURES
If you are concerned that you have COVID-19 or have been exposed to COVID-19 and have been or are scheduled to be onsite, please let your principal, Maddie Espinoza, and/or me know immediately so we can partner with you for your safety and for the safety of others. You can trust that we will keep all this information confidential, balancing staff privacy and system safety needs. All staff MUST wear masks AT ALL TIMES when onsite.
In addition, the steps below (from the CDC website) MUST be taken if you have been diagnosed with or exposed to COVID-19:
COMING ONSITE:
No one can come to work who is sick and/or has a temperature at or above 100.4.
Staff must take their temperatures at home.
If you don't have a thermometer at home, let the administrator on site know and we'll take your temperature for you.
Wash your hands regularly!
All staff MUST wear masks AT ALL TIMES when onsite.
All staff should wear gloves when handling materials that others will also use.
July 14th IEA Press Release:
The IEA offers a ton of free, online professional development courses. Some of the topics include racial and social justice, parental and community engagement, and classroom management. If you are looking to earn some CPDUs this summer, check out what they have to offer: https://ieanea.org/
Melissa Jakstas, President
Maureen DeVoss, Vice President for Certified Staff
Chris Brown, Vice President for Non-Certified Staff
Katy Gardner, Treasurer
Betty Cwiak, Secretary
Cathy Jawnyj, Region Representative
Michelle Serini, Stanton School Representative
Tiffany Tardio Weber, Lotus School Representative
*check here for documents most frequently used/requested
Please let Heather know of suggestions for any documents to add to this
folder!
Blue Cross Blue Shield:
SEL Pacing Guides
Monday, July 27--Remote Teaching Institute at Lotus (see emails from last week)
Tuesday, July 28--Special Board of Education meeting at 5:30
Meeting Link:
