Spring Learning Plan 2020-21
Update from Supt. Dr. Wood on 3-17-21
Dear Titan Families,
Last night, the Ball-Chatham Board of Education voted to increase students’ daily synchronous learning time to five hours of core instruction, Monday through Friday, for both our in-person and virtual learners, beginning April 7th.
Additionally, the Board voted to approve a calendar change: moving the April 30th School Improvement Day to April 6th, allowing all students to have a remote learning day on the 6th, and teachers the time to prepare for students to return on April 7th. April 30th will now be a regular school day rather than a School Improvement Day.
The impetus for the change came on March 9, 2021 when the Illinois State Board of Education and Illinois Dept. of Public Health released revised guidance that all Illinois schools must use. Most significantly, the two departments are now allowing for 3-6 feet for social distancing, rather than 6 feet as previously recommended. In addition, the capacity limits in schools for in-person learning are now being determined by the space’s ability to accommodate social distancing, and not a set capacity limit number or percentage.
What didn’t change is that mask-wearing will continue and must be ensured regardless of whether schools use a social distance of 3 feet or 6 feet; and schools will continue to require self-certification for all staff, students, and visitors prior to entering school buildings.
Given the revised distancing guidance, we were able to eliminate the AM and PM block schedule and offer our in-person and virtual students five hours of synchronous, core instruction, Monday through Friday. Students may still have some homework as in typical years but it will not be the 1.75 hours of asynchronous work that was required daily when we were in the hybrid schedule.
Pre-K through 8th grade in-person and virtual students will remain in their current learning model for the remainder of this school year. GHS will allow students to switch, if desired, given their live-streaming capabilities.
Below is a brief overview of the plan.
School Times
There will no longer be AM and PM sessions. All students will attend school Monday through Friday, at the following times:
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BES, CES, GES, and GIS - 7:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. (Pre-K adjustments will be communicated with our Pre-K families directly.)
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GMS/GHS - 8:15 a.m. - 1:17 p.m.
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Parents of students with special needs being serviced in a cohort will receive additional communication from their special education administrator.
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After-school care through the YMCA will move back to our elementary schools.
Student Academic Supports
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After-school instructional support/tutoring will be offered to both in-person and virtual GIS and GMS students who are struggling in their classes (by referral only). Further, the District WILL provide transportation home for these in-person students who are taking advantage of this support.
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Before-school instructional support/tutoring will be provided in all subject areas to both in-person and virtual GHS students (without referral) from 7:15 to 8:02 a.m. Students will make appointments through their teachers for either an in-person or virtual tutoring session.
Transportation
Parents of in-person learners will need to resubmit a Transportation form since the current bus times/locations will be changing. Look for the form and/or link to arrive in your inbox later today. It will also be available on each of our websites. It’s imperative that the Transportation form be completed by March 24th so that correct routes/times/locations can be created. Transportation pick-up and drop-off times and locations will be available in Skyward on April 2nd.
--Supt. Dr. Douglas Wood