Teaching and learning is at the heart of what we do each day. For the last week, health, safety and operational needs have been the priority, during which time we’ve rightfully heard many of our staff and parents call for more information on where we are headed instructionally.
First, each of you deserves a huge round of applause for the work you’ve done to help students, families and colleagues transition to our new reality. Our teacher practitioners have done a phenomenal job of quickly shifting to support students through reading, review and enrichment opportunities while our non-instructional staff have worked to ensure critical supports remain in place. The passion of our educators has never been more clear nor more appreciated.
We have attempted to be thoughtful in how instruction and support services are rolled out to ensure we can answer questions of equity and meet legal requirements under federal and state law related to equal access for our diverse learners. While mindful of these parameters, it is our intent that every senior, who meets eligibility requirements, graduates this June and that all of our students can engage in meaningful learning.
It is a possibility that schools may not open after spring break. Therefore, workgroups representing SJTA practitioners and district leaders with a variety of expertise (including but not limited to ELL, Special Education, ECE, etc.) have been assembled to help chart our course as we explore how to move to a distance learning model of instruction (see California Department of Education Distance Learning Guidance document here). This does not mean we are adopting new curriculum or new lesson plans but rather we are looking to deliver our existing materials through new learning platforms while meeting the needs of our diverse learners. It is our desire that by Monday, April 13 we will be prepared to shift from our strategy of read, review and enrichment to a model of distance learning that allows for new assignments and new learning.
We recognize that this would be a large shift in practice for our system and with that in mind we are closely working with our labor groups to identify the supports necessary to make this change possible. While we prepare for the implementation of distance learning, three initial steps are being implemented:
First, the Professional Learning and Innovation office is establishing virtual professional learning and collaborative communities to support practitioners as they adopt distance learning techniques, in addition to the development of a bank of distance learning lessons to assist practitioners. These resources will become available in the next few days and will remain available through the end of the school year. To assist in identifying the appropriate resources, SJTA practitioners are asked to complete this survey regarding their needs.
Second, the district and San Juan Teachers Association are working collaboratively to define distance learning within our system and establish parameters for practitioner support through planning time, collaborative communities and professional learning opportunities. As we continue to solidify our distance learning model, other employee groups will also be engaged in discussion to help identify ways to support the distance learning work through virtual means. We know working together, during this challenging time, we can find innovative ways to keep our students learning while also keeping students, staff and our community safe.
Third, we are finalizing plans for the distribution of technology to students who may not have devices. Distribution is scheduled to begin with high schools on March 25. Middle schools will follow and be completed by April 3, with elementary schools distributed prior to the end of the spring break. As part of this effort, we’ll also be working with families to identify gaps in internet connectivity and connect them with free or reduced-cost community solutions. (Between now and March 25, technology services staff will be working to remove restrictions on devices that keep them locked to the district network as well as ensuring we have processes in place to track who materials are checked out to.)
It’s also important to note for our secondary practitioners access to APEX will be restored on March 23 for all students previously using the platform for credit recovery and coursework. We are also exploring how we might add APEX seats to expand access. A frequently asked questions document for high school has been started and we expect to publish similar documents for middle schools and elementary schools soon.
Like everything COVID-19 related, we expect this will be a rapidly evolving effort with changes by the moment. We ask for your patience and your guidance during this process to ensure that we support each other as we prepare for this new model of distance learning.
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