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Thursday, March 26, 2020
March Issue of #GoOpen Network eNews from Penny Pearson of OTAN
OTAN COVID-19 Resources
In response to COVID-19 and the closure of schools across the state, OTAN is setting up a number of online webinars and Office Hours this week for our adult education colleagues who are continuing to teach and support their learners.
Please visit the OTAN website at otan.us frequently as new webinars are continually being added.
Please contact us at support@otan.us or call our office at 916-228-2580 for more information. We are here to support you!
3/20/20 Linda's Encouragement after the 1st very difficult week
Besides keeping in communication with your students, I was just wondering what beautiful creations will come out of our forced stay at home. Are you working on anything? For example, Ellen creates these beautiful quilts. Jody creates jewelry.
For any sewers, Joanne stores are asking people to sew masks and they will collect and distribute to local hospitals. Go to Joann's website to get instructions: Joann's website: How to make a face mask
Are you catching up on your book reading? Fran recommended this book to me which I’ve started reading. It’s about a high school teacher in Colorado who teaches new kids to the country with little or no English. So far it’s very interesting. It's called The Newcomers by Helen Thorpe.
Maybe you are perfecting your cooking skills and trying out new recipes. I made a yummy bean soup from a bean mix I bought before the crisis hit.
We also need to do things to help us relax and relieve our stress. A nice social distancing walk around the neighborhood. Sit in the sun for 15-20 minutes to soak in the vitamin D. Watch a favorite movie. I watched a double feature last night, Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca and in The Maltese Falcon with Mary Astor. Peter Lorre is in both, too. And try a little exercise. I was just running in place last night in front of my TV for 30 minutes, and my iwatch asked me if I was exercising.
We’ve been learning about the finer details of Zoom, so I’m going to Zoom meet with all my kids tomorrow. We’ll see if it works, since I have 7. It’s just to catch up with each other. They are all stuck in their homes too, except my nurse daughter and fireman son-in-law and my daughter who is considered a critical worker to help sellers and transportation to keep moving within Amazon.
This is meant to be a cheerful friendly email of encouragement. We will need that over the weeks to come. Love to all of you!
😊 Linda Laymon
Angela Rodriguez 3/20/20 Encouragement
Hello all
As we end our first week of this new world we live in (personally and professionally), Lynn and I would like to take a minute to say- THANK YOU! You have all stepped up to the challenge of supporting your students during this difficult time. We are so pleased to hear of all of the innovative ways you are connecting with your students to support their learning. I believe this will only make our strong program, even stronger when we return. Lynn and I have taken every opportunity to brag about all the work you are doing as we connect with other Adult Ed programs/organizations around the region (CAERC, OTAN, etc.). We are finding that you are all ahead of the curve!
Please take a break this weekend. Unplug. Spend time with loved ones (at a distance, of course). Take care of yourself!
Next week, let's continue to be in touch and share out best practices. This truly is the best team I've ever been a part of and I am glad we are in this together.
As always, Lynn and I are available, so feel free to reach out with any questions you may have along the way. We will continue to check-in and share any new information we receive.
Take care!
Angela RodriguezVice Principal
San Juan Adult Education
Creekside Adult Center: 916-575-2396
Sunrise Tech Center: 916-971-5180
Cell: 916-508-2550
e-mail: angela.rodriguez@sanjuan.edu
Superintendent Kern's message to employees – March 20, 2020
Superintendent Kern
Fri 3/20/2020 5:01 PM
Good afternoon,
I wanted to take some time to reflect on the events that have unfolded in the past week and express how thankful I am to be a part of a district so committed to the wellbeing of our students and families.
Last Friday’s decision to close our schools was not an easy one to make, as I want to have our students in our schools learning and accessing the supports they need. However, due to the rapidly changing COVID-19 situation, we wanted to make sure that students and staff were as safe as possible during mitigation efforts.
Despite it being such a challenging time, there are a few key moments that have stood out to me with the work that has taken place this week:
- Our Nutrition Services team activated 27 school sites for meal distribution to our students. I had the chance to visit three schools on Tuesday and two on Wednesday and was amazed at the level of support our staff and community provided to make sure our students are being fed during the closure. I am proud that we have already provided thousands of meals to youth in our community.
- Our Professional Learning and Curriculum Innovation team acted fast to develop a comprehensive San Juan C.A.R.E.S. document sharing enrichment resources with our families. This document is available in multiple languages thanks to our committed translation team.
- While not an easy task, our teacher practitioners have quickly shifted to holding virtual office hours to support our students. I appreciate their willingness to be creative and take on this new challenge.
There is still a lot of work that needs to be done. Earlier today we shared an update about our distance learning planning that is underway. We will be establishing professional learning and collaborative communities to support practitioners as they adopt distance learning techniques. We are also working on a plan to distribute technology to students who do not have a device at home. It is our intent that every senior, who meets requirements, is able to graduate this June and that all of our students can access quality learning during this closure.
I appreciate your flexibility as we work through this situation and will continue to communicate with all employees as new details emerge. I also encourage you to visit www.sanjuan.edu/COVID19 and share this resource with others.
Lastly and most importantly, my sincere hope is that all employees are focusing on self-care – maintaining wellness during these uncertain times is essential. Please stay safe, healthy and keep your spirits up.
Have a great weekend.
-Superintendent Kent Kern
San Juan COVID-19 Update: Planning for distance learning
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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