Dear Rangers,

We once again find ourselves in new waters, with new directives from the state to stay at home, continue to provide food to students, daycare for healthcare workers and emergency responders, and to provide an education to our students while most folks are at home. That last point is where I will spend most of this note with you today – what education looks like at this point in the shutdown.

I first want to acknowledge that what is being asked of parents is unprecedented, difficult, and ambiguous. I am sorry about that, and hope that you know that we are here in this together, and our teachers, paras, food service, custodial, transportation, and administration staff are all working on supporting you and your children while we are working through the crisis as a community.

Know that we will be asking for more engagement, more time spent in academic work, and continued contact with their teacher or advisor. In-person, face-to-face education has been banned through the 24^th of April, and it is not outside the realm of possibility that the school buildings will not be available for a longer period, so we are hoping for a return to school on the 27^th, but planning for the eventuality that we do not return this school year.

This week, our teachers will be contacting your children to talk about their engagement as well as how they have been doing. Next week is our Spring Break, and while our food service and daycare services will be running, our learning and teaching staff will not be reaching out to students. We will start with a stronger learning and accountability focus starting Monday, April 6^th.

Last night State Superintendent Reykdal sent guidance to all school districts in the state. The highlights from that memo are:

• Education must continue, teachers will continue to teach
  • We started with providing opportunities for students to engage in learning – now we are shifting to ensuring that all students are making progress toward learning targets, earning credit, and building academic skills.
  • There is much that our amazing staff still needs to develop; this shift in expectations for students will happen after spring break (March 21^st to 29^th). In the coming days you, and for 6-12^th graders, your children, will hear from their teachers with more on what this looks like.
• We will design learning for equity and access
  • Learning goals will be based on Washington state standards
  • Instruction will be flexible
    • Some materials will be delivered through our existing food delivery system, most will be on-line through tools such as Google Classroom.
    • We will be supporting you by sending engagement strategies and ideas, schedules, and other ways to help you to keep your children plugged in to learning.
  • Teachers will be assessing learning
    • To help minimize the chance of spreading the virus, almost all of the work that students do to record and demonstrate their learning will be electronic. Similarly, we are working to reduce the number of things that we are physically sending home.
    • We will need your help in gathering and assessing your children’s’ work. Throughout, your child’s teacher or advisor will stay in touch with you.
  • Special Education staff will be supporting students who have specially designed instruction written into their IEP’s.
    • Special Education teachers and paraeducators will coordinate with General Education teachers to help with accommodations and modifications
    • Supports for students with IEP’s will be delivered to those students by the Special Education Staff as well as the General Education staff, so that we are delivering services to the greatest extent possible.

This is a lot, I recognize that. We are adjusting how we communicate with you, so that you are not overwhelmed, but are supported and get what you need from us.

• Parents of Kindergarten through 5^th grade students will have a more direct role in working with your children to engage in learning.
  • Know that the teachers will be giving you not only what your students need to learn, but also how to help them in that learning.
• Parents of 6^th through 12^th grade students can be copied on messages sent to their students, please let their advisor know if you do want to get emails and notifications. The onus of working on projects and completing work should be on the students themselves
  • I encourage you to stay informed about the projects that your kids are working on; I am sure you will be as interested as the students will be in learning.
  • For many students, staying focused on completing assigned tasks will be easy, for others we will need your help in reminding students that school is still in session, even though it feels very different.

Throughout the crisis of the coronavirus, we still need to rely on each other – and the continued education of our children is no exception. Our expert educators and support staff deeply and dearly miss working with your children, seeing their faces every day, and celebrating their learning and successes with them. We still want to provide service to you and your children and we are working every day to find more effective ways to do that even while we cannot see them in person.

At any time if you have questions, need help, or just want to talk about how we are doing, please do not hesitate to talk to you child’s teacher, Mr. Moss, Mr. Davis, or me. We are all here for you – now just a bit more distant!

Frank Redmon

Superintendent