March 27th 2020

Friday night update

Good evening,

Sorry for this coming out so late this evening. It was so beautiful outside tonight that I took some time to take a walk outside after our 6:00 emergency school committee meeting. I hope you and your families got some time outside today.

The district staff spent many hours today working on the Remote Learning Plan. As per the timeline I shared with you last evening, pending our work with the GDEA to gain approval for the plan, we will be sharing it with you on Wednesday evening. School committee will be live on the Groton Channel on Wednesday night. If you have questions regarding the learning plan you can email them to me (lchesson@oldsite.oldsite.oldsite.gdrsd.org) or Marlena Gilbert at (mgilbert@oldsite.oldsite.oldsite.gdrsd.org) and we will try to answer them during the live broadcast.

Timeline for the Remote Learning Plan:

Thursday, March 26

  • Dr. Katie Novak, as the lead author of the remote learning plan, used the state guidance, feedback from the remote learning survey (900+ respondents), remote learning plans of local districts, the K-8 virtual learning web site (designed by Kelly True, Karen Gartland, and Allison Sancinito), the HS supplemental web site, and the middle school draft remote learning plan to draft an initial remote learning plan.

  • This plan was shared with all administrators and union leadership for initial feedback at 10am and shared with all staff at 12pm.

Friday, March 27

  • By 12pm, after reviewing the feedback of our staff, we will share an updated version of the plan by 12pm and will offer a session Zoom to offer additional feedback. Staff will have until Sunday at 10pm to share feedback and suggestions for revisions.

Monday, March 30 – Tuesday, March 31

  • The final plan will be shared with the union executive board for final approval by 12pm and the union will have a remote vote for an MOU to support this work.

  • Once an agreement has been reached, we will copy edit the document or make any changes, as necessary.

  • The final plan will be shared with all staff by 3pm.

Wednesday, April 1

  • I will send out the final plan to our community at 5pm.

Keep on reading – from KellyMcManus at the high school:

This week the Groton Public Library set up an online reading challenge for students in Grades 6-12 that can benefit your class.

Just record the minutes you read and at the end of the quarantine, GPL will tally the minutes. The grade with the highest number of minutes will win a cash prize for their grade.  (easy fundraising!!)

 Here is the link to the page with the information on GPL’s web page.

http://gpl.org/young-adults/quaran-teens

 

Lunch and device distribution:

Lunches for those who qualify for free and reduced lunches will be distributed on Tuesday from 10:00 – noon. To reserve your lunches please email Katie Novak at knovak@oldsite.oldsite.oldsite.gdrsd.org. You may also arrange drop-off of the lunches through Katie at the same address. Anyone who would like to contribute to this in any way can email Katie.

Device pick-ups may be arranged by emailing Luke Callahan at lcallahan@oldsite.oldsite.oldsite.gdrsd.org. A limited number of iPads are available for students Pre-K thru Grade 1 that qualify for free and reduced lunch. Parents of other Pre-K thru Grade 1 students may also contact Luke and will be provided with a device on a first-come, first-serve basis. Some students may be able to get iPads, others may be offered a Chromebook. While our youngest students use iPads at school, Chromebooks can be used to access most of the applications that our young students use.

I hope you all get an opportunity to get out in the sunshine tomorrow. Please remember to practice social distancing. Especially if you choose to walk on district fields or tracks.

Best regards,

Laura Chesson