The following guidance is intended to inform your planning for the disruption of school-based instruction as a result of the COVID-19 virus. Each school is encouraged to convene a team that will make decisions about instructional planning, expectations for students and teachers in the event of a school closure and communications to all school stakeholders. Schools are encouraged to modify the guidance provided from the Network as necessary to ensure that it is appropriate and relevant to their current needs.

Your virtual learning plan should be communicated immediately to all school stakeholders through your school’s website (homepage), email, your LMS’ Portals, phone systems (such as School Reach), etc.

If your plan includes transitioning to online instruction, the school needs to ensure that all students have access to the technology they need to participate in the distance learning. Schools are strongly encouraged to investigate all of the capacities of their current LMS (Learning Management System) to support online instruction in the event of a school closure.

If you are unfamiliar with the capacity of your LMS, then please consider using Google Classroom, as it is quick and easy to set up. Here’s a link on how to begin, and the network will provide additional support and tutorials to support your work on this platform.

Student Expectations

Attendance

• Virtually attend and participate in classes according to the schedule provided by the school. Please minimize distractions and background noise by finding a quiet space in which to work.

  • If you do not have access to the internet at home, please contact your principal at (contact information here). Students without internet access will receive extensions on the required e-learning when school resumes.

Assignments

• Complete and submit assignments as instructed by your teachers. Some teachers may not assign homework each day while others may assign a long term project. Teachers will decide on an individual basis if having students work on assignments outside of class will advance their learning. In some cases, the outside assignments may help mitigate the loss of in-person instructional time.

Communication with Teachers

• As usual, students may communicate with teachers via email and can expect a response within 24-48 hours, typically by 2pm daily. Know that your teachers are providing virtual lessons throughout the morning, and are reviewing students’ work and emails throughout the day, and planning for the next day’s lessons, so please have patience when awaiting an email response.

Students should check the daily schedule and the school’s student portal periodically (at least twice a day) and respond in a timely fashion to all communications.