Dear Families:
I want to thank all of you for being patient with the school as the situation related to the coronavirus evolves. I was just on a statewide conference call with the Illinois State Board of Education regarding the forced school closure. One clarification we received is that because of the forced closure, all the school days we miss during that time will be considered “Act of God’ days. This means that the students will NOT be making up those days. It also means that learning activities that are provided by teachers to be completed during these days cannot be used to negatively impact a student’s grade. As a result, we will NOT be taking grades on the work assigned. We strongly encourage the students to complete the work. We will be providing incentives to the students and will be checking for completion because we want to keep them engaged in learning over the break. So to be clear, March 17, 18, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 30 are “Act of God” days. This means that we will still have three emergency days left.
I wanted to update you with our plan for the next couple of weeks:
Monday, March 16 – school will be in session during regular school hours. The elementary school teachers will be providing a menu of learning activities in various subjects that students can complete daily. For the most part, the students should be able to complete these activities with little to no guidance required from adults. We understand that our families and parents should not be required to be teachers in addition to all of your other responsibilities! Teachers in Grades 7-12 will be providing several learning activities in each class. Most of these will be provided to the students through Google Classroom, which the students are very used to using on a daily basis. Students without internet access will be provided hard copies. The learning at all levels will NOT be new skills or content. It will be activities that will support and extend skills that have already been taught.
Students should take home everything they need on this day. Students will not be allowed on school grounds after Monday. In addition, no one besides approved school employees will be allowed on the school grounds beginning Tuesday, March 17. If your student is not in attendance on Monday, you need to make arrangements with the building office to pick up anything that will be needed by your student during the school closure. Everything must be picked up Monday, March 16.
Tuesday, March 17 – Monday, March 30 – There will be NO student activity on school grounds during this time period. With the exception of our previously scheduled spring break days (March 19, 20 and 23), we will have someone in each office every morning so parents and students can CALL for support if needed. Remember NO ONE is allowed in the building beginning March 17.
We will also be providing grab and go meals on a daily basis, INCLUDING the scheduled spring break days. If you need meal service, please complete this form https://forms.gle/eivDpGc33B5RE55z5. We will send out details on how the meals will be provided on Monday.
Tuesday, March 31 – school will return to normal on this day. Please monitor all forms of communication because this could change.
If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at 217-268-4963 or contact me by e-mail at tmulligan@arcolaschools.com.
Dr. Thomas H. Mulligan, Superintendent
Arcola C.U.S.D. 306