March 20, 2020 Update on COVID-19 and distance teaching and learning

• Student medication pickup:  The district will be holding a centralized drive-through pickup for student medications on Monday, March 23 in the parking lot of Hastings Middle School, 1850 Hastings Lane. Parents/guardians may arrive during their building’s scheduled pickup time and must show identification to receive their students’ medications. If you have students in multiple buildings, please select the pick-up time that works best for your family. Any medications that are not picked up will be returned to the assigned school at the end of the day. The schedule is as follows:
  • 9:30-10:30 a.m.: Upper Arlington High School and Burbank Early Childhood School
  • 10:30-11:30 a.m.: Barrington Elementary School and Jones Middle School
  • 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Tremont Elementary School and Jones Middle School
  • 1:00-2:00 p.m.: Wickliffe Progressive Elementary School and Hastings Middle School
  • 2:00-3:00 p.m.: Windermere Elementary School and Hastings Middle School
  • 3:00-4:00 p.m.: Greensview Elementary School and Hastings Middle School
    
• Elementary schools - essential items pickup: Parents/guardians of elementary students will be receiving additional communications from their schools with information about scheduled curbside pickups of essential items such as student devices (K-3), workbooks/learning materials and instruments. We anticipate long lines of traffic for the scheduled curbside pickups at the elementary schools and will keep these lines moving as efficiently as possible.  Please come only during your scheduled time; we will not be able to serve you outside of your scheduled time.

• Secondary schools - essential items pickup: Parents/guardians of middle school and high school students should complete this form if their student needs an essential item that was left at school such as music instruments or school iPads, if another device is not accessible within the home. Families will then receive an email to schedule a time to pick up the item(s) at the designated school. Only adults will be allowed to pick up these essential items. Based on the recommendations of health officials, no students will be permitted to enter the schools at this time.
  
• Please note - Governor Mike DeWine has recommended that anyone who has traveled out of state should stay at home for 14 days to prevent the spread of COVID-19.  Families who have traveled out of state for spring break should ask a friend or neighbor to assist them with the pickups described above.  Please contact your principal with questions.
  

Reminder - breakfast and lunch service
We are pleased to be able to offer a free boxed lunch (complete with a breakfast for the next day) to all school-aged children beginning Tuesday, March 24.  These meals will be available for pick-up outside the buildings listed below on all regularly scheduled school days for students.  The district calendar can be found at this link: 2019-2020 school year calendar.  Please note that students must be present to receive meals.

• Tremont Elementary School - 10:30 a.m. until 12:45 p.m.
• Barrington Elementary School - 10:30 a.m. until 11:15 a.m.
• Greensview Elementary School - 10:30 a.m. until 11:15 a.m.
• Windermere Elementary School - noon until 12:45 p.m.
• Wickliffe Progressive Elementary School - noon until 12:45 p.m.

Short surveys
In order to better prepare, we are asking parents to consider the following options and complete the survey(s) below if appropriate no later than Sunday, March 22.

• Intention to use the free breakfast/lunch program - please fill out this short survey if one or more school-aged children in your home will be utilizing our free meal program.
• Home WiFi survey - please complete this survey if you do not have home internet access.  You may also complete this form on behalf of a friend or neighbor.  In addition, families may call (614) 487-5000 to let the district know of an internet access issue.
• Kindergarten iPad access - Please complete this survey if you have a kindergarten student and do not have a home device that can connect to the internet.  Kindergarten classrooms have a set of iPads that are shared between AM and PM classes, and therefore we are not able to send an iPad home with each kindergarten student.  All distance learning materials will be accessible on any internet-connected device (personal desktop, iPad, laptop, Chromebook, etc.).
• Essential items survey - As a reminder, secondary families only (Hastings, Jones and UAHS) should complete this form if they have any essential items to retrieve for their students. Please refer to the section above for more details.

Ways to prepare for distance teaching and learning
Our teachers and administrators will spend the week of March 24 - 27 preparing for distance teaching and learning, and we know our families are eager to prepare, too.  Here are a few ways families can begin to make the transition.

• Establish a routine - begin to think about how to best structure your family’s day in order to provide time for learning and well-being.  Here is one template for a daily schedule. When you click on the link, you will be prompted to make a copy of this document that you can then customize for your family.
• Learning opportunities for families - this list includes online resources for students of all ages.  Families can use these to get back in the rhythm of learning as spring break comes to a close. 

Distance teaching and learning information
Upper Arlington’s approach to distance teaching and learning recognizes that the planned learning experiences our teachers develop when school is in regular session can never be replicated in the same manner, specifically in regard to social connection and community.  We want our teachers and students to give themselves permission to be creative, try new things and most importantly create new ways to connect through distance teaching and learning.

With this in mind, teachers will begin participating in online professional development and planning sessions on distance teaching and learning on Tuesday, March 24.  Distance teaching and learning for students will begin on Monday, March 30.  

This is a general suggestion of timeframes for what your child’s day might look like. These suggested guidelines will be flexible and allow students to complete activities and assignments throughout out a week, not at specific times each day. Please watch for more detailed communication from your teacher(s) regarding what this will look like for your child by the end of next week. 

• Kindergarten students: should have the opportunity to engage in learning experiences approximately 1 hour total per day. 
• Grades 1-2 students: should have the opportunity to engage in learning experiences approximately 2 hours total per day.
• Grades 3-5 students: opportunity to engage in learning experiences approximately 2.5 hours total per day.
• Grades 6-12: opportunity to engage in learning experiences approximately 3.5 hours total per day.

Student Services information
Families whose students on IEP, 504 and RTI plans may access this document to learn more about the continuation of services and related meetings through distance teaching and learning.

Thank you for taking the time to read through all of this important information.