Dear Families,
Our 2020-2021 school year begins on Thursday, August 20th. I am happy to be able to share that we have been able to accommodate every family who requested the continuum model, full year distance learning and the home study program by August 7th. We are in the process of aligning our student placements in our student information system. This includes some work at the school site and some work at the district level.
We intend to send out notifications on Tuesday afternoon from the district or school with information about each student’s placement and teacher.
At risk of not having all of the answers to the questions you have right now, I want to share some information that might be helpful. In general, the instructional minutes each day based on the live, virtual interactions in whole group and small group and the assigned work:
● TK/K – 180 minutes
● 1-3 – 230 minutes
● 4-8 – 240 minutes
Ingrid B Lacy will continue with their 9 am start time. Most students in K-8 schools will begin at 8:30 am.
Daily/Weekly Schedule will include
● Live “synchronous” work time (by subject when necessary)
● Independent “asynchronous” work time (by subject)
● Lunch, breaks
● Student check-ins/Office hours for students and parents
I want to acknowledge what a stressful time this is for families as we return to school in distance learning. I know that you would like to have more details about the instructional schedule and how much time is going to be “live” instruction. To be transparent, we are still working through some of the details in negotiations.
One question I do not have an answer for yet is material pick up for students who are in distance learning. We will have that answer on Tuesday afternoon.
I know you have many questions. Please direct the urgent questions to your school. Thank you for your patience as we work through the many details of the start of the new school year.
Sincerely,
Heather Olsen
Superintendent of Pacifica School District
PS- In order to get all of the work done to be ready to start school on Thursday, I will be unavailable to respond to individual questions or emails this week. Please direct your question to your school office.
