Dear Irvington Students and Families,
We hope you’re well and that this week’s learning has been a smooth one for all. Today’s update pertains to the newest phase of distance learning for the Irvington High School community.
At the onset of school closure, high school staff looked to engage students with the content they had previously learned to support the maintenance of their skills and knowledge. Phase One also aimed to provide all stakeholders with a few days to begin to acclimate to our new socially distant world. During this time our teachers began to create norms for communicating and submitting work remotely.
Phase Two followed with the goal of establishing structures for new learning. Teachers began to engage students in new content using many of those structures established over the first few days. Students continued to be assessed on “completion” and feedback continued to be provided through a variety of methods.
Phase 3 of Distance Learning:
As Dr. Harrison shared in his communication with the community, we look forward to our next steps--Phase Three--in which we will look to create structures that more closely align with a typical school experience; wherein, teachers will begin to conduct regularly scheduled synchronous learning activities with their classes. Students will be expected to log into the learning session at their scheduled time.
At the bottom of this message, you will find a schedule outlining how each day of the week will be scheduled effective Monday, April 20th. Please know that next week the class meetings will likely be shorter, providing an opportunity to connect at this new, regular time, in a synchronous way, while enabling students and teachers to reconnect.
You will note that Fridays provide opportunities for students to connect with their teachers for extra help during the department window-times indicated. Please take a moment to identify those opportunities as you help and encourage your child to contact her teacher(s) and plan Fridays as needed accordingly. If you have any questions about the schedule, please feel free to reach out to your counselor. Please also continue to reach out to me if your family is in need of a chromebook.
Meal Distribution & Support:
Meal distribution continues to be available at the Main Street School parking lot from 9am - 10am. Food will then be distributed in the Tarrytown Crossing/Tallyrand parking lot near the playground from 10:15-11:15am. Both breakfast and lunch are available for a “Grab and Go” pickup. Parents, neighbors, and/or friends may pick up food for students. Additionally, every Friday we are distributing meals for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Food is available for free for all Irvington UFSD students and can be picked up by family members, friends and/or neighbors. This means that no child or family will be identified as being eligible for Free or Reduced Lunch when going to receive food. Students and families are asked to pick up the day’s food and return home and maintain social -distancing. Please contact your school counselor if you have any questions or concerns related to meal pick-up.
Please know that the Irvington School District is here to support all families during these challenging days. Please take a moment and complete this survey. Doing so will help our district social worker, Gina Menendez, connect with families that may be in need of support to secure food and other resources.
Google Meet Norms:
Also, please take note of the following Google Meet "Norms": We expect students to act as if they are in a real classroom while engaging in a video conference. This includes appropriate behavior as per our code of conduct. As expected, our students have been awesome in this regard since the start. While many of our teachers have set up specific guidelines and norms, the following are standard for our school:
• Mute your mic upon entrance if it’s not already muted
• Students should set up in a common area of their home and wear school appropriate clothes.
• Students may not record any other student or faculty member while connecting virtually.
• Use school appropriate language
• Exhibit school appropriate behavior
• Ensure you follow all class rules
• Be sure you are respectful of your teacher, your classmates and yourself
• Try to create a quiet work space where you can limit distractions as much as possible. Turn your phone off or leave it in another room.
Quarter 4 Grading:
Finally, as a reminder, regarding grading for Quarter 4, grades will continue to follow our guiding philosophy of “Do No Harm”. If a significant majority of the quarter consists of distance learning then final Quarter 4 grades will be as follows: Pass, Fail or Pass with Distinction. If school was to physically reopen prior to the end of the school year, we will consider potential modifications to this methodology. IHS, along with other high schools in the region, will continue to consider options for the calculation of final grades and GPAs. Please note this approach to grading is being commonly employed across the nation and colleges will understand the methodology that is being implemented. To support students’ applications to college, IHS, like other schools, will develop a supplement to the school profile that will outline how our grading practices were adapted as a result of this international crisis.
Many thanks,
Juliet and Matt
