We hope that this communication finds you healthy and calm in the midst of a difficult situation. Thank you for your continued patience as we work to create a strong plan for distance learning and digital instruction. We plan to communicate frequently with you during this time and trust that you will continue to reach out to us with questions and concerns as they arise.
As a reminder to you all, Governor Roy Cooper has ordered all public schools closed from Monday, March 16-Monday, March 30. The school leadership team attended a webinar hosted by NCDPI and the NC Governor’s office yesterday afternoon. They shared with us that their expectation is that we spend the next two weeks preparing to shift to a virtual school model.
We are in what we are considering Phase 1 of this on-going situation. This first week of closure is for you as a family, more of what a snow or inclement weather day would typically feel like. As a school, our teachers are using this first week as instructional planning days so that we are prepared to roll out our virtual learning plan for everyone beginning on Monday, March 23.
As of now, Monday, March 23 will begin Phase 2 of our school closure plan. This is when we will start a daily schedule of learning opportunities for students, have all of our students check in with us, and begin engaging in our daily activities. We will be using the week of 3/23/20 to get everyone acquainted with the platform that we will be using and familiar with the structure and expectations of each day.
After that first week of instruction, we assume that we will have received further guidance from the state of North Carolina regarding our ability to reopen schools as scheduled, or if an extension of the school closure will be necessary. If an extension of the school closure is recommended, we will begin to move into Phase 3 of our virtual learning plan which will encompass more comprehensive lessons and activities for students since they will then hopefully be familiar with the virtual platform.
While your students are at home, we would like to share some tips that may help your days move more smoothly. The Centers for Disease Control offer some helpful guidelines for managing the stress surrounding this for your family. Creating a new structure and routine for these days that lack the day-to-day routine that school provides will be helpful for your students. Consider creating an easy-to-follow schedule and limiting screen time.
We know that we have families in our school community that need assistance during this time. We are creating plans for assistance with food and internet access and will be reaching out to specific families that we know have these needs within the next 48 hours. If you would like to donate money, Ingles gift cards, or food for our pantry, please email Lower School Counselor Ashlee Kinnaird (ashleekinnaird@icimagine.org).
We will also be publishing hours that the school is open if you need to come by for any reason, including to pick up Chromebooks, or get technical support for the Chromebooks that many of your students came home with on Friday. You can expect more communication from us about technology tomorrow (Tuesday, March 17) as we finalize schedules for support and pick up. Please note that aside from these published hours, our building will not be open for drop in visits as we are keeping our faculty home as much as possible in order to do our part to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and keep everyone in our community as safe as possible.
