August 21, 2020

Dear Bishop Families ~

I would like to thank everyone who was able to attend last Tuesday evening’s Bishop
Parent Information Session. Although this presentation was comprehensive, there are
still many questions coming in. In order to continue to provide you with as much
information as possible, the APS Elementary Principal’s group has put together this
follow-up document (FAQ). We hope this gives you more clarity as you make the best
learning plan choice for your child(ren).

It is important to remember that both the remote and hybrid models are designed by
APS educators and will follow the same curriculum. Administrators and teachers have
undergone a great deal of professional development over this past summer in order
to inform their teaching.

Detailing the Hybrid Model

In the new school year 2020-2021, teachers will be taking attendance, will be
providing direct instruction, providing feedback and grading student work in both the
remote or hybrid model. “Teachers” will mean all of our adults who work in the
building. On remote days in the hybrid model, the adult who takes attendance and
runs the morning meeting might be a paraprofessional. Some of the instruction
delivered on that day may be with a PE teacher, for example. The “live” connections
made with an adult may be 10 or 15 minutes and designed to be quite targeted, in
order to set the students up for individualized and independent work. Reading and
math support may also happen on those days. The specific schedules will be shared
with you once our school year has begun.

Here are a few facts about the hybrid model based on questions that were asked this
week:

• This hybrid plan offers flexibility in keeping students 6 feet apart in class and
everywhere in the building. Students will still remain in their assigned
classrooms with their teachers.
• Students will be assigned to either Cohort A or Cohort B; they will attend class
in person during their assigned cohort designated days.
• Students will stay home during their assigned cohort remote learning days and
complete their assignments on those days through: morning meetings; check-
ins; Google Classroom assignments; pre-recorded video of lessons; small group
 conversations supervised by TAs and/or other support staff; student directed
tasks; and one-to-one as scheduled by individual teachers.
• It is anticipated that students will participate in two 40 minute specials with a
specialist teacher (PE, Music, Library, Art, and/or technology).
• Wednesdays will be a half day of remote, live instruction with classroom
teachers.
• As a baseline, we will use alphabetical order to determine cohorts, placing
students in the “high needs” categories first. These cohorts will be split as
evenly as possible.
• Hybrid classes will stay together with their classroom teacher if there is the
need to transition to full remote learning.

• It is the expectation that social emotional learning (SEL) will be embedded into
all interactions in every class, everyday, for all students.

• Students identified as having high needs such as students with disabilities who
spend 25% or greater of their time in substantially separate classroom settings;
and students who are English Learners at WIDA level 1, 2, 3 will be invited to
attend school 4 days per week.
• Students and families will receive training on how to prepare for new health
and safety guidelines at school, including mask wearing, social distancing, and
hand washing.

Hybrid Health and Safety Protocols

Many questions have been asked with respect to health and safety protocols. We
encourage all families to review this joint memo issued by DESE and DPH. A few
questions that have been covered in information sessions but that we want to make
sure are clear, have to do with health and safety protocols. Guidance around student
and staff quarantines are described in this memo and center around the proximity and
duration a “close contact” had with a person who tests positive. In short, anyone who
comes within 6 feet for longer than 15 minutes with someone who tests positive will
be required to quarantine for 14 days. Additional guidance is given on contact tracing,
privacy and testing.

We want to reiterate that the district has already in stock the PPE that is needed for
teachers and students once school begins. We do ask that students bring their own
masks each day, but will have plenty of backups, as well as hand sanitizer, soap, and
other cleaning supplies for our custodians to use throughout the day. Mask breaks will
happen outside as much as is possible and the classes will be scheduled for these each
day. We hope to use the outside spaces, in general, as much as we can. On poor
weather days, larger open spaces like the gym and the cafeteria will be used. We will
work with students who have trouble with their masks and following the expectations.
It may take time for some, but we will help and support them in a non-punitive way
so all present in school can feel safe.

Recess will be outside. Students in the remote by choice model should not come to
school during the day to use outside spaces. After school programs at each school will
continue to be in session, so will be using the outside spaces. When school or
afterschool programs are not in session, the playgrounds will continue to be open,
unless restrictions are put in place in the future. On the topic of afterschool, families
who were registered but who are now choosing remote will not lose their spot in the
future. If you have questions please direct them to the program director.

Detailing the Remote by Choice Model

Many families are wondering if the remote by choice model has more time with the
classroom teacher and that live sessions will be more frequent. This is true, as those
students will work with their teacher for 4.5 days of the week. However, we do want
to make it clear that those remote by choice days will not be fully online. There will be
a mix of live and recorded lessons, as well as other platforms we are using to support
math and reading. There will also be work done off of the screen. We will work to find
a balance. For all remote learning, we will do our best to provide materials for home
when the work is not on a computer.

We hope to provide additional guidance and optional training sessions for families
about remote education in the weeks and months to come. Please look at our remote
model schedules for examples of what these days might look like.

A few additional questions that are quick and easy include:

• Will students still be able to purchase lunch? Yes, lunch will be eaten in the
classrooms and/or outside. Free and reduced lunch will also continue to be
available to students on remote days and for students who are remote by
choice.
• Should twins be placed together? Multiples will be placed together in a cohort
at the family’s request. Please send an email with your request if you are
choosing the hybrid model.
 • Will the students who attend school 4 days be separated from their peers? No,
the students who attend 4 days will be a part of a cohort that is balanced and
will be with peers and a grade level classroom teacher.

Many of your questions were answered during our Family Information session. The
recording of that session was previously shared, but is also found here, as well as the
slides presented.

Recording of Family Information Session

Slides from Presentation

Many of the questions are also answered in the APS school reopening plan, so please
use that as a reference, as well.

APS Fall Plan 2020

When you are ready to make your decision, please use the form linked here:

Program Commitment Letter and Link to Form

We know that not every question has been answered, but we hope that we shared
enough for you to be able to make this choice. Please do so by midnight on Sunday,
August 23rd.

Emails are being sent now to our families who have students who we are asking to
come to school for 4 days. Once we see the numbers next week and know what space
we have available, we will send out an additional round of emails to families. The
emails going out this week (and before Sunday evening) will be for students who have
an IEP that is moderate or high need, and ELL students at a level of 1, 2, or 3. We are
waiting on information on essential workers and what qualifies as an essential worker.
We hope to receive guidance on that soon.

We will share classroom placements and cohorts as soon as we are able. Additional
family meetings will be scheduled for September and before school opens. The first
day of school for all students is September 21st, as our waiver has been granted.

Thank you, and have a wonderful weekend!

My Best,

Mark