Tuesday, November 3 ~ From Ms. Corso

Happy Tuesday O’Dea Core Knowledge Elementary Families! 

I hope that everyone enjoyed their Halloween weekend…the temperatures were a bit kinder and it was nice to be able to be outside a bit…and to capitalize on the extra hour of 2020 that we were given!   We have been just clicking along here at school and have been doing amazing so far.  We appreciate your continued support and the sense of peace and normalcy that your children bring to us every day.

Each week I will try to keep you updated on important clarifications and provide any new scoop that is rolling out from our site…the district…or the state.  There have been a few questions about attendance so I thought I would clarify it here:

Students who do not come to school on their “in person” days will be marked absent.  We do encourage families to call and let us know and to provide the reason for the absence, so we know if the student is ill or if the family is out of town for example.  Our teachers will work to catch the student up for the work that they missed so that they stay on track with the rest of the class.

Students are also provided with work on their asynchronous days (not in person) when they are working from home.  Please note that a student will be marked absent even on their asynchronous days if they do not complete any work…or…they do not login for the synchronous part of the day (morning meeting).  Here are a couple of scenarios to help explain this:

“Frank logs in for the morning meeting or synchronous (live) teacher time and connects with his teacher and attends the morning session yet does not complete the work assigned for that day” – Frank is not marked absent.

*Please note:  The work that Frank missed during his asynchronous (at home) day will be made up at school on his synchronous day.  We simply must require this as our students cannot fall behind their peers…their learning is of primary importance and we will hold them accountable.  They may miss their recess…free time…or specials depending on how far they are behind to make up this work and their learning.

“Jacque does not login to any synchronous (live) instruction but completes the work assigned and turns it in the next day” – Jacque is not marked absent.

“Bettie does not login for morning meeting or any synchronous (live) teacher time and does not complete any work assigned for that day” - Bettie is marked absent for her asynchronous day.

*Please note:  The work that Bettie missed during her asynchronous (at home) day will be made up at school on her synchronous day.  We simply must require this as our students cannot fall behind their peers…their learning is of primary importance and we will hold them accountable.  They may miss their recess…free time…or specials depending on how far they are behind to make up this work and their learning.

I hope that offers some clarification.

We will be sending attendance letters home to families whose child has been marked absent 10 or more days.  These letters are required by the district as they monitor student attendance at the district level as well.  We do understand that some students have been ill and have been staying home to keep our school community safe...these illnesses/days out sick are marked accordingly in Synergy so we are aware of why they are out and do take this into consideration as well. 

Whew.

Please let me know if you have any questions…keep them coming…we are here to help.   

Much love and support,

Laurie

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