RTL Update – Building Plans / Phased Hybrid Calendar
Here is the latest information around Return to Learn for the 2020-2021 school year.
Read this announcement in Spanish or Arabic.
Building Plans:
Today, you will receive building-level implementation plans for the start of the 2020-2021 school year. Please know that these are fluid documents as each building is continuing to develop details around what school will look like this fall. We will also be posting each plan on our website at the following URL.
https://ames.k12.ia.us.staging2.juiceboxint.com/district/district/return-to-learn/return-learn-plan/
Phased Hybrid Model to Start the School Year
On Monday, the school board voted to start the 2020-2021 school year with a phased-in hybrid delivery model. The phased-in approach will last 4 weeks with students being assigned into four cohorts labeled 1 – 4. After the four week phased-in approach, the four groups will be combined into two groups with 50% of instruction over a two-week period taking place on-site. Here is what the phased-in approach will look like for the first four weeks of school. As a reminder, school will begin across the District on Tuesday, September 8.
Cohort Group and Class Teacher?
Two of the most common questions around the phased-in approach is “when will I know what cohort my student is in?” and “who will my student’s teacher be this year?” Because online request forms are continuing to come in, that information has a ripple effect on how we assign students into classes. The online request form will remain open with a deadline of August 17. Although we are looking at class sizes now, these particular questions will not be answered until after that date. More to come on this.
Online Request Forms:
As mentioned above, the online request form will be open with a deadline of August 17. These forms are to request 100% online instruction. If you are prepared to select the 100% online option, we encourage you to read the Q & A on our website before doing so. There will be opportunities to move between on-site and online instruction. We will have more information on that next week.
https://ames.k12.ia.us.staging2.juiceboxint.com/2020/07/official-form-request-online-learning/
Department of Education Permission Request:
Next week, we will be officially submitting our request for permission from the Department of Education to start the school year in a phased hybrid delivery model.
What to Expect Next Week:
As we continue to develop plans for the 2020-2021 school year, we want to provide a list of a few items that you can expect next week.
- District Metrics for Decision-Making
- Timeline for Requests to Transition from Remote to On-site Learning
- Face Covering Policy Details
Building Level Community Meetings:
Next week, each school building will be holding their own virtual webinar to answer building specific questions around Return to Learn. Below are the dates, times, and Zoom links for each session.
Tuesday, August 11 – Northwood Preschool (4:30 p.m.) – Zoom
Tuesday, August 11 – Fellows Elementary(6:00 p.m.) – Zoom
Tuesday, August 11 – Ames High School (7:30 p.m.) – Zoom
Wednesday, August 12 – Meeker Elementary (4:30 p.m.) – Zoom
Wednesday, August 12 – Mitchell Elementary (6:00 p.m.) – Zoom
Wednesday, August 12 – Ames Middle School (7:30 p.m.) – Zoom
Thursday, August 13 – Edwards Elementary (4:30 p.m.) – Zoom
Thursday, August 13 – Sawyer Elementary (6:00 p.m.) – Zoom