From Robert L. Bowser Superintendent:
After much thought, deliberation, and phone conversations with various stakeholders, we are going to FULL REMOTE LEARNING beginning Wednesday, August 19th. Our school community has done a fantastic job to make the building a safe place to be. However, the decision making has been determined off the spike Wabash County has seen over the last week, as well as the need/desire to keep all individuals in our school community safe and obtaining an outstanding education. We could, right now, continue on and wait until we are faced with COVID-positive situations. The Board of Education and Superintendent Bob Bowser do not want to put any of our faculty, staff, or students in a compromising situation. So, we will full remote learn from August 19-28. Now, please understand, Mr. Bowser and the Board of Education will re-evaluate the situation in Wabash County concerning COVID-19 to determine if it is safe enough to go back to in-person learning on August 31st. If it isn't, we will continue to remote learn for a newly determined time period. WE WILL GO BACK TO IN-PERSON LEARNING WHEN IT IS DEEMED SAFE ENOUGH TO DO SO.
So let's look at it this way, we get to test full remote learning and give our community a chance to get this pandemic under control again. I know many of you will wonder what the schedule will look like academically. I still expect, and know our teachers will provide the best education our students can receive. We will have some bumps to deal with, but I still want it as close to the real deal as possible. Our school day will be from 8:00 am - 3:00 pm. Livestream instruction will take place for 2nd-8th grade from 8:15 am - 11:35 am. Teachers will have office hours from 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm, in which they will work with their students in one-on-one, small group, or even whole class situations. We will be emailing parents and students a schedule of how their school day will look later today.
We will be providing breakfast and lunch for all of our students throughout full remote learning. The students, and parent, will have access to the student email address in which the form will be sent. The first form will come out around 4 pm today, which will be for Wednesday lunch and Thursday breakfast. All students need to find the form in their email or Google Classroom and fill it out, even if not eating breakfast or lunch. This will continue to be on the free, reduced, and full pay schedule. Parents and students will have the option to have the meals delivered or pick up at the back door. Delivery will begin around 11:00 am and pick up at the back door will be from 11:00-12:00. Please make sure to read all the information on the form and have it submitted by 8:00 am each morning.
Concerning attendance, kindergarten and first grade parents will need to email your teacher and the office (scourter@allendaleschool.net) by 9 am to be considered present for the day. Your teacher for those grades will be in contact with academic instruction. For 2nd-8th grade students, attendance will be determined by your appearance in the livestream instructional periods. Parents, please continue to contact the school by phone or email if your child has symptoms and/or a positive COVID test.
Fall sports (baseball, softball, and cross country) will continue as currently constructed until further notice. This can change at any time. For fans that will be attending games or meets, at the present time we will follow IDPH and SIJHSAA guidelines.
Here’s to hoping we can get this pandemic under control in the county, so we can get back to in-person learning.