BVSD Additional Information about Learning in Phase 3

Dear Boulder Valley School District Families,

Following Wednesday's announcement, we know that there are still a lot of questions regarding what school will look like this fall.

We are extending the deadline to Sunday, July 26 to let us know if your student is opting out of in-person learning – we wanted to provide a little more information about what Phase 3 will look like at each level

ACTION NEEDED: Sunday is the extended deadline to opt students out of in-person learning If you are certain that you do not want your student to attend in-person learning, please go to Infinite Campus today and update your in-person learning preferences within IC.

Families who do not complete this form in IC will be expected to attend in-person learning opportunities provided this fall-- pending the Phase of Reintroduction.

Before we begin, I want to share that data on student opt-outs will significantly impact our ability to accurately assess what we can safely and realistically offer at each school.

That is why it is crucially important that we hear back from you today, if you intend to opt-out of in-person learning for an online-only experience at your home school.

 

Learning Updates By Level
 

Elementary School

Our plan at the elementary school level is to provide five days of learning, with the opportunity for students to attend two-days in-person. 

In-Person Learning
Students who plan to attend in-person will be placed in two cohorts with Group A coming to class Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Group B attending on Thursdays and Fridays. The remainder of the time will be spent in Home Learning as shown in this diagram: 

Students who opt-out of in-person learning
Students who remain at their school, but choose to opt-out of in-person learning will be provided with Home Learning taught by a teacher from their school. 

We are exploring several options for how this might work, including the possibility that at times, students at home may be able to join in-person learning through technology. The district is in the process of acquiring equipment that would allow this, but it is difficult to procure since many schools are working on standing up similar options.

We have been actively working all summer to build a comprehensive set of resources to support home learning including 30 curriculum units across all grades PK-12 and a bank of over 1,000 video lessons recorded by BVSD master teachers and aligned to our curriculum. Additionally, we are also looking at how Boulder Universal curriculum/lessons might be integrated into the Home Learning being provided by each school.

Child Care
BVSD is working diligently to provide childcare for families who need it. All sites that have had School Age Care (SAC) will continue to do so in 2020-21, including those sites run by the YMCA. Final details on space availability, pricing and registration will be available shortly as public health guidelines are incorporated with the program structure.

If you need child care on home learning days, please update your preferences for in person learning preferences within IC. 
 

Middle School

What will this look like for in-person learners?
Students who plan to attend in-person will be placed in two groups with Group A coming to class Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Group B attending on Thursdays and Fridays. The remainder of the time will be spent in Home Learning as shown in this diagram: 

Traditional Middle Schools: Our plan at traditional (6th - 8th grade) middle schools is to provide in-person learning focused on two core classes for a length of four weeks each. This will allow students to complete seven classes, over the course of the first semester (end of December). 

As seen in the diagram below, we will be grouping two classes during each four-week session. During the first session there will be a transition class and one core class. 

Week 1-4	Week 5-8	Week 9-12	Week 13-16
Transition Block	Class 2	Class 4	Class 6
Class 1	Class 3	Class 5	Class 7

 

PK-8 Schools: If your child attends a PK-8 school, their schedule will be modified to better parallel the elementary programming at the school. Currently the plan is to have three classes a day during in-person instruction.
  

Home Learning for in-person learners
Meanwhile, during the three days of Home Learning students participating in in-person learning will receive additional support on their core classes. So, students will continue to learn course-work from the classes taught in person, as well as having access to additional content.

What will this look like for online-only learners?
Students who remain at their school, but choose to opt-out of in-person learning will be provided with Home Learning taught by a teacher from their school. 

We are exploring several options for how this might work, including the possibility that at times, students at home may be able to join in-person learning through technology. The district is in the process of acquiring equipment that would allow this, but it is difficult to procure since many schools are working on standing up similar options.

We are also looking at how Boulder Universal curriculum/lessons might be integrated into the Home Learning being provided by each school.

Please Note: Middle School online learners will receive focused online content based on the schedule of their assigned cohort (see graphics above).

High School

Please accept my apologies for the lack of clarity in Wednesday’s Reintroduction Update. The high school information was a little vague and confusing. 

First and foremost, we are planning on having in-person learning for our high school students.  

We intend to group high school students in two groups: Group A on Tuesday and Wednesday and Group B on Thursday and Friday, as shown in the diagram below: 

 

We are considering two options at this time, both of which would provide the opportunity for up to eight classes over two days:

Scenario 1: A 4X4 based on a block schedule. Students would follow classes 1-4 on the first in person day and classes 5-8 on the second in person day. Monday would be to launch learning for the week. The students will connect to their remote learning on the other two days. 

Scenario 2: This is dependent on a variety of factors and would be implemented if we needed to limit the group numbers even more than the current acceptable group size. In this scenario, we would stay in phase 3 and move to a 2X2 block schedule that would limit the number of transitions that students would have during the school day and provide longer time in the course in a week and less time over the term.  

In both scenarios, the students would still end the term with 8 classes. 

Please Note: the offerings may vary from school to school and depending on the number of students that plan to participate in in-person learning. That is why it is crucially important that we hear back from you, if you intend to opt out of in-person learning for an online-only experience.

Boulder TEC
We are excited to announce that we will still be offering classes at Boulder TEC this fall and – good news – busing will still be available from our home schools to the center.

Since we are unable to cross different cohorts, students who take Boulder TEC classes will take their core classes online through their home school, in a special partnership with Boulder Universal. In other words, these students will remain in their home high school. They DO NOT need to enroll in Boulder Universal.

Open Campus
We know that many of our students typically take advantage of open campuses at lunch time and off periods. Unfortunately, due to health precautions we are working to avoid having students interact with additional people outside of the cohorts. As a result we are looking at closing our campuses and in some cases structuring classes in a way where students will be finished with class in time for lunch.

Again, a lot will depend on the data that we get back from families and employees this week. Different schools may need to modify, based on their community’s needs. Stay tuned!

Your choice impacts schools and your teachers
We respect our families’ decisions, but we do want to share that going forward there are impacts to our schools and their staffing.  By remaining with us, whether that is at your home school (in person or online) or Boulder Universal, your students’ funding (and staffing) will remain in the Boulder Valley School District. 

Stick with us. You can expect the Boulder Valley School District to partner with parents to continue to improve the way we deliver communication and meet families needs, as we always have.

School Staff begin returning next week
We know that many of you trust and rely on our school staff for guidance and information during times like this. We have heard from many families frustrated that they cannot reach school staff, since schools are currently closed for Summer Break.

Please know that our principals and their staff will begin returning to our high schools next week. We ask that you do not inundate them with questions at this time, as they too are getting up to speed with the recent announcement and determining how Phase 3 will work in their specific buildings.

You can expect to hear from them the week of August 3, but in the meantime we ask that you utilize the resources the district is setting up to keep everyone informed, including our Back Together BVSD reintroduction website and specifically the Frequently Asked Questions.

Additionally, starting next week we will begin providing weekly updates to keep you informed, so you know what we know, in real time.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. We are committed to keeping you updated and partnering to meet the needs of our students.
 

Sincerely,

Margaret Crespo
Area Superintendent and Reintroduction Taskforce - Academic Lead
Boulder Valley School District