Friday, August 28, 2020

Infographic - One Goal. Three Options.
Click here to download an English PDF of this infographic or click here to download a Spanish PDF


 
Dear Woodland Families:

Recently, you have received packets from your students’ schools with suggested schedules for the upcoming school year by grade level.

Please – do not panic or feel stress over these suggested schedules!

Woodland Public Schools, like all Washington school districts, is required to present a schedule that offers 333 minutes per day of instructional opportunities for our students. Given the busy schedules of our families, your learner will likely not be able to participate in some of them.

For example, you may choose to only focus on English Language Arts (ELA) and Math, doing more work some days than others. Additionally, it may take your learner significantly less time to finish the material presented in class. We also hear and feel your concerns regarding excessive screen time. Despite the need to return to school this fall with full remote learning, the state has, seemingly contradictory, asked districts to limit screen time, as well.

On September 1-3, you will have the opportunity to take part in intake conferences that will help us support each student and their individual circumstances. The goal of these meetings will be to help develop flexible and successful options that work for both our students and their families. Also, please remember we hope remote learning will only take place for a short time – Woodland Public Schools plans to reopen for on-site, in-person learning for those families who want and need it very soon.

Now is not the time to abandon your community schools! Our staff has worked diligently to make significant improvements to the remote learning experiment that was spring 2020. This fall will look completely different than the spring and we promise it will look and feel more like a traditional school with live online classes as well as the opportunity to learn asynchronously with recorded video lessons for families whose work schedules prevent their child(ren) from attending live. These are the same wonderful teachers and staff who rose to meet the crisis this past spring – they have worked and will continue to work hard to ensure remote learning feels as much like traditional school as possible for our students and families.

Once again, we want to assure our families that schedules are suggestions for how to organize your learner’s day. Your child’s teacher will work together with you to find a schedule and learning strategy that works for you. By working together as a team with all of us doing our best, we will provide a great learning experience this fall where students keep learning and everyone stays safe… and sane.

We thank the Woodland community for their faith, trust, and ongoing support in us to deliver for you during these unprecedented times. With your help, patience, understanding, and flexibility, we can and will make this a great year for Woodland Public Schools!

As always, we encourage you to stay up-to-date with the most recent information which will be posted to our COVID HQ website at www.woodlandschools.org/covid-hq