Expect to receive a more extensive Charter News later this week but until then I wanted to give everyone a brief update.
As you know through Dr. Bruton's emails, all schools in Santa Cruz County will be closed all next week, March 16-20. This decision was made in concurrence with the Santa Cruz Public Health Director, Dr. Gail Newel. Under this tough situation, the Charter teachers and students are doing an amazing job of staying positive and planning for the best in uncharted territory this virus has thrown us in.
This past Friday, was a regular school day -based on each program's format. I was able to visit students in classrooms, talk to teachers of all of the programs, and hear from many of the students in the Nature Academy. It was wonderful to hear the creative ideas that the teachers have to keep the students collaborating, upbeat, and active in their learning in the coming week. It was so inspiring to see how connected the students are with each other and their teachers. This positive attitude is what we plan to maintain. It may be a crazy, uncertain and unsettling time, but we are determined to keep your students as academically engaged and bonded as a class as possible.
The Charter staff will work together, and with their program teams to determine how best to support your students through the school closure. All teachers will need to make at least some modifications to the way that they engage with their students and give them their curriculum; whether they are used to meeting with their students two, three, four, or five days a week. The first two days are designed for us to refine the remote learning materials and processes we will be using in our various programs. (Many of the students and teachers shared ways to work in this new format Friday of last week.)
Wednesday through Friday our programs will be working with all students by teaching them through a remote learning format. For our homeschool-hybrid programs, this means that the format will be more homeschooling, with the teachers emailing/connecting with their families and students more often during the days that students are used to attending on-site. (For the Nature Academy students, that means that the teachers will be emailing your students their learning on a daily, regular basis.) I know that you have already received emails from your teachers. They will be sending more information at the beginning of next week.
Please look at your email through the weekend and Monday as these plans could change at any time.
I will be emailing you more soon. Until then, take care and stay healthy.
~Rhonda