Dear Parents:

I now have a much deeper understanding of the term "March Madness" and I am so glad that in my previous e-mail I stated, "We are going to err on the side of communicating quickly rather than perfectly, so anticipate updates and/or corrections if this situation changes within our community." Changes are coming by the minute.

These are truly interesting times but reflecting back, I am pleased that we held a virtual day in November to get ready for such a situation, although our thinking was for snow days. We have worked diligently to incorporate all your feedback in an effort to improve the effectiveness of a virtual learning environment, and I hope that it is proving to be much more effective.

That said, I need your help. Please emphasize to your students that this time away from school is not a premature start to spring break. We implemented these virtual days in an effort to keep our students on-task with their academic program, and not extending the school year until July. Please be sure that your students are working every day on their school work. Treat each day as a school day as they are held accountable for the work now and on a daily basis.  

Additionally, make sure that they check into school every day as that is how we will verify attendance. For health concerns, we have a very limited staff at school, so please email attendance@spx.org    if a student is not going to be able to do their classwork by 3:00 pm.

Also, we are asking parents to stay off Power School Learning completely during the day. We have discovered that parent activity added to the already heavy student activity is bogging down the system. Have your students share with you as they work or access it later in the evening when the access loads might be reduced.

Yes, these are trying times, but by working together we will make this situation workable. I especially appreciate the work of our teachers who have put in many extra hours in preparation for the delivery of engaging, meaningful work thru PowerSchool Learning and other virtual learning avenues.

Know that each of you are in our prayers as we navigate such uncharted waters together.