Dear SOCS Parents:
This is a follow-up to my message from earlier this morning regarding our plans in reaction to the Governor’s school closing proclamation.
To briefly review, Gov. Whitmer has closed all K-12 schools in the state beginning Monday, March 16 and scheduled them to resume (this subject to extension) on Monday, April 6.
At SOCS we plan to offer a full program of remote learning education
for grades K-8 beginning Monday, March 16 and extending through Wednesday, April 1. After our "normal" spring break we plan to return to regular instruction on Monday, April 13. (This is all subject to the public health situation as we move forward.) This closure also applies to our preschool. Please watch for remote learning information from Mrs. Dreyer.
The Elements, Purpose and Delivery of Our Remote Education Program
Our remote education program includes all of our regular subjects, except those taught by West Ottawa Public Schools (Art, Music, P.E. and Technology).
Our purpose is two-fold: to continue to move forward with learning in all subject areas and to safeguard the progress our students have already made this year. We want to move forward AND not slip backward.
We will deliver instructional packets digitally via the internet and/or physically via the mail or by “pick-up by appointment” with the SOCS school office. Later today your child’s teacher will send you information specific to your child’s program in his/her class. Information will also be available at
www.sochristian.org/parents
.
Communicating with Staff And Teachers the Rest of This Month
SOCS Regular Teacher and Office Hours
: Beginning next week, all teachers and the office will have regular M-F office hours from 8:00 am through noon. We will inform you if these hours need to be adjusted.
Digital or Telephone Please:
The purpose of this closure is to prevent the spread of a disease, not to inhibit communication between parent and teacher or student and teacher. We realize the special importance of communication among parents, students and teachers, especially in a time of remote learning. Your teacher will be suggesting ways for you to use technology or the telephone to keep in touch, including asking you to make a phone or digital appointment for such conversations.
Important:
any in-school face-to-face meeting between parent and teacher needs to be scheduled through the school office; there will be no “drop-ins” permitted. We will distribute our 3
rd
quarter report cards digitally by the end of next week. Finally, we have cancelled our regular March 23 Parent-Teacher conferences. We trust that over the next weeks parents and teachers will communicate about report card matters in other ways.
None of us has been through anything like this before. My prayer is that we can all demonstrate love and patience to each other as we navigate Godly living in these circumstances.
Bart Den Boer, Principal
We have been called to heal wounds, unite what has fallen apart, and bring home any who have lost their way. St Francis of Assisi
