Madison Schools April-May School Closure Plan

Friday, April 3, 2020 at 11:21 AM

By Madison Consolidated Schools Release

The remainder of our school year will be completed using eLearning and will conclude on May 22, 2020.

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(Madison, Ind.) - Today, Dr. Jennifer McCormick, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, provided an update to the plan for the remainder of the instructional year for all Indiana school districts. Effective immediately, all schools will be closed for face-to-face instruction for the remainder of the scheduled school year. Per the state requirement released today, students must complete 160 days of instruction.

The remainder of our school year will be completed using eLearning and will conclude on May 22, 2020. A detailed weekly plan is included.

What does this mean for my student?

At this time, we are awaiting follow up documentation from the Indiana Department of Education on what exactly this means for all students. As we receive and digest the information we will pass along more specific details in the next few days.

Seniors: We are in the process of determining exactly what the Indiana Department of Education’s increased “flexibility” means for you. Please continue to do assignments until otherwise directed. FINISH STRONG!

Grades 7 - 11: if you are currently enrolled in classes earning high school credits, you must complete the course(s) with at least a passing grade in order to receive the class credit. Your final course grade will be determined based on your completed work.

Grades PK-6: Please continue to work hard and do your eLearning assignments. Your teachers miss seeing you in person every day and are working hard to provide you with the very best instruction under these difficult circumstances.

We realize this is a very trying time for our families and certainly not an ideal situation for anyone, for any number of reasons. What I would like to ask you to remember is that we have one another and we will get through this together. MCS is well-positioned to execute an effective digital learning landscape over the long-term.

While not ideal, and never intended to be used past a short-term period, we have a solid plan and a very viable option to help our students retain and refresh curriculum they have been learning up to this point while exploring and exercising crucial time management skills. Our building administrators and teachers are trying to be flexible and accommodating to make sure we are meeting each family where they are in terms of technology, needs assessments, and supportive resources to make sure each of our students can be successful during this time.

Every single aspect of life as we know it from our families, to work situations, to business models, and education has been turned upside down in the last month. Each aspect has had to adapt quickly, some with large sacrifice. We have seen resiliency and outreach in many, many areas to support our front line responders and care for those in dire need. Our food service teams have been working to prepare meals for an increasing number of our students. They served 2,006 meals the week before spring break to 2,876 meals this week. We are working with our internet provider to explore possible solutions to boost our reach and provide out of the box solutions where internet service is available. We are doing our best to make your child’s education the best it can be at this time, to provide some structure and stability where we can, and most importantly - keep in touch and take care of one another in our new digital classrooms.

With today’s news from the state on the extended use of eLearning and the waiver of state-level testing expectations, we have a little more flexibility and less pressure to rely solely on digital delivery of critical curriculum for the purpose of standardized and end of year assessments. We are asking our teachers to be more creative and they are rising to the challenge of finding ways to deliver lessons which are enriching and exciting; this is something you should see more and more of. Please be mindful that they are also learning and experimenting with options, so we encourage you and your student to be patient and enjoy the process.

We do not expect you to homeschool your child. What we do ask of you is that you hold them accountable. Make sure they have a space to do their work, ask them to show you what they are doing, how they are doing it, and make sure they are meeting turn in deadlines for their classes.

Please understand there are a number of questions that we simply do not have answers for at this time. We are receiving information from state authorities and are well-positioned to continue to implement eLearning as a local solution. We are still anxiously awaiting state-level guidance on some pretty large topics. As soon as we know more, we will pass it along. In the meantime, we appreciate your patience and understanding.

We have done our best to capture all of the information we think will be helpful for the next month as we work to continue to provide an enriching, digital learning environment. At any time, you can reach out to your teachers, our technology support team, or building administrator with questions.

PLEASE take a moment and read it in its entirety.

At this time, all buildings, campuses, and facilities remain closed until at least May 22: We will continue to be closed for face-to-face instruction through the remainder of this academic year.

Academic Hybrid Plan Specifics for the remainder of the year

April 6 - 10, 2020 **please note deviation from normal schedule due to holiday

● Monday and Tuesday - State Waiver Days - no online learning requirements

● Wednesday and Thursday - eLearning Days