Good afternoon-
The news and current situation regarding the spread of COVID-19 continues to evolve faster day by day which inhibits effective and current communication from myself in efforts to keep you adequately updated.
During the last few days, our teachers and staff have been working diligently to create, organize, and ready to roll out what has now been coined as "Distance Learning". School districts and high schools have invested enormous amounts of time, funding, and professional development to create such programming. Our passionate and dedicated staff is preparing OLP's Distance Learning Plan which will deliver high-quality education, off-campus if the COVID-19 pandemic puts us in that situation.
Timeline Moving Forward
Our Lady of Peace School will be closed to students starting Tuesday, March 17th.
Tuesday, March 17th through Thursday, March 19th will be planning and preparing days for our teaching staff to further prepare for OLP's Distance Learning Plan. There will be no Distance Learning for ELP-8th grade those days.
Friday, March 20th through Friday, March 27th is OLP's Spring Break. There will be no Distance Learning during these dates.
As of right now, our plan is to have students return to school on Monday, March 30th. If we have to remain closed for a longer duration, Monday, March 30th will be our first day of Distance Learning.
OLP's Distance Learning Plan
Currently, we are finalizing details of how OLP will implement our Distance Learning Plan if necessary. Below is an idea of what you can expect from our Distance Learning.
Early Learning Program students and families should expect daily/weekly packets of activities, resources, and ideas to work with your students to further their curriculum knowledge regarding numbers, sounds, and colors.
Kindergarten through 4th-grade students, who do not have a sibling in the middle school, will be receiving an OLP Chromebook. These will not be available until the end of day Tuesday, March 17th. Students who do have a sibling in the middle school will need to share their Chromebook with them. Elementary students will receive instruction via parents' email addresses but also Google Classroom via the Chromebook. Further detail and explanation will be communicated shortly.
**If you only have an elementary school student(s) (Kindergarten through 4th grade) you can pick up your OLP Chromebook between 2:30 PM and 6:00 PM Tuesday, March 17th.
Middle school students will be engaged in Distance Learning via Google Classroom almost exclusively. They will be expected to check in with each content class daily. An outline of their anticipated schedule will be distributed if that time comes.
Conferences
Conferences for later this week have been canceled. Instead of face to face conferences, teachers will communicate via email your student's individual progress.
Again, thank you for your support, patience, and dedication to OLP in this time of unchartered waters. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out to me at pberry@olpmn.org or by replying directly to this email.
God Bless,
Paul Berry