Batavia School District 101 Sends Coronavirus Message To Families

Press release from Batavia Public School District 101:

BPS101 Families, Spanish

Please watch this short video for an overview of the learning modes for the second semester as well as an update on the rising COVID numbers in our region.

In July, we asked District families to make a decision about their preferred learning mode for their students: in-person or remote. Now that the second semester is approaching, we are offering families the opportunity to switch between remote and in-person classes.

If you wish to keep learning in your current mode, you do not need to take any action. Your student will continue to learn in their current mode for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year.

If you wish to make a change to your current mode, you need to fill out the Change Request Form. The new mode will be in effect from January 6th through the remainder of the 2020-21 school year. Unless you are contacted, your change will be honored and will be updated in PowerSchool prior to January 6th. You can choose to move from Remote to In-person, or from In-person to Remote. Complete the Change Request Form by November 20th to ensure your request will be honored. Any future requests will be addressed on an individual basis and are not promised to be approved. Moving from remote to in-person mode after November 20, and once the schedules have been made, is difficult and less likely to be approved.

Teacher assignments and curriculum

• Elementary: We will make every attempt to keep teacher assignments unchanged for elementary families who wish to keep their current mode. Those who request a change should be prepared for a teacher change. Remote and in-person teachers in a grade level follow the same curriculum, so the curricular impact of switching from one mode to another should be minimal.
• Middle School and High School: Teacher and course assignments are not affected by on-site or remote choice. Similar to the current situation, most classes will consist of both in-person and remote learners.

Considerations for in-person learning

If you select in-person learning, it is important that your family can be flexible. If your situation would be best suited to have a consistent schedule moving forward, or if you have health-related concerns within your household, we do not recommend the in-person learning option. The in-person learning options bear the risk of a mode change on a daily basis such as:

• Remote learning: It may be necessary for in-person learning to pivot to remote learning to ensure the health and safety of the students and staff. These “adaptive pauses” can be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks or more.
• Hybrid Learning: Unless the guidelines from the Illinois Department of Public Health change, in-person learners will remain on a Crimson/Gold Hybrid schedule for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year. Most specifically, the recommendation of keeping desks six feet apart makes it impossible for us to accommodate a full roster of students in one sitting. We will maintain the current Crimson/Gold alternating day schedule for the second semester. The exact rotation can be found here. Other hybrid models were considered, but the rotations resulted in increased time between in-person learning days for students. To keep the curriculum moving forward during hybrid, avoiding multiple days in a row of remote learning for a student is preferred.
• Everyday learning: Some groups have previously been identified to learn in-person every day. Those groups will continue to be everyday learners. The only other group that has been identified to bring back every day is first grade. We will communicate separately with those families if and when we are able to make this happen for first grade.

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to navigate through this pandemic.

Be well,

BPS101

This press release was produced by Batavia Public School District 101. The views expressed here are the author’s own.