Dear RMS Parents and Families,
I hope everyone has had a great week. Here are some updates and information as we head into the weekend:
1. Attendance – We appreciate the feedback we received from the parent survey last week. One of the areas of concern was around how often students were asked to complete something for attendance purposes. I want to provide some explanation for that, but you should see things improving with this as we continue to move forward.
The first 20 days of school (Typically the first 10 days) are critical in accounting for all students. The number of teaching positions we earn and our school budget are connected to the number of students enrolled in our school. Due to remote learning, it was even more important that we capture attendance. Additionally, we were given the directive of being required to enter attendance for each class period.
Please remember that in order for students to be marked as present they must be attending live instruction.
2. Interims – Around this time we would typically be preparing interim reports for the first quarter. Due to remote learning and the timeline for first quarter we will not be printing interims. Instead, you should be checking Powerschools to monitor the progress of your child. Please see additional information about this in the next item.
3. Grades – We have many students who are not completing assignments. As teachers begin to enter grades into Powerschools students will receive a 0 if it has not been turned in. You are able to see this by logging into Powerschools. If you are unable to log into Powerschools you can ask your child to do so. They may tell you they don’t know how, but they do ;) If your child currently has a missing assignment they may turn it in and teachers will still grade it. Their grade will be updated in Powerschools once it is submitted.
It’s hard to believe, but we only about two weeks away from the end of first quarter. This means time is growing short for students to get work completed and turned in. Please be sure to speak to your child about the status of their current assignments. It is also important to know that students may have work that needs to be completed on asynchronous days (non-live instruction days).
4. Open House – Stay tuned for more information about a possible open house. This will be virtual and optional. We are looking at creating a variety of sessions you may choose from, which may be helpful as you continue to support your child during this time of remote learning.
5. Remote Learning Days – Tuesday, September 29th and Wednesday, September 30th have been designated by WCPSS as “Remote Learning Days”. These are five days spread throughout the year that were required by North Carolina.
These are asynchronous days (non-live instruction days) and teachers will be providing additional information to students soon.
6. Track-Out – We have our first track out coming up. It will begin on October 1stand last October 16th.
7. Clubs – We are work on providing some possible opportunities for virtual clubs. We know that providing extra-curricular opportunities for students is important and are working to navigate this during the period of remote learning. We hope to be able to share more information soon.
8. Follow-Up to Appropriate Online Behavior – Please see the message below from WCPSS:
School is different this year, with students learning remotely outside of the controlled school environment. However, our behavioral expectations for online learning are the same as if students were on campus. While students are learning remotely, our virtual classrooms, online meetings, and work spaces are extensions of our school environment. We are committed to promoting positive student behavior by offering a broad range of supports, interventions, and consequences to address problem behaviors. Please review with your child our expectations for student behavior, consequences, and due process.
Sincerely,
Thaddeus Sherman
Principal
Rolesville Middle School
