March 20 9:10 a.m.

ToledoTel: I want to take just a moment to thank our friends at ToledoTel. When the Governor closed schools and it was clear that some of our students would not have internet access, Dale Merten and the team at ToledoTel cross checked the addresses of all of our students with their list of customers. Those who did not have access were called by ToledoTel and given free, 100mb service for the duration of the shutdown.

ToledoTel has been out since the beginning of this week helping us meet our mission of each child, each day each classroom. In addition, for those families outside of ToledoTel's service area, Dale and his team have been referring them to resources that can provide similar service. This is just one example of the many things that ToledoTel does for our school district and our community. On behalf of all of us, THANK YOU ToledoTel!
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Happy first day of Spring! Here's your Friday update:

Enrichment: Teachers continue to support families engaged in enrichment activities at home. I'm seeing some amazing work by our teachers with video lessons and support as well as links to activities.

THS staff continue to work to develop solutions for our Seniors. We're expecting guidance from the State Board of Ed and OSPI next week on allowable adjustments to requirements. In the meantime, we're looking at what each student needs in order to graduate and making plans to provide that. We're also looking at how grades will be assigned so that student GPAs don't suffer as a result of this event. Advisory teachers will be in touch with Class of 2020.

Special Education staff are engaged in solving some of the issues around keeping IEPs and evaluations current. In addition, we're exploring ways to provide specially designed instruction (including speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy). This is evolving and like many of the other challenges we've faced, I know we'll find a way to overcome them.

Our transportation department is working with principals and teachers to develop a way to get materials out to students so that the activities that can't be provided online can get to families. Watch for information from your teacher.

Food Service: We're planning to serve 180 meals today. These are meals for the weekend. Monday will have two deliveries- one for Monday meals and the other (in the afternoon) for Tuesday meals. Our food service department is not able to provide menues because they are dealing with food shortages from our suppliers. The team is planning day-to-day at this time. One example is milk. Only chocolate milk is available to us right now. We're hoping that our kids won't be too unhappy with this challenge.

Childcare: This is on hold right now pending more support from the State. I'm told that with many families at home, there are spaces available in some of our local daycares. I encourage families who need childcare to contact them.

Board Meeting: We conducted our first remote board meeting last night. Using Zoom software, we were able to conduct a full meeting without having to be in the same room. Several community members were "in attendance" and while audio public comment wasn't feasible, the Board is always accepting written public comment. Send yours to me at crust@toledoschools.us. I send your comments to the Board right away and include a copy in the correspondence section of the next Board meeting packet. This makes it a public document and all can see it. I expect that our next meeting will also be conducted in this fashion.