March 27 4 p.m.

We've had some great successes this week!

Instruction: Within 2 hours of the announcement to provide more than enrichment to our students, teachers were working to push out lessons and assignments via the internet and packets. There was lots of concern about "grading". TES is electing to continue their practice of providing feedback to students. There is research evidence that grades actually limit student learning. Once a student is given a grade, they tend to stop learning more- regardless of the grade. Feedback on the other hand, gives students encouragement on what to do next and is associated with higher rates of engagement and learning over time. TMS and THS are choosing to transcript either Credit or No Credit for courses during the shutdown. This insulates students' GPAs and athletic eligibility during this unusual time. Each teacher in the district will continue to have their own practice on assessment and feedback. For more on this, please consult your child's teacher or principal.

Mrs. Cannon's 1st grade zoom meeting today

ToledoTel reports that all families in their service area that are also in the Toledo School District have been connected to the internet. TSD has loaned nearly 50 devices to families with access but no device. We have additional devices to loan if your family still has a need. We're working hard to identify families that are not connected so that arrangements can be made to provide packets of lessons. If you know someone in this situation, please ask them to call Heather Ogden at TMS. She is compiling a roster of these families so that we can make arrangements to serve them.

Mr. Hopf and his team at TES are responsible for the Learning Assistance Program (LAP). This team supports students with additional Math and English (ELA) help. Mr. Hopf reported today:

"I just wanted you to know that starting next week our LAP department will be offering targeted standard based ELA intervention to 171 LAP students in grades K-5. We will be calling families to help them log in to their Mobymax account. Our goal is to reach out to our students on a weekly basis to see how they are doing and to check if there is anything we (or their teacher) can do to help them. We will communicate any special needs to their teacher if need be through email. I am putting together a template that my staff and I will use when calling home and will plan on us beginning calls by the middle of next week. 

I am so proud of my LAP staff! They have all been working hard to help me, our school and students. They are all on the front lines delivering meals .... I am so thankful to work with such amazing ladies!!"

Teachers are using Google Classroom, YouTube, Class Dojo, Classcraft, Zoom, and other means to stay in touch with students and to help students stay in touch with their peers. The more connection we can have, the more we maintain the relationships that make learning possible. For folks not on the internet, IGA is allowing us to use a shelf in the front of the store (near the bottled water) as a drop zone for packets. Teachers can leave materials there for students and students can leave materials there for teachers. This is coordinated using phone calls and email. We're also experimenting with including deliveries on Tuesdays with the meal routes.

Food Service: Chartwell's team of cooks has been busy each day preparing meals for children in our district. We began with 38 meals and now are serving and delivering over 600 each day! In addition to two meals Mon-Fri, we're providing two meals for Saturdays as well. We are planning to continue this service through Spring Break (April 6-10).

 Rickene Reynolds, Food Service Director

Chartwell's Team (they're farther apart than they look)

I want to acknowledge our Transportation Department and especially our supervisor, Don Hall. Each day, Don organizes the new requests for meals, creates new routes (four of them), notifies the families regarding delivery times, organizes drivers and paraeducators for delivery and then does dispatch duties while the deliveries are underway. 

I also want to acknowledge the drivers and paraeducators who have been doing the deliveries. This is not the work they were hired to do and each one of them has volunteered for this duty. While they are observing social distancing and special hygiene protocols, there is a certain amount of risk to this work and they're doing it in service to the children and families of our community. Be sure to share your gratitude when they come your way.

Closing: I meet with superintendents and administrators from all over the state to talk about what's working and the challenges we're facing. Many districts are having difficulty even connecting to the internet. Some are having trouble providing meals. Others are still trying to make their first contact with families since the shutdown. In Toledo, I hear from our parents often how pleased they are with the supports they're receiving from our team. If this is your experience, I hope you thank our staff for their hard work. If it isn't your experience, I hope you'll contact me so that we can improve.

Prepared, not scared.