Dear Parents and Guardians,
We hope this communication finds you safe and healthy. Yesterday, Governor Wolf announced that our return to school date is indefinite and the “stay at home” order is in effect until April 30. Since we were already planning for students to begin online learning with our district curriculum on Monday, April 6, we are positioned effectively to address this longer period of school closure. Our Continuity of Education plan provides students with Enrichment and Review activities as well as Planned Instruction, via online learning. We anticipate that the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) will continue to issue guidance and resources to school districts during this time period.
The PDE defines “Continuity of Education” as the broad term given to educational practices that occur in the event of a prolonged school closure. Given the importance of the Continuity of Education at this time, recent legislation has mandated that school districts develop and publicly post their “Continuity of Education” plans. Therefore, we have developed and posted our MTSD Continuity of Education Plan on the main district webpage. We encourage you to review the plan. It includes information about our expectations for providing teaching and learning opportunities; accessing technology; communicating with students; and applying strategies to meet the needs of all students. The goal of the Continuity of Education plan is to provide a framework of educational opportunities for students to maintain and develop skills while away from the customary school environment. As per the PDE, the two phases of Continuity of Education are Enrichment and Review and Planned Instruction. We provided the first phase, Enrichment and Review, from March 18 (Elementary) &19 (Secondary) through April 3; we will begin the second phase, Planned Instruction, on April 6.
The Curriculum & Instruction Department will electronically share information later this week regarding our transition to online/distance learning. That communication will contain details for parents and students about: online/distance learning plans, the closing of the 3rd marking period, the daily schedule for online learning, how grading will be managed in the 4th marking period, and other important information. Please feel free to follow up with your student’s teacher or principal with any questions that you may have about the provided information.
We continue to thank you for your patience and support as we prepare to move into the Planned Instruction portion of our online learning.