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BUSD: Back to School Fall 2020 Distance Learning Plan

Dear BUSD Community, 

<este mensaje estará disponible en español en nuestro sitio web al final del dia>

With the Board of Education, I’m pleased to share the district’s Distance Learning Plan for the Fall of 2020. In this Back To School Fall 2020 plan, you’ll find detailed information about distance learning schedules at each grade level, including scheduled live teaching time with your child’s teachers, and for elementary students, ways that your child’s schedules will include enrichment, Special Education support, and English Language Development. 

Many people contributed to Berkeley’s Fall Distance Learning Plan, including parents, students, teachers, and principals. I am grateful for the many hours of work, input, and feedback – the finished product draws together many creative ideas, and tries to balance rigor, consistency, small group engagement, and students’ developmental needs.

The plan is a significant step forward from our first efforts to support remote learning, and we have learned a lot together. We’re glad to introduce an elementary school “master schedule” that will tie together students’ daily learning, with Seesaw as a common learning tool in all TK-2 classrooms, and Google Classroom in all classes from Grade 3 to 12. We also thought very carefully about Special Education services, and the school-wide schedules we’re introducing will help teachers coordinate specialized instruction. We will continue key developments from last year, like Grab and Go meal distribution, Chromebooks and hotspot distribution to families and educators, and the Ed Hub. 

For families with younger children, please know that we appreciate that time online is a developmental challenge. The schedule we describe here creates more evenness for instruction, but we understand that every child is different. As you look at the TK-Grade 1 schedule, please note that many Zoom sessions are optional.  Also please note that all Elementary grades will begin the year with two weeks of Family Meetings, so that you can speak with your teacher about your child’s specific needs. We will design an attendance system that permits flexibility, and will work further with families and teachers to adapt to families’ individual circumstances.

As part of finalizing fall planning, we are surveying our middle and high school families about preferred school start times. Middle school could begin at 9:15 am or at 10:00 am, and Berkeley High School could begin at 9:15 am or 11:00 a.m. We are considering these proposals in order to alleviate some stresses for families with children in different grades, and to heed research about school start times for adolescents. Your views on this question are valuable, and we are weighing this decision for a possible Board of Education discussion on August 5th.  A link to the survey for middle and high school families will be sent later today.

We are also holding a series of Town Halls to explain and discuss our Distance Learning plan, including scheduling options, beginning with a Town Hall on Monday, August 3rd at 6:30 pm. The schedule for the Town Halls is posted here

We continue to work on several important questions, including how to create childcare options for students on our campuses, and how to reopen our schools for a hybrid program when this can be done safely. We will continue to report our progress to you at regular intervals.

On behalf of the Board of Education and all our district staff, I express our sincere gratitude to our families, and our commitment to serve your children in this new year. We will emerge stronger together.

Sincerely,

Brent Stephens, Superintendent

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