School Reopening Update
"It is not distance that keeps people apart, but lack of communication"
During summer, I try to limit what I send to your email inboxes. It is, afterall, summer. Lately, as you might imagine, I have been receiving a lot of emails with regard to the start of school in September. So in an effort to get information out to families, there will be an increase in the number of
Hamilton Headlines
coming your way. As the district provides more information to schools on what school will look like under any of the three possible formats (all in school, all online, or a hybrid combination of the two), I will share the information with families. As a lifelong educator and parent, I too have my questions and concerns about returning to school, which right now is planned to be completely online.
When we jumped into distance learning in the spring we were told to have a maximum of three hours of student engagement per day and to avoid live lessons. The three hours included viewing lessons, perhaps participating in some small group live check-ins with teachers, and independent work. The only truly live classroom gatherings were the Advisory (homeroom) meetings that took place on Wednesday of each week. As we look to September, there is interest on the part of the district to increase rigor and engagement in distance learning, something that could be accomplished through more live online interactions with teachers. That said, we will likely continue to have recorded lessons available to all students as we recognize that childcare is an issue and that for some students, accessing all classes as scheduled can be difficult.
At the time of this w
riting, we were also continuing our work on student schedules. Generally speaking, work on student schedules would be wrapping up about now, but they are delayed a bit as we work to accommodate the three potential schedules: all in school, all online, or a hybrid combination of the two. Our goal is to create a schedule that works across the three formats
without the need to change student schedules
as we move through each of the models across the year. An added note, scheduling of students to classes at Hamilton is an extremely complex process that begins in February and is not completed until mid-summer for returning students and incoming sixth graders. Unfortunately, adding in a layer of friend germ bubble groups while accommodating individual scheduling needs (i.e., advanced math classes, music/orchestra/chorus, UA choices, Spanish/French, ESL and Special Education services, AVID, etc.) for all 750 students is not possible. That said, I do believe that once we return to in person school, things will be different than they are now with regard to the pandemic and we all will be much safer in our lives in general.
For those of you with sentiments that you want to share regarding the format of schooling for the fall, I do encourage you to email the MMSD Board of Education (
board@madison.k12.wi.us
) with your comments and sugge
stions as t
he Board really does pay attention to the feedback they receive, especially from parents.
Please know that I would prefer to be back at school in person with the stude
nts, but I
want to make this transition only when appropriate and safe to do so. I remain hopeful that we will all be back within the friendly confines of Hamilton sooner than later.
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There are certainly a lot of alarming headlines out there pertaining to the pandemic. But if you look close enough, you can find articles that bring us hope. Lately,
when I run across these articles, I post them to our Hamilton Covid-19 webpage
. For example, did you know that heath care industry analysts say there will likely be a coronavirus vaccine approved for general use by early November? The links on the page are to articles of interest that give us hope with regard to an eventual return to school. Linked articles are not meant to be in support of any model of schooling or suggestive of a timeline for our return.
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Installing Infinite Campus on Your Phone
Interested in a way to monitor your child's school work and attendance? Downloading the Infinite Campus App to your phone allows you to see grades on assignments, including the designation of "Missing" immediately after the teacher enters the information in their electronic grade book. The same type of notification will arrive to your phone for attendance where you can see immediately if your child has been marked absent or tardy. To download the IC App to your phone, see the below link to the district's attendance page, which also includes information on how to configure the appropriate notification setting in the App.
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In the Big Leagues
Recently, the prestigious annual Carnegie Hall Music Educators Workshop was held and I am proud to say that Hamilton and Van Hise's theater and music teacher,
Margaret Jenks
was asked to play an important role in the workshop.
Carnegie has become a key player at the national (and international) level, for progressive, high-level, and intensive professional development for music teachers. This summer, their 5-day interactive workshop was focused on world music, culturally responsive vs. multicultural programming, hip-hop pedagogy, and issues of authenticity and appropriation. The faculty included some of the most famous musical artists and educators in the world. And within this group of faculty, Carnegie asked our own
Margaret Jenks
to lead sessions, moderate panels, present her own work, and answer hundreds of questions from K-12 teachers from around the globe, who really see her as (as one teacher put it last week) “the wisest music teacher I’ve heard.”
We are proud to have Margaret at Hamilton!
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Since April, I have been working with our Hamilton school secretary to issue over 400 refund checks to families for field trip payments. That process is now complete. If you receive(d) a check with the notation that it is for "FT", it is a field trip reimbursement.
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A one stop resource for pandemic related needs across summer
Our social work team has created a summer resource guide available in English and Spanish. It has information about rent assistance, mental health, child care, and more during this era of pandemic. Please click below to access the information.
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Photo Finish
Despite the pandemic, work does continue on our campus in preparation for our eventual return to brick and mortar schooling!
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Staff Lounge
: A well overdue new floor will greet our Hamilton staff members when we return to our building!
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Parking Lots
: All lines have been freshly repainted! Believe it or not, there will once again come a time when the biggest challenges about school at Hamilton will be drop off and pick up!
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