March 27, 2020
Dear South Orangetown Families,
As communicated earlier this week, we will transition to distance learning on Tuesday, March 31. Distance learning will look and feel different than teaching and learning in a physical classroom environment. However, with the expertise of our staff and your support, we aim to provide our students with a high-quality, engaging education comparable to what they receive at school.
That said, this is a brand-new experience for all of us. A growth mindset is key. While we are eager to get moving, our staff members are also balancing the realities of working from home while caring for children, partners, and, in some cases, parents. As our program rolls out, we’ll need to make adjustments. We’ll run into issues that we didn’t anticipate or discover that approaches that we expected to be effective can be further improved. We ask for your patience, flexibility and partnership in the coming days and for the duration of our distance learning program.
Distance learning will be supported by our District’s existing technology infrastructure, resources and training. Teachers will communicate with students and parents using the same methods as always–via District Google email accounts, Google Classroom, teacher websites and shared documents. Teachers may use Google Meet or Zoom for live instruction sessions. Students under age 13 should only be in Google Meet or Zoom when a teacher is present in the Virtual Meeting Room.
Teachers will post assignments throughout each week and provide feedback to students on their work. For the time being, student work will be graded as complete or incomplete; school administrators will provide additional details regarding grading in the coming weeks.
Please read our parent guide (English | Español) in its entirety. Important information covered includes expectations for student learning by grade level and online etiquette/code of conduct.
These are extraordinary times. We look forward to getting started and, once again, we appreciate your support.
Sincerely,
Robert R. Pritchard, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools