Dr. Michelle Rodriguez, Superintendent, Pajaro Valley Unified School District
Q) What has been decided for the graduation ceremonies?
We are currently working with Site Administration, Activity Directors, and Student Leaders to develop a survey with high school graduation ceremony options that will be sent out to seniors and their parents on Tuesday, April 21. We ask that all seniors and their parents please fill out the survey so that we hear their voice about how we can best celebrate them.
Q) How is the District planning to do the promotion ceremonies for 8th graders going into High School in the fall?
Due to restrictions on social gatherings and physical distancing, there will not be any physical promotion ceremonies for 8th grade students and families. Each middle school/Junior High may work with their community to identify ways to virtually celebrate the accomplishment.
Q) What is going to happen to Saturday School days required for high school students?
The Saturday School requirement for all high school grades is suspended for the 2019- 2020 school year. Next year, the requirement will be reinstated. Therefore, Seniors, Class of 2020, will not have to complete the Saturday School requirement to make up for tardies and absences.
Q) How is pertinent information being shared with High School Seniors?
To ensure clear communication, I have created a Senior Class of 2020 video that will be released early next week addressing many topics specifically of interest to seniors. We will share information on graduation ceremonies, prom, grading policy, community service hours, Saturday School requirement, concurrent and summer credit recovery, Advanced Placement test information, college decisions, tutoring supports and social emotional supports.
The video will be sent by email to all seniors and their parents in English and Spanish and will be posted on our YouTube channel accessible on the website.
Q) What is the District doing with elementary grading?
As with the High School Hold Harmless Grading Policy, the principle behind of the Elementary Hold Harmless Grading policy is to acknowledge that distance learning is a new and challenging learning environment.
We believe our distance learning model values students’ efforts and commitment while prioritizing students who may need additional support. Therefore, we are realigning our grading practices to these new conditions.
All students will receive evidenced-based comments from their teacher. In addition, they will also receive a mark for participation and effort. No other marks will be given for the third trimester.
Q) I worry about the academic advancement of my child, what resources other than the resources distributed on Mondays that I can use? We are parents that try to not have our children use tablets.
Apart from the resources in the instructional packets, you can go to our Parent Resource tab at www.pvusd.net/parent. You will find both online and offline ideas by grade span and by content area.
You will find 10 days worth of additional resources that could have been used the first week of our closure or during this time. You can also request additional ideas from your child’s teacher or site administrator.
Q) How should we differentiate the workload for working families that don’t have time to support their child at home and no access to internet?
For those with no access to the internet, we encourage parents to reach out to the PVUSD Community Hotline at 831-786-2493 so that the family can be placed on the list for a hotspot for the home. Our website lists additional possible internet service providers offering low-cost options.
For differentiation of student workload, the best solution is to have a conversation between the teacher and family about what each child needs to succeed. We are finding that while some parents and students feel overwhelmed with the work, we are having other parents requesting more work for their children. In general, we seek to provide work and instruction that is as independent as possible so that parents are not required to instruct the student directly.
Q) Can the K-2 packets be mailed home?
We are not able to mail K-2 instructional packets due to the cost and time constraints. However, as of Monday, April 20, the K-2 instructional packets will be available on individual school websites in a digital format.
We are also making an effort to maximize the use of Google Classroom for second grade students now that all second-grade students have Chromebooks. That transition will reduce the number of parents that need to come pick up and return instructional packets.
Q) I do not know how they are being checked on for attendance. How do they turn in their homework or how do I keep up on what he is turning in?
If your child is in elementary school (3rd – 6th grades), the best way to stay informed of the work your child is assigned and turning in, is to receive guardian summaries from Google Classroom. To do this, first provide your email address to your child’s teacher(s) and ask them to add you as a guardian in Google Classroom.
The teacher will then add you as the guardian in Google Classroom, which will send you an invitation to the email address you provided. In your email program, open the email invitation and click “Accept.” Google Classroom will send you daily or weekly summaries that include:
- Missing work — Work that’s late at the time the email was sent
- Upcoming work — Work that’s due today and tomorrow (for daily emails) or work that’s due in the upcoming week (for weekly emails)
- Class activity — Announcements, assignments, and questions recently posted by teachers
If your child is in middle or high school, you can ask to be added as a guardian in Google Classroom following the steps listed above, and/or access your child’s work through ParentVue in Synergy.
Here is a video in English and Spanish explaining how to access the ParentVue app on your smartphone or tablet. It is important to clarify, however, that students are currently not being assigned homework but all students should be completing approximately four hours of work per day.
Q) When can we get our stuff from our lockers?
Students will not be able to retrieve their items until after the Shelter in Place order is lifted. Once it is lifted, we will find a safe way to allow students to retrieve their items and return school items such as library books and Chromebooks in a safe manner consistent with current County Health Department guidelines.
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