Dear Parents of Students in the Teutopolis School District,
Thank you so much for your cooperation and support during this time of remote educational programming and learning. Your assistance in working with us to provide educational opportunities for your child continues to be deeply appreciated. With such short notice and uncertainty, our goal and priority when creating your child's first learning packet was to keep our students' minds academically engaged. We look forward to evaluating their work. We would appreciate you returning the first set of packets on Monday during the second pick up of materials, technology devices, and learning resources.
While we still are waiting for direction from the Illinois State Board of Education regarding what they envision our second phase (March 31 through April 7) to look like regarding educational services, we have decided to move forward with a more challenging approach. We currently have no further guidance from the state except to keep providing educational opportunities. In next week's packets you will find new learning materials, review materials, and technology resources. Staff will be providing online instruction or "paper" packet" instruction to teach lessons and will be sending information in the packets to help guide you in your child's remote learning process. We are anticipating that most teachers will utilize Google Classroom and other communication platforms to help provide educational instruction depending on grade and curriculum level. This type of online learning will be more indepth as the grade levels progress from K-12. In the lower levels the technology will most likely be used for communicating and resource education links. A plethora of remote instructional resources are being considered and utilized such as videos, web based materials and programs, textbooks, workbooks, live "office hours" with teachers, and more. At the junior and senior high level, technology will most likely be utilized much more than at the lower levels. Again, your child's teacher will help to guide you in the direction that works most efficiently for their grade or curriculum level. We again ask for patience during this process as teachers are spending a vast amount of time to create engaging lessons and activities for children at all levels.
As of this afternoon we still have limited guidance from ISBE except that they would prefer no grading unless it is utilized to check for understanding or to help enhance a student's grade. We do plan on checking for understanding and possibly grading, but may hold the current grades earned during remote instruction in abeyance until the state gives more clarification. The goal of the District is to continue to provide educational opportunities and educational growth without issuing punitive grades for circumstances beyond our control.
Pickup time for all grade levels will be Monday, March 30th from 3:00 pm until 6:00 pm at each child's respective school. We will also be sending home band instruments at the high school building. If you cannot pick up your child's packets and/or resources please contact the Unit Office at 217-857-3535 on Monday and we will assist in getting those materials to you.
While we are hoping to have students back in session on April 8th, we do not have any idea what the next move will be regarding the state's decision to extend the shut down. We are doing our best to provide educational opportunities for your child during this unprecedented time. With limited guidance from the state, school districts are literally carving their paths and making local decisions that may not look the same in every district. Thank you again for your support and participation.
Sincerely,
Deborah Philpot, Interim Superintendent