August 13, 2020

 

Dear Beacon Community:

I hope everyone is doing well!  I wanted to provide some updates on Reopening BCSD. First I just wanted to say that I know this is a difficult and challenging time for everyone in our community.  I am committed to both strengthening our plan and communicating regularly with the district about it.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Decision Timeline Extended to August 21

Last week you received a letter which I have attached to this email asking you to make a choice for your child between a hybrid (two days in school, three days out) model or an all-remote model of instruction and we gave August 14th as the deadline.

I am extending this deadline to August 21.  If you feel that you can make this decision now, please do so because it greatly helps our planning but it is ok also to wait.  If you choose hybrid in-person and develop either health issues or concerns or become uncomfortable, you may choose remote at any time.  If you choose remote and want to change, we will make the change in January.

Please fill out this link with your decision:  https://forms.gle/5qNgK4dYYwAAkyzKA

Masks

Here is the language in our reopening plan on masks:

Short Version:  Masks are required of everyone and so are mask beaks.  Mask breaks will be directed by staff in our buildings and be developmentally appropriate.

From the plan:

All building occupants will be required to maintain social distancing of at least 6 feet from one another. Face masks are required to be worn in the school buildings.  Teachers will be required to give students mask breaks several times during the day.   Additionally, other Personal Protective Equipment may also be necessary.  Each school building will utilize visual aids such as floor decals to promote social distancing in commonly used areas and areas where lines are formed and bi-directional arrows to direct traffic flow in hallways and other common areas.  

Start of the School Year:

I am working with the Board of Education to add two additional professional learning days to the beginning of the year and make September 10 and 11 orientation days for all students with the plan of September 14 being the start of hybrid and remote instruction.  When this gets officially adopted, we will share a revised calendar with everyone.

Remote Learning

We are working with our administrators and teachers to further develop our remote learning plan.  It is a complex task and I will share more information next week on what it will look like.

Communications Plan

We have several zoom town halls coming up.

Beacon High School tonight at 7:00

Rombout Middle School Tuesday, August 18 at 7:00

PPS Department on Tuesday, August 18 at 11:30 and Wednesday, August 19 at 7:00

Superintendent Update Zoom on Thursday, August 21 at 2:00

All of these sessions will be recorded and posted.

Have a great rest of your day!

 

Matt Landahl

Dear Beacon Community:

I wanted to head into the weekend with just a few updates about Reopening BCSD.

Parent/Family Reopening Survey:

You have until Tuesday, July 28 to take the survey.  It should not take long to do and the information you provide helps us plan!  Here is the link: https://forms.gle/vvXp5V1XZw95b1uE7 

Key Things to Know Right Now:

• Due to social distancing requirements, we will need to begin school using a hybrid model.  The hybrid model will have our students K-12 in school 2-3 days a week and working remotely at home 2-3 days a week depending on the week.  A more detailed version of what this schedule will look like will be shared by July 31.
• There will be an all remote option for students with health issues or with family members with health issues at the beginning of the year.
• We will be implementing all of the NY state reopening health guidelines.
• The plan will be shared with the community on July 31.  The plan will continue to be strengthened and detailed throughout the month of August.
• We will use all means possible to keep communication channels open with everyone throughout this entire process.  
• This will be a challenging school year but we will still accomplish great things!

 

Next Community Zoom Session:

We will have another community zoom session on Monday at 7:00pm.  We will also have on Monday a video of the Thursday session on our website.  The information for the Monday zoom session is here:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://E2CCB-GST.zoom.us/j/99041971623

Meeting ID: 990 4197 1623

One tap mobile

+16468769923,,99041971623# US (New York)

+16465189805,,99041971623# US (New York)

Dial by your location

        +1 646 876 9923 US (New York)

        +1 646 518 9805 US (New York)

Meeting ID: 990 4197 1623

Find your local number: https://E2CCB-GST.zoom.us/u/ac1v6jG6a6

Join by SIP

99041971623@zoomcrc.com

Join by H.323

162.255.37.11 (US West)

162.255.36.11 (US East)

115.114.131.7 (India Mumbai)

115.114.115.7 (India Hyderabad)

213.19.144.110 (EMEA)

103.122.166.55 (Australia)

209.9.211.110 (Hong Kong SAR)

64.211.144.160 (Brazil)

69.174.57.160 (Canada)

207.226.132.110 (Japan)

Meeting ID: 990 4197 1623

Superintendent Blog Post - July 22, 2020

Dear Beacon Community:

I just have a few updates that I wanted to share with you.  

Community Zoom Sessions

I wanted to thank all of the people for joining in the zoom session yesterday.  I enjoyed reading the comments and questions on the chat in real-time and after the meeting.  Tomorrow, Thursday, we have a session at 4:00.  I will be covering the same content with some adjustments based on chat comments.  You can certainly attend again but you will see many of the same slides and the same lame attempts at humor.  

If you cannot attend, we will record one of the sessions and post it.  The key takeaway is due to social distancing requirements from the NY Department of Health and Education, we will have to use a hybrid schedule which will be students in school 2-3 days a week and working remotely at home 2-3 days a week.  I get into it more on the zoom calls and we will send much more specific information home about it next week, I just want people to prepare.

Here is the zoom information for Thursday at 4:00:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://E2CCB-GST.zoom.us/j/93552523345

 Meeting ID: 935 5252 3345

One tap mobile

+16468769923,,93552523345# US (New York)

+16465189805,,93552523345# US (New York)

Dial by your location

        +1 646 876 9923 US (New York)

        +1 646 518 9805 US (New York)

Meeting ID: 935 5252 3345

Find your local number: https://E2CCB-GST.zoom.us/u/aKMDLBMUn

Parent Survey

We have a brief parent survey that will go out tonight or tomorrow morning.  It will ask people to share any concerns they have at this moment and also to let us know if they are considering (not a decision at this time) the remote option for their children for health or family health reasons.

Diversity Committee Tonight at 7:00

We will provide updates and answer questions on our curriculum work, student talking circles next month, last year’s code of conduct implementation, hiring practices, and the August implementation of the Equity Report Card.  We will meet monthly and explore different topics throughout the year! The zoom information is below:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://E2CCB-GST.zoom.us/j/97482442562

 

Meeting ID: 974 8244 2562

One tap mobile

+16465189805,,97482442562# US (New York)

+16468769923,,97482442562# US (New York)

Dial by your location

        +1 646 518 9805 US (New York)

        +1 646 876 9923 US (New York)

 

Meeting ID: 974 8244 2562

Find your local number: https://E2CCB-GST.zoom.us/u/a2k7s2luB

Join by SIP

97482442562@zoomcrc.com

Join by H.323

162.255.37.11 (US West)

162.255.36.11 (US East)

115.114.131.7 (India Mumbai)

115.114.115.7 (India Hyderabad)

213.19.144.110 (EMEA)

103.122.166.55 (Australia)

209.9.211.110 (Hong Kong SAR)

64.211.144.160 (Brazil)

69.174.57.160 (Canada)

207.226.132.110 (Japan)

Meeting ID: 974 8244 2562