The village is alive and well!  We are grateful to each and every one of our AAPS team members who have risen to the occasion this week, learned new methods for connecting with students and families, and supported each other in so many ways.  Here are the important updates this afternoon.

Our focus beginning Monday, March 23 is to send a daily positive message to students and to post a daily learning experience.   It is important for us all to understand that we have an obligation to ensure that each and every student has full access to each learning opportunity prior to providing any form of forward instruction. This will take time and many questions regarding the provision of educational services will need to be answered.   We also understand the impact of this pandemic on our working families and loved ones facing medical challenges. For these reasons and many more, we will remain focused on making daily online connections with students as our first priority. There is no requirement for posted learning activities to be turned in and we will not be recording any grades during this time.  Below you will find some guidance in our “dos” and “don’ts. 

Things To Do:

• The most important thing now: Communicate positive, daily messages of care and support to your students.
• Post a low stress, daily learning opportunity that allows students to review previously learned content or engage in enrichment. Keep it simple.  Make it interesting and fun.
• Check and respond to emails from admins, parents, and students daily.
• Share daily "office hours" when you are available in real time to connect with students and answer questions. Some may use a digital platform for this.  Others may simply be on email. Many options are available.
• Provide feedback to students as needed. Nothing should be gradebooked at this time.  We have to ensure equity before students can be held accountable to online learning.
• Consider ELLs and students with disabilities in your daily learning experiences. Here is a link to some useful ideas you might incorporate.
• Be patient with yourself.  Keep pressure low. We’re learning, and it is OK to try something today and get better at it tomorrow (or the next day). This will take time, and we are awesome! We are going to get there!
• Manage communication to parents and students. Remember they are getting messages from multiple teachers, administrators and the district while navigating changing work requirements for themselves.
• Reach out with questions or to let us know what we can do to help.
  
  

Things NOT To Do:

• Grade assignments in PowerSchool.  
• Give quizzes, tests, exams, papers or required assignments.  
• Post assignments or use tools that require special technology, apps or anything not accessible to all students.  
• Try to re-create your in-person daily instructional practices and expectations online at this time.  It is too much.  Don't overload your students, families or yourself. 
• Stress about upcoming assessments - common assessments, state assessments, etc. We are working hard to get answers connected to these requirements.  When we’ve got more answers, we’ll let you know.
• Stress about evaluations and SLOs.  There is no expectation that growth data during this time be in any way normal. No one is looking to hold you accountable for growth during this time.   
• Try to do it all alone.  You have a team here to help.  Reach out to colleagues, principals, help desk and your district curriculum coordinator team members.  We want to help!
  
  

Frequently Asked Questions 

We are updating the Instructional Staff FAQ. We think staff will often find answers to their questions.  Check it out.

Parents/Guardians received this message this afternoon. Please take a moment to read the update about technology device distribution. 

Remember that our focus moving forward is simply to send a positive daily message to your students and to share a daily, learning opportunity. We want you all to take care of yourselves, keep it simple and make this coming week about connecting with your students.