• August 28, 2020

    Dear Methacton Families,

    I hope you are enjoying these final weeks of summer.

    Please see the information below regarding student attendance and accountability, a social opportunities survey, and the next steps for an on premises return to school.

    Student Attendance and Accountability

    The first step in the learning process is for your child to be present. That means that they should be on time for Zoom sessions and are responsible for submitting assignments on time as per the teacher’s instructions.

    Based on the Pennsylvania Department of Education regulations, the standard for taking online
    attendance requires the student to meet two 2 criteria: Being (1) present and providing (2)
    evidence (assignment completion) tied to instruction.

    While teachers can easily determine the presence of a child (i.e. seeing them on a synchronous zoom call), the evidence criteria needs more clarification so that your child and you can best understand the expectation:

    • The evidence/assignment is determined by the teacher.
    • It will be tied to the learning goal for that class, period, chapter or unit of study.
    • The assignment examples could be: Exit ticket (Kahoot, Google form, etc.), test, quiz, project-based work, a presentation, written assignment, or a response to discussion board topic, etc.
    • The evidence/assignment must be recorded as being submitted by the student so to provide evidence of their participation.
    • Teachers in grades K-4 will take daily attendance by 10 am daily.
    • Teachers in grades 5-12 will take period attendance near the end of each period.

    We will be conducting the same processes for attendance and absences. Please see the student handbook for additional attendance requirements.

    Social Opportunities: Please take this survey

    We are requesting feedback on planning for our after school social activities. Please take 2 minutes and fill this out. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FJKW8NY

    Additional Planning: Next Steps

    Please be advised that I have been working to bring forward an updated plan for our next steps beyond the first marking period (virtual delivery model). The path forward must include a set of metrics that allow us to proceed with on premises instruction while taking into account the triggers that we need to monitor in order to potentially pull back from on premises instruction. I am working to provide the draft of those metrics to the Education Committee of the Board on the 10th of September. I will be calling on members of our pandemic team and will be communicating as frequently as possible with our families to keep everyone apprised of my progress. Please know that I recognize that we had nearly 70% of our survey respondents interested in an on premises program. While I originally was targeting middle of October for a plan, I want to get this in front of our Board as soon as possible and potentially start phasing a return sooner than the end of the marking period. I am highly optimistic, but need your support and patience as we navigate towards our goal – together.

    In closing, I want to thank our families for their partnership as we work toward providing a successful school year for all.

    Sincerely,

    Dr. David Zerbe

    Superintendent of Schools