MAPS High School Update

Greetings Distance Learning Students & Families,

Welcome back to a new school year at Mankato East, Central & West High Schools. The purpose of this communication is to provide information regarding Distance Learning.

The 2020-2021 school year begins on Tuesday, September 8 with Freshmen Orientation. Link Crew Leaders will be engaging with freshmen supporting their transition to high school. Distance Learning option Freshmen will receive digital content via email to engage in this experience on the first day of school. All students in grades 9-12 will begin classes via Moodle starting on Wednesday, September 9.

Moodle is the online platform all MAPS students in grades 9-12 will access for teaching and learning. Students will access Moodle through the Omni Portal. Within Moodle, there will be a class for each scheduled course on the student’s schedule. Students will have Moodle coursework daily. There may be some days in which teachers invite Distance Learning students to join the in-person class through Moodle to engage in learning activities. Although not required, it may be beneficial to attend these real-time learning activities during your normally scheduled class time period.

Breakfast and lunch will be available for pick-up between the hours of 11:00am to 1:00 pm at East (Door 20) and West (Door 17). The cost of a student breakfast is $1.05 and a student lunch is $2.65. If your household qualifies, breakfast/lunch may be free or reduced-priced.

Application forms for the free and reduced lunch program are available at isd77.org by navigating Discover MAPS>Departments>Food Service>Free and Reduced Applications.

In some classes students will need access to textbooks or other instructional materials. Classroom teachers will notify students if there is a textbook required or additional instructional materials that will need to be picked up. East, Central & West High School will communicate directly with families the specific dates and times for pick-up of these materials.

Information regarding an opportunity for school pictures will be communicated when details are finalized. School pictures are tentatively scheduled for the week of September 21 with appointment slots for students to schedule a time.

Daily attendance in all classes is required each day school is in session. Distance Learning students will need to access Infinite Campus through the Omni Portal to mark their attendance as present for each class. Students will also need to access every class in Moodle daily and engage in the digital learning environment. Further details on how to complete attendance will be communicated the week before school starts.

Students will earn traditional letter grades based upon the MAPS High School grading scale for all course work in the Distance and Hybrid learning models.

Students/Families may decide to switch from the Distance Learning Plan to the Safe Learning Plan (In-Person/Hybrid) option. While switching learning models is possible, it will depend upon availability and capacity constraints. We will work to accommodate each request on a case by case basis. Please contact your grade level administrator.

East: Grades 9 & 11 Christina Mattson cmatts1@isd77.org

Grades 10 & 12 Marti Sievek msieve1@isd77.org

Central: Grades 9-12 Brian Hansen bhanse1@isd77.org

West: Grades 9 & 11 Mike Elston melsto1@isd77.org

Grades 10 & 12 Andy Krause akraus1@isd77.org

We are excited for the 2020-2021 school year and look forward to a great year! Enjoy the final days of your summer vacation!

Sincerely,

Mr. Jeff Dahline, Principal East High School

Mr. Brain Hansen, Principal Central High School

Mrs. Sherri Blasing, Principal West High School