The Glade Gazette

Dear Glade Families,

With about two weeks into our school year, I cannot be more proud of the amazing work and effort all of us have been putting in towards making virtual Glade a success!

The first shout-out goes to the staff of Glade! This amazing group of people have kept their focus on providing the best they can for students, learning and responding to new information as quickly as they can, doing it with poise and managing their own lives outside of Glade at the same time.

Next, I'd like to recognize the adults of our families that are juggling a lot in their lives in order to provide structure and learning opportunities for their student(s). Staff have appreciated your positive spirit, patience and perseverance through these early days of virtual Glade.

Finally, students should get a big, "Way to go!" Visiting some classrooms, I have seen students that have been focused, committed to learning and excited to be at virtual Glade!

Virtual Glade has certainly put a focus on the teamwork that it takes in education and staff, families and students have been working together. We are moving forward. As any good team does, keep communicating with each other to make adjustments or stay the course.

Yours in Education,

Steve Raff

This might be the one-stop resource your family needs. Please take some time to review our GES virtual learning handbook. Many topics are covered that can help explain how our virtual environment will work. Please reach out to the office or your child's teacher with any questions You can visit the handbook at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fpwmpi2LnDYvmOajNxwsEljeCELUbFyCaVgQI0JNWRg/edit?usp=sharing

As part of every school day, a recorded episode of Good Day Glade is shown in our virtual classrooms. In order to see each episode, the viewer must log in through an FCPS account.

Since our first round of material pick up, more items have come in that we need your help with getting to students. A second round of materials pick-up will happen next week for grades Kindergarten through 5th grade on Wednesday, September 16 and Thursday, September 17 from 2pm to 5pm. Like before, all you'll have to do is:

• Pull through the car rider driveway, tell the Glade staff member the grade you're picking up for and the first and last name of the student(s). Bonus points if you have that information written on a piece of paper on your dash board!

We appreciate any extra arrangements and your flexibility to participate during the pick up times. If you cannot pick up either day please contact the office at 240-233-2100

Parent permission is required for teachers to record your student in Google Meets. Teachers may have begun recording this week. Please let us know whether or not your student has permission to be recorded in Google Meets.

If you have not filled out the permission form, please complete this Google Form that can be filled out and submitted online. https://forms.gle/wmPGCFQ8RyVgi5986

Students without permission will be asked to turn off their cameras and audio during the recorded portion of the lesson. Our goal is to get this additional resource online and available to students as soon as possible.

Frederick County Public Schools staff is providing live virtual instruction as an important part of the Full Virtual Model of instruction. In the event that students are unable to attend live virtual instruction via Google Meet, these sessions or parts of these sessions will be video and audio recorded. The recorded session will be available for students who would like to review that content and instruction. We are balancing student privacy and the need for flexibility during this unprecedented pandemic.

The Frederick County Public Schools Parent Guide to Google Meet Recordings, Student Privacy and Security sent via a system Find Out First (FOF) that provides an overview of how the Google Meet recordings will be used and the methods used to ensure student privacy and security (LINK). Please review this Parent Guide to help understand how Google Meet recordings will be used in instruction and the security safeguards in place to protect student privacy.

As of this edition of The Gazette, the 2019-2020 yearbooks have not come in. Mr. Raff has reached out to the company to try and rectify the delay and is waiting for their reply. When they arrive in the office, a Find Out First will be sent out with further directions and information. Patience as we wait for the yearbook delivery is greatly appreciated and allows staff to keep focus on virtual Glade instruction.

We need your help keeping the grounds of Glade safe and clean. Please share the word that we ask that anyone that uses the grounds with their pets that they make sure they pick up after their pet has relieved themselves. Let's make sure the grounds stay clean for kids and families. Thank you

The Glade Gazette will continue to be available first via Find Out First. Links to the Gazette can also be found through:

• Twitter: Steve Raff @FCPS_GES
• Facebook: Principal Raff, as part of the Glade Elementary Community group

Email: stephen.raff@fcps.org
Website: https://education.fcps.org/ges/
Location: Glade Elementary School, Glade Road, Walkersville, MD, USA
Phone: 240-236-2100
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/GladePTA
Twitter: @FCPS_GES