Soledad Unified School District
Weekly Newsletter - May 1, 2020
Every Student...Every Day!
Message to Staff:
May 1, 2020
Dear Certificated Staff,
It is hard to believe that May has arrived. April has been a challenging and productive month for everyone.
During the month of April, we have provided quality, teacher-prepared learning packets to our students, increased our breakfast and lunch meal service to include supper, distributed hygiene kits to our most neediest students, and distributed iPads to over 2,000 of our elementary students, with support by our classified employees. Our certificated teachers, education specialists, counselors, service providers and principals have worked tirelessly to facilitate communication with our students via online conferencing, phone calls and other means so that students remain connected with their schools and their peers.
Professional Development
Meanwhile, our dedicated certificated staff completed the Alludo Distance Learning activity to develop and enhance our education technology proficiency. An Online Learning Collaborative was formed and included several teacher representatives as well as TOSAs and administrators. This group completed a document entitled Teacher Online Learning Guidance, which offers guidelines to consider when providing online instruction.
This week we initiated Online Professional Development to provide further training in online learning for students. Certificated staff are able to show completion of online PD through their Alludo Learning account.
For this coming week of May 4-9, recorded live webinar PD sessions and new sessions will be available through SCHED. Webinars are 1-2 hours in length and will be scheduled at 9:00 am, 11:00 am and 1:00 pm on weekdays. Unlike the Distance Learning Alludo activity, the Distance Learning Professional Development does not have a points minimum or target. Certificated employees should choose sessions based upon their job assignments and guidance from principals, directors and coordinators.
Please be aware that after you login to Alludo and proceed to watch a webinar, you may be timed out of Alludo. You can refresh the page and it will prompt you to login again, then you can proceed to complete that activity. Please email Annette Trujillo or Carrie Sebora if you have questions on this.
Distance & Online Learning
As we begin the month of May, we continue to progress in our distance learning program. With the distribution of iPads to elementary students, teachers have an opportunity to scale up online learning for our students who have devices and access to the internet at home. Some students, including those who have district-issued devices may not have access to the internet at home. This week, all school sites prepared packets for students based upon this known need and these packets are being mailed home.
Our district is also partnering with the Monterey County Office of Education and Monterey Salinas Transit to provide WiFi-equipped buses to park at locations in Soledad. These community wifi locations will provide students with the opportunity to access the internet to download assignments and learning resources from their teachers and upload completed assignments.
The weekly schedule for the MST bus community WiFi in Soledad beginning on Monday, May 4 will be as follows:
Location, Days, and Times
Soledad High School 425 Gabilan Drive
Mondays Tuesdays Wednesdays
10:00am - 12:00pm
Main Street Middle School 441 Main Street
Mondays Tuesdays Wednesdays
1:00pm - 2:45pm
Soledad Community Center/YMCA - 560 Walker Drive
Mondays Tuesdays Wednesdays
3:15pm - 5:00pm
Jimenez Camp & Camphora McCoy Road
Thursdays Fridays
1:00pm - 3:00pm
Tech Note: We now have a very simple way for students to download and update all their teacher assigned apps, like seesaw! Please see this informational video that our Mobile Systems Administrator, Zeke Zuniga made in order to show you how they can do this on their iPad.
Students have a few options for how to view their email on the iPad. There is a GMAIL app on all iPads so they can login to their email there. The other option is they can open Safari web browser on the iPad and go to gmail.com and sign in there as well. I recommend using the Gmail app, and if there are issues with accessing the app, check out the other email I just sent for how to troubleshoot app issues on the student iPads.
The online learning collaborative has also completed a School Closure Grading Policy for elementary and secondary students. This policy was developed and reviewed with site and district office staff and was reviewed with high school students. A message with the school closure grading policy will be sent to parents and students.
We continue to be appreciative of your efforts in support of our students and families. We hope you continue to stay healthy and safe.
Sincerely, Randy Bangs, on behalf of the Distance Learning Team
MESSAGE TO PARENTS:
PARENT ONLINE LEARNING GUIDANCE
Erin Plumb, Jack Franscioni Elementary Teacher, makes and donates masks to the District
Thank you for your Act of Kindness Ms. Plumb!
Update on California's Pandemic Roadmap
Monterey County Behavioral Health has a new initiative - Forward Together
(http://montereyforwardtogether.org) hosting free, open sessions people can join over the phone or on zoom. Sessions are in English or Spanish. They have classes for groups such as:
Parents
Mindfulness and self-care for everyone
Teen Connect
Seniors
New Mom Connect
Anyone can sign up to get notified about upcoming classes or just join a session they see on the calendar. English sign up is here: https://monterey.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=282ab5e9c0ceb3719c3f2d0a5&id=78331bdbbb; and Spanish is here https://monterey.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=282ab5e9c0ceb3719c3f2d0a5&id=78331bdbbb
Please share the flyers below that have an overview of the initiative:
English https://www.co.monterey.ca.us/home/showdocument?id=88667
Spanish https://www.co.monterey.ca.us/home/showdocument?id=88669
Gabilan's Playground comes down!
It will be very exciting to see the results once the playground is finished!
Don't Forget ...Census 2020!
Timothy J. Vanoli, Superintendent
Email: ifirme@soledad.k12.ca.us
Website: www.soledadusd.org
Location: 1261 Metz Road, Soledad, CA, USA
Phone: (831) 678-3950
Facebook: facebook.com/SoledadUnifiedSchoolDistrict
Twitter: @SoledadSupt