Aurora Pubic Schools issued the following announcement on Aug. 31.
Thank you for a successful start to the 2020-21 school year! It has lifted our spirits to see so many Aurora Public Schools students engaged and excited to learn remotely. While we recognize that remote learning has its challenges, our students, teachers, families and district staff have put in countless hours of hard work and remain committed to making our online classes as rigorous, engaging and impactful for students as possible.
As we continue with remote learning during our first quarter, we are also continuing to plan for a potential return to in-person learning. Of course, our decision would rely on health data and guidance from the Tri-County Health Department. A decision will be made in the coming weeks, and we will continue to provide you with updated information via emails, phone calls, social media posts and our website aurorak12.org.
A return to in-person learning would most likely happen through a hybrid model, which means that students would learn both in-person and remotely. In order to implement a hybrid model, all APS schools will need to divide their students into two groups. One group would attend school in person on designated “A” days or weeks. The other group would attend school in person on designated “B” days or weeks. Please know there is absolutely no difference between the “A” and “B” groups other than the days or weeks that they are assigned to attend. On days that students are not attending school in person, they will be learning remotely from home.
Dividing students into two groups will allow schools to conduct in-person learning with half the number of students they would typically have in buildings. This will allow for more social distancing opportunities and reduce traffic both in and around our schools.
During the coming weeks, schools will be letting you know whether your students will be in the “A” group or “B” group or continue learning remotely from home. The list of students who will continue to learn remotely is based on what families selected for the school year during the online check-in process. If you have changed your mind about your previous selection (in-person or remote), please let your child’s school know as soon as possible. Please know there will be efforts made to keep families with multiple students all in the same group. We recognize the difficulty in coordinating parent work schedules and childcare. As such, if your students are identified in different groups, please work with your students’ schools to change groups, so that all of your students can attend school in-person on the same days.
Fully Remote Option for the Entire 2020-21 School Year
We understand that some families have unique medical considerations or do not feel comfortable with in-person learning and will want to keep their children at home every day to learn remotely for the rest of the school year. We will provide a fully remote option for those families that choose to keep their children at home. Please rest assured that your students will continue to be able to access rigorous and engaging classes online from home. If you selected in-person learning during the online check-in process, but would prefer to switch your child to remain in remote learning at home, please contact your child’s school and let them know as soon as possible.
FREE Meal Distribution
As we start this new school year, it is critical for every APS family to complete a free and reduced lunch application. These applications help much more than just the district’s meal program. Free and reduced lunch applications are also used to determine additional funding that schools receive, including federal Title funding and state-funded at-risk allocations. Please help support your child’s school by filling out this application as soon as possible.
Thanks to federal funding extensions and generous donations from our community, we are pleased to announce that we will continue to serve free meals to all kids under the age of 18, as well as adults. Families can pick up meals at any of our 47 districtwide drive-through grab-and-go school locations from 10:45-11:30 a.m. Additionally, there is an evening option to pick up drive-through grab-and-go meals from 4:45-5:30 p.m. at APS’ five comprehensive high schools.
Checking In Your Student
Even though students are learning remotely, it is still important that all of our families check in their children using the APS Student Check-in System. Complete the online process to update or confirm your addresses, phone numbers, emergency contacts, health information, preferred language and more. Please contact your child’s school if you need support completing the check-in process. There is a question asking whether you plan to send your child to school in person or keep your child at home and learning remotely. Please select your preference to the best of your ability as we will likely transition to in-person learning at some point during the school year.
Original source can be found here.
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