Dear High School Families,
Traditionally I would begin letters like these by simply wishing you a happy new year and welcoming you to second semester, but I admit that this year feels a bit different. We are 10 months into navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. You have all courageously charted new waters in education and in your lives, you have surely endured and overcome challenges, and you have undoubtedly felt a range of emotions throughout this past year. Thank you for being true and kind partners during this journey. Thank you for sharing your resilient and astounding children with us every day.
The rest of this email will offer some information regarding our plan to return to in-person/ hybrid learning in February. Please read through the information below and review the schedule at the bottom of the email. Do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns.
Return to Learn/ Hybrid Schedule:
Westgate will return to in-person learning on Monday, February 1st. The High School will be operating in a hybrid format, meaning that students will be attending live in-person two days a week.
In alignment with our FRCC schedule, Freshmen will attend Westgate from 8:00am-3:30pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Sophomores will attend Westgate from 8:00am-3:30pm on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Juniors will attend Westgate EITHER on Monday and Wednesday OR on Tuesday and Thursday. Juniors are split into two cohorts and will attend from 8:00am-11:20am. Juniors will leave Westgate at 11:20am so that they can return home to attend FRCC classes. Juniors without FRCC courses may remain at Westgate until 3:30pm. Mr. Cuevas will send a follow up email with the cohort assignments for Juniors so they know which days to attend.
Advocacy teachers will send out follow up information about which cohort your student is in + other information closer to February 1st. If you forgot your learning model selection (in-person or online), please email me at Amanda.Novak@westgateschool.org. Also, if you want to CHANGE your preference, please let me know as soon as possible as our classrooms are set up based on these preferences and social distancing. If you select online, you will not be able to change your preference to in-person during the semester. If you choose in-person, you may go to online at any point.
COVID Safety Protocols:
All students (and staff) are required to wear masks while at school. Students will remain in cohorts and social distancing measures will be in place to maintain a safe environment. Please complete the COVID temperature and symtpom screening prior to coming to school. If this is not completed at home in the morning, we will need to screen your students prior to entry.
Students should bring water bottles to school with them and students will not be able to leave campus for lunch. For any student who is scheduled to remain at school all day, we ask that they bring cold lunches that do not require microwaving, or you can still order school lunches. If you have a Junior who is leaving campus at 11:20am, you can still take advantage of the district remote learner lunches.
Synchronous Online Learning:
We have created a system for synchronous learning for all online learners. If you have selected Online learning for your student this semester, or if your student needs to remain home for any reason, they can live-stream into their classes via Zoom. Online students will also be assigned to an A or B cohort and teachers will post their Zoom links to their Team. Students can also still access work asynchronously. All Zoom lessons will be recorded and posted to Teams.
High School Attendance:
All year long, we have offered synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities, but as you can imagine, this makes attendance challenging. Your students are counted “present” if they are engaging in the material every day. If they are present in class (in-person or Zoom), if they engage in Teams assignments, or if they interact with their teachers academically, your student is “present.” In Infinite Campus, however, we are taking attendance every day during our classes and so there is sometimes a gap between taking attendance and seeing a completed assignment. We keep track of all of the completed assignments and engagement, and we reconcile the attendance at the end of every week, so if at the end of the week you continue to see an “absence” that should be a “present” please contact Natalie Tomlinson and/or Rochelle Goforth for support. Beginning Feb. 1, keep an eye on your Advocacy Teams for a daily question – this will help for attendance!
If you know your student is going to be out for an appointment, for illness, for vacation or other reasons, please complete the absence/ attendance form on the front page of our website. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Natalie Tomlinson and/or Rochelle Goforth!
Seniors!
Senior Seminar will also be offered in-person on Fridays from 8:20am-9:40am. Seniors can leave after Senior Seminar ends.
