LA CROSSE, Wis., (May 29, 2020) – With the current school year calendar coming to a close, I want to provide updates on several important fronts.
Our plans for summer school are coming in to focus. We have been exploring several different options for how we might be able to deliver some form of summer school programming for this summer. After much discussion with educators, health professionals and others we have decided to move forward with the following plan for summer school in the SDLAX:
- All high school original credit and credit recovery summer school classes scheduled for June will run as scheduled and will be delivered in a remote learning environment.
- All previously scheduled face-to-face summer school classes scheduled for June and July are canceled, with the exception of music lessons. Decisions on music camps in August will be made at a later date.
- We will be offering remote learning Reading & Math instruction for students in grades 1-7 from July 13th-31st. Online registration for these classes will run from June 3rd- June 12th. All families with students currently in grades 1-7 will receive an e-mail with instructions for registration early next week.
- We will be providing remote instruction for Individualized Advanced Math courses for middle school students who have already registered. Teachers will be contacting these students with more details regarding these classes including start dates.
- We are also currently exploring possible remote learning enrichment courses that we could offer PK-12 from July 27th-August 21st. If this is possible, registration for these courses will begin sometime after June 10th.
- Finally, we will continue to explore possible face-to-face instructional options for students in July and August on a very limited basis with more information to come.
- When it comes to our considerations for re-opening our schools, the district is relying heavily on guidance from the La Crosse County Health Department. Today, the health department released an important tool that the district will be using to inform our future decisions to re-open. The county metrics for expanding our re-opening are trending positively right now, which has translated to a change from the county’s ‘red’ designation to ‘orange’, which would allow the district to return to face-to-face instruction with restrictions and safeguards. Our administrative team is exploring the logistics necessary to return to school as scheduled at our year-round schools, Northside and Hamilton.
While we are making local progress on the health data necessary for a return to school, it is clear that any movement backward into a ‘red’ designation will likely result in our current status: no face-to-face instruction. I am proud of our educators for switching as they did from a face-to-face environment to a remote learning environment. Very few, if any, of their courses were developed to be delivered in a digital environment. To thrust everyone, including our teachers, our students, and our parents, into this new arrangement was certainly less-than-ideal. Clearly, we prefer-face-to-face instruction. However, it is very possible, if not likely, that we will find ourselves in this position again. So that we can be better prepared to make the shift if it’s necessary again, we want to learn from you. We want to know what went well. We want to know what did not go well for you. Please take a few moments to complete this parent survey on our remote learning efforts. Our staff and students will receive surveys as well, but separately. If your child has already returned a device, it will be necessary to complete the survey on a home device.
We have served well over 100,000 meals to students during this time period, and we will continue to do so after the last day of school on June 5. There may be some future changes to our times and the drop off locations in the near future. You can always double-check our district website here for the current meal delivery information.
And, finally, I wish to thank all of our parents and staff and students who participated last week in our district’s Spirit Week, We Are La Crosse. It served as a great testament to the important partnership that we have together in supporting our community’s children. We are all in this together.
My best,
Randy Nelson
Superintendent of Schools