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State Superintendent Named Co-Chair of Regional Education Recovery Task Force |
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Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane has been named co-chairman of a task force to help Southern Regional Education Board member states identify strategies for re-opening schools and prepare for a potential resurgence of COVID-19. The SREB Education Recovery Task Force — co-chaired by Lane and SREB President Stephen L. Pruitt — will convene its first meeting next week.
“All of the SREB states will benefit from the task force’s collective expertise as each state strives to make proactive decisions for students, now and for the coming school year,” Lane said. “I look forward to sharing what we have learned in Virginia about keeping students connected with learning during this crisis, and how we are planning to assess and meet their instructional and social and emotional needs once it is safe to resume formal instruction.”
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State Superintendent Announces Flexibility for CTE, Adult Education & Family Literacy Funds |
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Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane announced that the U.S. Department of Education is allowing Virginia school divisions an additional year to spend $2.4 million in federal funds for career and technical education, adult education and family literacy programs. The recently passed Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act allows states to request the waiver of deadlines for spending fiscal year 2018 funding for the programs.
“Without this flexibility, Virginia school divisions would have had to return needed federal CTE, adult education and family literacy funds that they were unable to spend by September 30 due to the closure of schools because of the pandemic,” Lane said. “The waivers will allow school divisions to plan for the resumption of these critical programs for students and communities once schools reopen.”
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Governor Northam Announces Expansion of ‘Virtual Virginia’ to Support Distance Learning During School Closures |
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Governor Ralph Northam recently announced a dramatic expansion of Virtual Virginia, to allow every teacher in the Commonwealth to host virtual classes while schools are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. These resources include a platform that enables all Virginia public school teachers to share lessons and activities with their students through June 30.
“While there is no perfect substitute for in-person classroom instruction, this is an unprecedented public health crisis and we must do everything we can to ensure all children have equitable learning opportunities,” said Governor Northam. “I want to thank our educators, school administrators, and superintendents for their extraordinary efforts to keep students connected and learning. The expansion of Virtual Virginia will help ensure that the closure of schools and interruption of formal instruction this spring does not lead to a widening of achievement gaps.”
Virtual Virginia will expand its offerings to include elementary and middle school content as an option for students to learn content missed this spring. Courses will begin in May and the new course content will be available to any school division that enrolls students and teachers in the program, at no cost to the division.
Virtual Virginia content can be loaded onto devices for use by students in homes without sufficient internet access to support online learning. The expansion does not affect the more than 6,000 students already enrolled in one or more of Virtual Virginia’s 81 high school-level courses.
“The expansion of Virtual Virginia will provide additional options for school divisions to present the instruction and content that they are unable to provide this spring in traditional classroom settings,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane. “Access to the Virtual Virginia platform will be especially helpful for teachers and students in school divisions without robust distance learning systems.”
The expansion of Virtual Virginia is just one of many major actions the Commonwealth has taken recently to mitigate the impact of school closures on students.
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State Superintendent Responds to Student Questions about Next School Year |
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Virginia Teacher of the Year, Andrea Johnson Shares What it Means to be a Teacher During #COVID19 School Closures |
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Recently, Virginia Teacher of the Year Andrea Johnson shared what it means to her to be a teacher during the COVID-19 school closures and why the Continuity for Learning (C4L)Task Force Report is such a valuable resource for educators during this time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y59WJ7FC1UQ&feature=youtu.be
The C4L Task Force prepared Virginia Learns Anywhere (PDF) to reinforce structure and empower individual teachers to support students in learning remotely. The C4L Task Force also encourages divisions to develop and implement continuous learning plans in partnership with local county health departments, families, staff, and local boards of education.
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#CoronavirusHeroes: Virginia high schoolers turn pandemic printers to aid PWC medical workers
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Two Prince William County High schoolers are 3D printing protective face shields and face mask extenders in their Manassas homes to support county health workers battling the Coronavirus.
Max Lawson and Ethan Carr, friends and 16-year-old sophomores at Colgan High School, have turned their high-tech hobby into a pandemic printing effort to help ease local shortages of medical equipment.
“It’s about service,” said Lawson, an aspiring engineer.
Since April 9, Lawson and Carr and their friends have printed, assembled and delivered forty two (42) 3D-printed face shields to Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center, according to Michele R. Eckhardt, Sentra’s Director of Physician & Community Relations.
View more: Teens print face shields for hospital workers in Prince William County
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#COVID19 & Virginia Public Schools Resources
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- The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has been working closely with the Governor’s Office, the Virginia Department of Health, and other state agencies to ensure our public schools and communities have the most up-to-date information and resources. The health and safety of our children and staff are our top priorities: COVID-19 & Virginia Public Schools
- Visit #GoOpenVA:COVID-19 Extended Closing Resources for materials provided by Virginia school divisions to support educational activities when schools are closed.
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Blue Ridge PBS, VPM, WETA and WHRO Public Media have partnered with VDOE to create “VA TV Classroom” to provide instruction to students in grades K-10 who are unable to access other distance learning options due to a lack of high-speed internet. “VA TV Classroom” will air instructional content from 1-3 p.m., Monday through Friday. Visit whro.org/classroom for more details on programming.
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WHRO is offering students, teachers, parents and administrators access to twenty-five high school online courses for free during the COVID19 pandemic.
- FREE EQUITY WEBINAR: Equitable Practices for Teaching Online from Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA). This webinar helps teachers rethink their lesson plans for an online platform, including resources, tools, and ways to ensure students have access. #EdEquityVA
- The VDOE’s Training and Technical Assistance Centers (TTAC) can also serve as a high quality resource for additional support and options for the use of virtual platforms for students with disabilities.
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