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Families,
I’m happy to report that we had most students in classes on Thursday when we switched to our new process for live (synchronous) lessons. I expect all classes to be held on Monday. Thanks for your patience with us.
I want to recognize some habits we’ve fallen into lately and commit to making things better. In the last two weeks, you have been inundated with emails from our staff. As technological problems were disrupting synchronous learning plans across the district, lots of communications were coming from FCPS. Often, this led to me or my staff following up with our own messages. Our intention was to bring clarity to what would be happening the next day. But the messages added up.
You should know that most group emails or Remind texts from our teachers were sent at my direction. When we are in “normal” school, our approach to parent newsletters has typically been short, to-the-point, and not overly repetitive. Teachers would send their weekly group email/Remind once per week, and my News You Choose emails were never more frequent than that. The staff and I want to return to that approach.
Next week, we’ll have consistent synchronous learning, and we’ll return to our normal communication routines. I’ll be sending a parent newsletter (like this one) once per week. Teachers will no longer email/Remind text their daily schedule. This is their approach moving forward:
- A communication (email or Remind) on Sunday or Monday morning that lays out the schedule for the week and provides guidance for the week’s assignments.
- A daily communication (Mon.-Thurs.) in the afternoon that provides links to recorded lessons. The title of this email will be “In Case You Missed Them.” If your child participated in his/her lessons that day, you may delete this email.
We could forgo these communications completely and instruct you to get this info daily on Blackboard. Instead, we hope you see these emails as saving you from logging into that site.
Of course, teachers may contact you individually for issues directly related to your child.
Thanks for your quick work in navigating your child’s FCPS Gmail account to get them their links to our lessons. Our school days are always better when we can get kids in front of their teachers.
Ask any questions.
Jesse Kraft
jkraft@fcps.edu
The PTA executive board met this week to determine how to support the school during our closure and beyond. Watch for a detailed message from us next week. For now, mark your calendar for two events:
Wed., Apr. 29 @ 6:00 PM
Principals/President’s Q&A Session – all Coates parents welcome to hear about school & PTA plans and to ask questions about distance learning and any other school-related topics. RSVP by emailing coatesptapresident@gmail.com . You’ll be sent a link to this virtual meeting.
May 4-8
Teacher Appreciation Week – more info coming on how you can show love to the staff.
If you paid money for a spring field trip, your child’s teacher has sent you a message on how to either attain reimbursement or donate your payment to your child’s field trips in 2020-21. If you have any questions, contact Mrs. Peckham at fpeckham@fcps.edu .
New families should register for school! While we cannot finalize the process with school closed (we have to validate ID and check residency), new families can still complete required paperwork. Send any new neighbors to our registrar, Mrs. Marney, at ajmarney@fcps.edu . The same goes for you if you have a rising kindergartner coming to Coates in the fall.
If you are moving out of the Coates boundaries, please tell your teacher and Mrs. Marney. We can help with your child’s transition to the new school.
Great stuff gets posted, including important reminders!
Check out Coates Facebook, Twitter & Instagram .
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