Last week we sent out a note letting you know that we will be offering a hybrid program this year, and we asked you to think about what is best for your family. If you are leaning toward taking part in the live streaming as opposed to the face-to-face instruction, please read the requirements below. This will NOT be like this past spring where we accepted late assignments, and we want you to understand that this is a big commitment. Please consider carefully if it is in your student’s best interest to go this route. These are the requirements and expectations:
1. Your student must have a laptop with a working webcam, a microphone, and speakers. Your student must also have access to a printer in case it is needed.
2. Your student must have internet service that can support full two-way video conferencing.
3. Your student must be available to meet with each class in which he/she is enrolled. Attendance will be taken and absences & tardies will be recorded.
4. While a student is in class, he/she can’t be responsible for younger siblings or for other duties because it will interfere with his/her own learning.
5. When your student is in class, he/she needs to be in a room that is quiet (no music, etc.). It is also important that parents and siblings do not interrupt the student during class.
6. If your student has a job outside the home, the work hours must not fall during the student’s class time. (see #3)
7. Your student must hand in homework when the homework is due, the same as he/she would have to do if he/she were in person.
8. Because the student will be in class and will be visible, he/she is required to adhere to WA’s dress code policy. Please go to the school website (wisacad.org) and look at the handbook if you are unsure about what the dress code is.
9. The only time a student can switch from in-person to live stream or vice versa is at the semester break.
Please note the following:
1. Music done by virtual learning (live stream) will be private lessons only.
2. Certain classes can’t be taught effectively by live stream; therefore, students will need to take those classes when they return to campus next school year. Those classes include Home-Ec, Foods, Shop, Industrial Arts, Video Editing (this one may not be able to meet even on campus–stay tuned), Computer Apps (Mr. Show is looking for a way to do this one with live streaming–stay tuned), Photo Shop, ALEKS, Fast ForWord, Yearbook,and Bells. We are still working on Choir.
With all of that being said, it would be great if you could let us know by Monday what your plans are so that we can pull things together on our end. We need to know how many students will be in each dorm, etc.
As for registration, everyone is required to attend, even if you are doing live streaming. Pre-registration is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, August 9.
Registration is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, August 16. Classes start August 17. We will be mailing out registration packets to everyone this Friday unless you have already told us your student is not returning. We wanted to have all the forms online, but we have spent most of our time dealing with the late end to last school year, planning graduation, and working on opening up this new school year; we simply haven’t had the time to get all the registration forms onto our website. You can fill out the forms we send and bring them to registration so that you don’t have to sit here and fill them out. Don’t forget that the Business Office needs to see your student’s social security card (don’t forget to have the student sign it). The Business Office also needs the following at registration:
- Original (copies are not acceptable) documents required for the I-9 form
- A list of acceptable documents can be found here:
- Either ONE document from List A OR ONE from List B AND ONE from List C
- An original email address that students have access to and can login into immediately.
Finally, we just wanted to let you know that we are still working hard to make campus as safe as we possibly can. Everyone will need to wear a mask at registration and at school. If students choose to bring their own masks to school, the masks must be a plain color with no graphics or text. We will be using cleaning products from the EPA’s List N, and we are going to require social distancing. The Safety Committee has been discussing transportation, classes, church and other meetings. When the deans and teachers come back on contract next week, we will also be discussing the dorms and the cafeteria. We greatly appreciate your patience as we work through these things. We are at the mercy of the various governing bodies that are putting together information for us (e.g. health department, NAD). In a meeting today, we learned there are more guidelines coming out in two weeks. As you can see, this situation is still evolving. Just know that we are working hard and doing our best to make sure that your students are protected. We love the children too, and we want to do what is best for them.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Kelly Taitano at kelly.taitano@wisacad.org or 920-623-3300 ext. 323.
Sincerely,
Wisconsin Academy Administration
