Thursday, September 24, 2020
Hey Raccoons!
Last night, the OASD School Board voted to return to traditional face-to-face
instruction for full school days, 5-days a week, for all students at OHS
beginning Monday, September 28. We are excited and ready to welcome all our
Raccoons back to campus each day! With the exception of our students enrolled
in the Ocon Virtual Learning Community (OVLC), all Raccoons should report to
OHS every day at 7:20 a.m. as we return to our traditional schedule. Details on
our schedule, calendar, and adjusted mitigation practices are listed below.
OHS Daily Schedule
You can click here to access the daily bell schedule. Classes start at 7:20 a.m. and finish at 2:40 p.m. Buses depart Main Campus at 2:47 p.m.
While students will still have Purple/Gold designation in their
schedule, every student will report to their classes in person each day. We are
keeping the Purple/Gold designation in your schedule just in case conditions change
and it becomes necessary to switch back to the split-attendance Purple/Gold
schedule.
Pride Period
Pride period is our flexible period that allows students time to
access teachers for extra help, participate in enrichment activities, and
complete Academic and Career Planning assignments. Every Monday, students will
meet in their Homerooms (Block B/3rd hour class), complete their online
seminars, and sign up for activities for the remainder of the week using our
sign-up database, oconpride.org. You
can click
here to review the OHS Pride Protocol, which outlines our schedule,
purpose, and procedures for this flexible period.
Online seminars will now be completed during Pride Homeroom on Mondays. Students not completing their online seminars on Monday will be pulled from their Friday Pride sessions to complete them.
Finally, we will now host Raccoon Community Connection (RCC) at 8:55 a.m. each morning.
As we transition into our traditional schedule, students will report to their Pride Homeroom (Block B/3rd hour class) for the week of September 28. During each Homeroom period that week, we will review various structures and routines that need to be reintroduced or modified because of our full face-to-face return to OHS. Our tentative plan and schedule is below:
- Monday
(9/28): Review Lunch Expectations
- Tuesday
(9/29): Review Safety Mitigation Practices
- Wednesday
(9/30): ACP Seminar Supports
- Thursday
(10/1): Using Pride Period and Oconpride.org
- Friday
(10/2): No School for all OASD: Professional Development Day
Review of OHS Mitigation Measures
With our return to full face-to-face instruction, we will no
longer be able to maximize social distancing in our classrooms or during our
lunch period. We will do our best to maximize space between students but, in
most cases, this means there will be about 1-3 feet between students in each
classroom.
Lunch operations will be modified in the following ways:
- Students
will eat lunch in assigned locations by grade level
- Freshmen and Sophomores: Main Cafeteria,
Upper Gym, South Campus
- Juniors and Seniors: East Campus, North
Cafeteria, Social Studies classrooms, and a few Upper North classrooms
- Seniors: Can still go off-campus. You must
present your ID to the supervisor when leaving the lot.
- Staggered
Lunch Dismissals
- South Campus, Raccoon Runway, Ocon
Ave/Leadership Lane, Music (11:00 a.m.)
- North Campus, Central Campus (11:05 a.m.)
All other mitigation measures we introduced at the start of the year will still be in place. These include:
- The
expectation that everyone wears masks, except those who have received an
exemption.
- Guests/visitors
are restricted to virtual meetings only, including Family/Teacher
Conferences on Thursday, October 1, 2020.
- All
sanitation and personal hygiene practices.
You can click here to review the updated list of mitigation measures presented in late July.
Schedule, Attendance, and Quarantine
You will still see your Purple/Gold designation on your class
schedule. Your group will still be identified in your schedule, just in case we
need to switch back to our Hybrid model for any reason. If you have
questions about your student’s schedule, please contact me prior to September
28 so that our team has time to help before your student arrives for school.
It is important that students and staff continue to stay home if they are not feeling well to try and prevent the unintentional spread of COVID-19 within our school. Students who are required to quarantine will be set up with a Quarantine Learning Plan, coordinated by their Associate Principal.
We will still be using Canvas to deliver and post content to ensure students who need to work remotely can access lessons and various activities.
Students and staff members who are currently in quarantine should continue to follow their predetermined quarantine schedule. With the switch to full-time face-to-face learning, students and staff should return to school on their first learning day after a quarantine period.
Emergency Remote Learning for Credit Continuation
We understand that many families may be seeking to join the
Oconomowoc Virtual Learning Community (OVLC) to meet your academic needs. The
OVLC provides continuity in one instructional framework and provides the
highest mitigation measures possible for students who do not want to risk
exposure to COVID-19. Earlier this summer, we announced that students can
enroll in OVLC at the start of the year or at the new semester on January 19,
2021. However, based on the decision to change instructional models beginning
this Monday, September 28, I am excited to share that we have designed a remote
learning option for families to begin next week. Details are outlined by clicking
here.
Updates to the Term 1 Academic Calendar
You can click
here to access the original 2020-2021 Academic Calendar. Given that we
no longer have the Purple/Gold designated days, it’s much more straightforward.
However, I want to point out a few key dates and updates as we move into the
second half of the first term:
Modification to Our Fall Career and College Readiness Day
Since we cannot visit colleges and conduct in-person job shadow
experiences, we will be canceling our Fall Career and College Readiness Day
scheduled for October. We hope to provide these hands-on learning opportunities
later this spring. Therefore, October 22 will now be a face-to-face
instructional day for all students. However, Juniors will be released from
class for approximately 3 hours to participate in the practice ACT exam. More
details will be shared with families in early October.
Homecoming Week Moved
While some of our Homecoming traditions will need to be modified
or moved to the Spring, we will unite and show our Oconomowoc Pride in fun and
unique ways the week of October 12-16. More details will be shared with
students and families soon!
Mark Your Calendars:
- Friday,
October 2: No School for all OASD Students (Staff Professional Development
Day)
- Monday,
October 12-Friday, October 16: Homecoming Week
- Friday,
October 23: No School for all OASD Students
- Thursday,
October 29-Friday October 30: Modified Schedule Term 1 Exams
- Friday,
October 30: Last Day of Term 1
- Monday,
November 2: No School for all OASD Students (Staff Professional
Development Day)
- Tuesday,
November 3: First Day of Term 2
