Good evening Pine Bush parents and staff,

Tonight I want to provide more clarifications about the virtual learning that will begin on Monday and make you aware of several new resources.

First of all, I have come to understand that some parents believe that they must have a Chromebook in order for a child to participate. That is not the case at all. Students can access their Google Classrooms from any device with an active internet connection using an internet browser like Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. We have been loaning Chromebooks to families who don’t already have devices at home, because that is what we have here at school.

Second, several parents have contacted me to inquire if their child’s school day on the computer will mirror the day as if they were in school. And the answer to that is “no, it will not.” When everybody is meeting with the teacher in real time, that is called synchronous instruction, because everyone is synchronized to meeting at the same time. Most of the instruction that will begin on Monday will be asynchronous, meaning students will log into their
Google Classrooms, see their messages and assignments, and complete them at their own pace. Teachers certainly have the option to call for a synchronous meeting of all or a portion of their class, but whenever they plan to do that, the students will see that posted at least a day in advance so everyone can arrange to be part of the session at the appointed time.

Starting this afternoon, we revised our website with two very
important links in a banner at the very top of every page. The first is a link to a page chock-full of resources and “how-to” videos for students and parents. The how-to video explaining Google Classroom will help parents understand how this platform is organized and what to look for when monitoring their children’s completion of assignments (it’s less than 15 minutes). The
other is a link to the form you can complete to request tech support. The form is for staff and students alike.

Our tech coaches also spent a lot of time creating resources for teachers. They can find those by clicking on the “Staff Resources” link at the top right of the home page. Among the staff resources are two important links: one for Instructional Technology – Elementary Level and one for Instructional Technology – Secondary Level. The tech coaches have gathered a fair
amount of resources and made a few how-to videos for staff as well.

I hope you will take some time over the next few days to check these out.

Tim O. Mains, Pine Bush Superintendent