Good evening,

I hope everyone had a restful and/or productive “Flexible Friday.”  By now we have had one full week of mandatory instruction following our revised Virtual Learning Plan. Thanks to all of you who have reached out to share your perceptions. Largely, I have heard from parents, students, and teachers that the plan is a welcome change and seems to be working.  The parents who have expressed the greatest frustration, not surprisingly, are those parents in essential jobs who are still working and trying to juggle their employment responsibilities along with their parenting role. One suggestion I would make to parents in that situation is to put the responsibility on your children to show you what they did each day (while you were at work) in order to earn some privilege once you come home. That said, I understand that some children may not necessarily respond to that. They may be looking for or just need that sense of connection because they miss you. And on top of that, they’re probably worried about you being out of the house potentially exposed to that “scary virus.”   

We have made one slight change to the Virtual Learning Plan based on feedback this week.  Teachers discovered that the letter grades they were planning to give were not being accepted by Google Classroom, so we have changed those four letter grades (O, S, N, M) to the numbers 4, 3, 2, and 1. We have updated the Virtual Learning Guidance Document on our website.

I also want you to know that the pre-k and kindergarten registration that otherwise would have started this week is being retooled so that it can be completed online. As soon as that system is up and running, we will announce it through one of these regular updates. The screening portion of that process, where we conduct a range of assessments for each child, will be postponed until summer or such time that we are once again allowed to be in contact with one another.

Finally, let me end with a few numbers: After one month of food distribution, we have delivered a total of 78,758 meals. Yesterday, we received a donation of 34,560 bags of kettle corn-flavored PopCorners that will go into future meals. And we have manufactured 1,275 face shields for medical personnel, first responders, and essential workers. If you know of any group that still needs face shields, please know we are still taking orders.

I continue to be impressed by the generosity and the “can do” spirit of our Pine Bush community. It’s what continues to give me faith that we will get through the challenges and curve balls this virus has thrown at us.  We certainly are a sturdy lot!  And I am proud to serve as your Superintendent.

I’ll send my next message on Sunday afternoon.  Have a great weekend.

Tim Mains, Superintendent