Novato Unified School District Shares VLA Middle School Newsletter

Press release from the Novato Unified School District:

September 25, 2020

En español

Hello VLA Middle School Families,

NUSD Has Been Discussing a Hybrid Model for Students in Flexible In Person. What Does that Mean for My VLA Student in Middle School?

NUSD and the Novato Federation of Teachers (NFT teacher’s union) have been working on an agreement for a hybrid model. If a hybrid model is agreed upon, VLA middle school students will follow that schedule so that our teachers who teach both Flexible in Person and VLA will be able to meet their students at consistent times. The students’ teachers will remain the same as well as the classes that they are taking. At this time, there is no agreement on a hybrid model. If NUSD and NFT reach an agreement about a hybrid model, we will share the schedule for times of classes as soon as possible. In the meantime we are still following the weekly schedule. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NrWwfluixQuc2LeiOSjRIPRiyOHlBG8XLZ
j4JDXTfSY/edit?usp=sharing

September is National Suicide Prevention Month

The month of September is National Suicide Prevention Month. This month provides us an opportunity to engage in conversations with one another and deepen our own understanding in promoting suicide prevention and recovery awareness. Please see the communication from NUSD which provides resources for talking with children. https://nusd.org/9-8-20-announcements-information/

Galileo Benchmark Assessment

This year, Novato Unified will be administering a benchmark assessment in English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics. The benchmark assessment tool is called Galileo and will be given to all students at the beginning, middle and end of this school year. The information will help identify any learning loss from the Spring and will inform our teachers about how to best support each student this year. The assessment will be given remotely. The testing window opened on Monday, September 21st and will go through October 8th. Our VLA teachers will administer the assessment during this window of time and schedule it when it works best for their class. Please look for communication from your child’s teacher.

Attendance Matters!

It is crucial that your child attend every class each day. When our students are in attendance their success in academics increases as well their connection with their learning community grows. In the event that your child needs to miss class, please contact both the teacher and Office Manager, Vivian Jensen. You can contact her at vjensen@nusd.org and her phone number is (415) 493-4444. I also recommend checking Aeries to be sure that your child is in attendance of the classes. Please note that during this time, we are marking attendance in a different way. You will see numbers indicating the way the student participated.

• 1 = PresClass – PIC – Present in the classroom
• 2 = Online – ONL -Attended an online/Zoom/Google classroom
• 3 = Assignment – ANG -Submitted an online assignment or assessment
• 4 = Contacted – CNT – Parent or student was contacted via phone conversation
• 5 = Other – OTH – other (Text box will be added by Attendance notes)

Problems with devices or Wifi

If your child is experiencing trouble with the Chromebook or accessing wifi, please contact help@nusd.org

Amanda Davis and Elizabeth Olinyk
Co-Principals, Virtual Learning Academy
adavis@nusd.org
eolinyk@nusd.org

www.nusd.org/COVID

This press release was produced by the Novato Unified School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.