Letter To LMHS Families Regarding School Reopening

Press release from the Lower Merion School District:

Oct. 1, 2020

Dear Parents, Guardians, and Caregivers of Grade 9 Students:

I hope that this letter finds you and your family well and that your child has enjoyed the first few weeks of school. As per Mr. Copeland's recent communication about the reopening of our schools, we are preparing to transition from the current fully remote mode of learning to a hybrid schedule.

Though our students' return to school might evoke a sense of returning to normality, clearly this is not the case. A great deal of planning is taking place to help our school community navigate the transition to in-person learning while prioritizing the safety of our students and staff. These considerations include but are not limited to:

• A revised hybrid schedule (see below and attached)
• Protocols for arriving to and departing from school
• Protocols for lunch time
• Protocols for movement in the building between classes
• Protocols for navigating free periods
• Protocols for maintaining a safe classroom environment

It is important for all students and families to be familiar with the procedures and expectations surrounding these and other matters. For this reason, we are inviting LMHS Grade 9 students and parents/guardians/caregivers to attend a presentation via Zoom Webinar on Wednesday, October 7th at 7:00 p.m. This event will feature a detailed presentation of the revised hybrid model (see below and attached) and the measures we are taking to prioritize safety. You will have the opportunity to submit questions about the schedule in advance; throughout the session we will respond to the most frequently asked questions. We will be doing a 10th, 11th, and 12th grade only presentation on Thursday, October 8th.

To join the presentation on Wednesday, October 7th at 7:00 p.m. click here.

Please submit questions you may have about the hybrid learning model here.

Families have already received communication from the District identifying their child(ren)'s cohort, either cohort A or cohort B. In order to avoid confusion with the lettered days of the cycle, at Lower Merion we will refer to cohort A as the "Maroon cohort" and cohort B as the "Gray cohort." The Maroon (A) cohort will report physically to school on Mondays and Wednesdays while the Gray (B) cohort will learn from home. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the Gray (B) cohort will report to school while the Maroon (A) cohort learns from home. All students will experience asynchronous learning on Fridays with access to all of their teachers. The cohort learning from home will be connected in real time with their teacher and peers in the classroom, so learning will move forward on a daily basis. We will maintain the traditional letter day cycle, though each day will be repeated so that all students have access to experiences that are scheduled only once in a 4-day cycle (science labs, for example). The calendar of letter days, the schedule of in-person cohort assignments, and the bell schedule can be viewed here.

Students enrolled in LMSD@Home, our fully virtual synchronous option, will learn at home every day, connected electronically to their teachers and classmates. Students enrolled in Lower Merion Virtual Academy (LMVA) will continue learning through their asynchronous classes run by the Intermediate Unit and will not engage in this hybrid model.

Thank you very much for your continued assistance in supporting a smooth transition to in-person learning for our students. We look forward to seeing your children back at Lower Merion!

Sincerely,

Sean Hughes

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