Baldwin-Whitehall School District: School Attendance Guidelines-Revisited 2.24.21

Press release from the Baldwin-Whitehall School District:

February 26, 2021

Dear Baldwin-Whitehall School District Parents and Guardians:

Many aspects of schooling have changed over the past year. Those changes include how schools are required to track the mandatory attendance of their students.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education released revised guidelines related to student attendance prior to the 2020-2021 school year. I feel that it is important to refocus on those guidelines at this time.

The revised guidelines are built upon the key concepts of access and completion. Access pertains to having documented evidence that the student has access to the resources required for the assigned learning activities while completion is tied to evidence that the student completed the assigned learning activities. Both concepts are critical to the success of students in both remote and in-person learning environments and in my opinion, one cannot exist without the other.

As we move into the second semester, the District is experiencing some difficulties with school attendance for students. Let this notice serve as a reminder of attendance expectations. For Full-time remote students – attendance is not optional and completion of the Google Form is required daily (including Wednesdays) to demonstrate "access." Failure to complete the Google form daily will result in being marked absent. The second requirement is the completion of assigned tasks and activities by the due dates.

Many remote students have inquired as to whether they are required to engage in learning activities in a synchronous manner. While the District has refrained from making synchronous learning mandatory, it is strongly recommended for all students and of critical importance for any child experiencing learning difficulties.

Attendance guidelines for students participating in the in-person learning model are much more traditional, however, confusion has existed over some aspects. Now that we are working on a 4-day in-person model, students assigned to this program are required to attend all 4 days of in-person instruction. Access is evidenced by being in school. On Wednesdays, when all students are learning from home, even in-person students must complete the Google Form. If in-person students are not in school on MTRF or do not complete the Google Form on Wednesday, then they are absent.

The District has established two exceptions for in-person attendance while still being counted as "present." They include:

1. The Voluntary Quarantine. As a District, our ability to remain open is the responsibility of everyone. If there is a concern in your family about possible exposure to COVID-19, unusual illness, or members of the household engaged in the COVID-19 testing protocol, please keep your child home and contact the school.
2. Days of Weather Concerns: If the Superintendent does not cancel in-person learning on days of weather concerns, parents can have an option to shift to remote-learning on the day of the weather incident ONLY. The District is aware that conditions can vary greatly from one community to another.

In both cases, parents MUST contact the school (teacher in charge of attendance) PRIOR TO THE SCHOOL DAY STARTING. Please be aware that these days shall be monitored by the school and any perceived misuse will be addressed accordingly.

No other reasons may be used as an exception to being present in-person.

Please remember that our in-person learning model is at maximum capacity at this time and any student that does not attend school on a regular basis may be involuntarily switched to the remote learning plan to make room for students that will better utilize the available resources.

If anyone has any questions or is in need of additional information, please contact your child's building principal.

Sincerely,

Randal A. Lutz, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools

This press release was produced by the Baldwin-Whitehall School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.