School System Transcript 04/21/2020
Good evening Hamblen County School Family. Please take a moment to review the following information and contact Kellie Smith if you have any questions or concerns and we will address in a future broadcast.
1. We met remotely with principals yesterday and attempted to resolve a number of questions. We will provide an update of that information over the next couple of days. We fully understand that our solution to many of our issues will not come without objection or complaint. We have attempted to keep the best interest of our students in mind as we have created these solutions. It is our hope that both parents and students will appreciate the fact that we are attempting to do our best during an extremely difficult time, and we appreciate your understanding. None of these solutions are perfect, but we are attempting to help our students.
2. We have received more questions and concerns about high school graduation than any other single issue. We have consistently stated that we would have some type of graduation experience for our students and parents, if possible. This process is not an easy one to implement because it requires a significant amount of planning. In order to increase the likelihood we can actually bring several people together in one location, we have moved the graduation date as late into the summer as possible without conflicting with most college start dates. We will have the graduation ceremony for West High on Thursday, July 23, at 8:00p.m. at Burke-Toney Stadium. This will allow us to maintain appropriate distancing among parents, family, and friends in the stands. We will conduct the ceremony at the Walters State Community College Gymnasium if it rains. We chose the stadium as our first location because it will allow us the opportunity to invite more guests to the program. The graduation ceremony for East High School will be Friday, July 24, at 8:00p.m. at Burke-Toney Stadium. We will move the ceremony to the East High School Gymnasium if it rains.
We will continue to evaluate the health issues associated with this ceremony, so it is possible we may be unable to conduct the ceremony. However, we wanted to push it as far into the summer as we could to increase our chances of success. Health conditions may force us to limit the number of visitors to the ceremony, but we hope to give our seniors at least the experience. If we are forced to limit visitors, we will attempt to livestream the ceremony and provide parents with a video of the program. We would encourage distant family members wishing to attend the ceremony to refrain from securing transportation costs which could not be recovered until later in the summer. We fully understand this will not meet the needs and desires of every family in Hamblen County. It would have been our desire to have graduation at the prescribed date, but we are doing what we can to help.
3. Both High Schools will distribute graduation supplies such as caps and gowns this week. Both schools will conduct a curbside distribution system. Seniors from East High School can pick up their graduation supplies on April 24 from 10:00 a.m. to noon at East High School. Seniors at West High School can pick up their graduation supplies on April 23 from 10:00 – 1:00. Students at West are encouraged to come at 10:00 – 11:00 if your last name begins with A-I. Please come at 11:00 – 12:00 if your last name begins with J-R and between 12:00 – 1:00 if your last name begins with S – Z. Students should not get out of their cars during this time and, we ask all students not to gather during the stay at home order. We can safety distribute the supplies, but we do not want students to collect in large groups after the distribution.
4. We will also conduct a prom for our students if possible. East High School will conduct its prom on Saturday, July 25, at East High School. West High School will conduct its prom on Saturday, July 25, at West High School. We will work with students on themes and times later but wanted to give you the dates now so you can mark your calendars. Again, we would encourage everyone to wait until later in the summer to commit to buying expensive attire for the prom. Let’s make sure this late date will provide us with the appropriate health conditions to actually have the prom before we spend money.
5. We will move from our seniors to our incoming kindergarten students. Jumpstart and kindergarten enrollment will be even more important for us since we could not have Roundup this year. During these uncertain times, we will need to be creative and flexible. Therefore, for this year, we will have district-wide kindergarten Jumpstart program from July 20th - 23rd. We will begin the process on July 20 with orientation and registration. Each elementary school will conduct their own orientation and registration from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. It is extremely important for parents to attend this session. We cannot overstate the importance of you attending this meeting. Kindergarten can be a challenging time for some parents and students. Having an opportunity to talk with parents before we start school will help this process tremendously.
This orientation meeting will give the staff an opportunity to meet parents, discuss kindergarten expectations, explain the concept of Jumpstart, discuss the importance of staggered kindergarten schedules during that first week of school, and assist parents with the enrollment process. Following this orientation session, we will have Jumpstart for all incoming kindergartens on July 21-July 23 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The students will be divided into two groups. One group will attend the morning session and the second group will attend the afternoon session. This will help reduce the numbers and allow teachers to more effectively interact with your child.
These three days will be spent administering beginning-of-the-year assessments, working on foundational skills, and getting students acclimated to procedures and their school surroundings. It is important for our teachers to have time to get plans/materials ready for this week. Please make every effort to have your child attend these sessions.
6. It is important the instructional process continue throughout what would have been the rest of the school year and over the summer. We have missed a significant amount of instructional time, and we want students to have the best chance for success next year. We will continue to produce two main options for K-8 instructional materials for English language arts and math. Options for materials include a printable PDF packet and an online curriculum experience. Both curriculum options will continue to be available online at our website, but parents may pick up a printed copy of the PDF packet if they are experiencing problems printing the copies at home. These hard copies will be placed in boxes labeled by grade level outside the front door of the central office. The next phase of materials will be available for pick up beginning on Monday, April 27. These materials are designed to be used until May 22 which was supposed to be the last day of school. We will also provide another PDF packet option for the summer months beginning June 1. Please do not attempt to force your child to complete all of these assignments quickly. Take your time and allow your child to set a reasonable pace with the lesson. Answer keys and discussion guides for the PDF packets will be available for parents to download and use on our district curriculum site under each grade level button.
For the online curriculum experience, new lessons for the following week will be posted every Friday. Take your time and establish a reasonable pace. Allow your child to enjoy the summer, but keep them involved in the learning process. It is important to note these materials will not be graded. This is simply for parents to use at home to keep children engaged in learning in preparation for next year.
We understand some of the material may be difficult for some parents. Parents may contact the school starting April 27 for assistance with the lesson. A staff member will take your name and contact information and have the appropriate teacher contact you for help.