BLAINE SCHOOL DISTRICT
Back to School 2020-2021 A special publication of The Northern Light
Welcome Borderites to the 2020-2021 School Year! Staff and administrators at Blaine School District have been working all summer to prepare for this new and unique start to school and are ready to welcome our students back to learning! What will it look like? How will it work? We have created a new section of our website specifically for the 2020-2021 school year, and we hope it will answer all your questions, but we’d like to share a few highlights here as well.
purchased a Chromebook for every student in grades K-12. programs. We are working to engage students through an There are also mobile hot spots available for families who improved delivery, translating what we know about good indicated a need for assistance with improved connectivity. teaching to a remote setting and finding ways to help students do important thinking and concept work rather than How will it work? simple task completion. Students will be provided a structured schedule K-5 with a good mix of synchronous and asynchrowill receive periods of instruction, 6-12 Students nous learning. This will give them a chance to engage in with a significant amount of direct contact live sessions with their teacher and classmates for focused with teachers and classmates in live sessions. Lessons What will it look like? bits of time, but also have time to work offline and flexi- will be formatted with a mix of live instruction and time The Blaine School Board made the decision to start the bly. There will also be pre-recorded video lessons for core to work and process; beginning with a short mini-lesschool year in a 100% virtual environment. The district has content, such as our Bridges and Fountas and Pinnell son from their teacher, work time with support, and a wrap up/summary. We are also working hard on remote learning strategies to engage students for improved delivery, as well as enhanced electronic tools and We’ve worked hard all summer to improve remote learning, and we’re ready for fall! curriculum.
Enhanced curricula with improved delivery, including live streamed lessons and recorded content. Technology investment in Chromebooks for every student and mobile hotspots for those needing improved connectivity
All new website content specific to this school year to support students and families
Virtual office hours for teachers and a special tech help team to support students and families
What if we need flexibility? Last spring we heard from many families who asked for more structure in our online delivery, and we have worked to provide that. Since then however, we have heard from more families who say flexibility is what is needed. We understand that every family’s situation is unique, and we want to meet the needs of every student and family. To that end, we are preparing to offer some flexible options for meeting the requirements of attendance, but these options do include more onus on the part of the parent or guardian in helping their student stay on pace. As each family’s need for flexibility is unique and plans need to involve collaboration with teachers, we will not be able to finalize how they will work until all of our teachers are back to work. Stay tuned to our website and social media platforms for updates.