Supporting education is a big part of our mission
The Centralia School District (CSD) is faced with many challenges as they begin the new school year virtually. They will be starting the year with fewer staff, COVID-19 safety regulations making distance learning a requirement, and unavailable connectivity for many students in the school district’s area. In our continued effort to help Centralia Schools deliver the best possible education to our students, we are communicating some of their messages to help parents and extended families understand how the schools are going to be working and how to get the most out of a very difficult situation. While many of our efforts set forth with the TransAlta grant are on hold during the pandemic, we are here to support the CSD wherever possible. Helping with outreach is a big piece of what is needed right now so that EVERYONE knows how school will work this fall. It will take all of us to make sure our kids are engaged with distance learning.
The Centralia School District and the Centralia Community Foundation are collaborating to help every community member support our students, whether they be your own children, grandchildren, extended family, or family friends.
Preparing for traditional learning in a virtual world.
There are significant differences between the distance learning we did in the spring, and what it is going to be like this fall. Distance teaching and learning is new for students and staff. Our goals this coming school year are to keep kids focused, engaged, and moving forward.
We understand this is a different and challenging way for our kids to learn. They need a support team around them at home. The Centralia School District has been working to help each student family create a positive structure for student work. We want every student to have a strong start to the school year.
Working together we can make sure our kids are successful.
It will be a challenge for many parents who have to leave home for work, or who work from home, to become the only support for their child’s virtual learning. It may be important for working parents to arrange for additional support team members to help coordinate home student learning. This could include outside family members or close friends. This “student support team” will become the teaching assistants. Parents can communicate with the teachers and ask for guidance, feedback, and how to keep their students accountable.
You will need to rely more on teachers and counselors, so reach out to them. Parents will have a major role to play as translators and messengers to the teachers, who will not be able to develop as deep a relationship with their students through a screen as they would in a classroom setting. Communicate to teachers that you want clear expectations and goalposts for your kids. The rules have changed, and kids are trying to figure out this new world with many questions like; how will they be graded, or how do they succeed?
Let’s keep moving forward.
Teachers are keeping regular, if not extended hours in their classrooms to conduct their virtual teaching. And students are also expected to be home in their “virtual classrooms” during school hours.
We want to help the school district to do everything possible to support our kids’ growth in these tough times. CSD has provided a computer to every student, and they are trying to solve the problems with internet access for kids without or in poor service areas. They are doing all they can with the resources they have, but it will definitely take some extra effort to protect and secure the education of our children.
Information Resources:
Centralia School District Reopening website at: www.centraliaschools.org/reopening
The district will be holding a weekly Q&A forum on Zoom to answer questions.
You can join in every Thursday through September from 5:30-6:30pm at:
https://zoom.us/j/94574945559
