SWGHS Principal's weekly updates for March 30th

Good evening Southwest,

I hope this message finds you all staying healthy, practicing social distance, getting exercise, and staying on top of what your teachers are providing. 

This past week, we officially started e-learning. While our teachers have started delivering instruction this week to keep our students growing minds fresh, please make sure your student is accessing Canvas on a daily basis to work on their assignments.  Also, the teachers and administration have access to monitor if, when and how long students are accessing Canvas. This gives us a great idea if your student is staying on top of the academics being delivered to them. We will start calling to make sure you check on your student so they are in fact accessing their academics that our teachers are working so hard to provide. As a parent, please know you have the capability to be on canvas with your student to personally monitor their work. There is a link embedded in this blog if you wish to sign on. 

Canvas Parent Guide https://gcs.instructure.com/courses/33659/files/4653994/download?download_frd=1 Canvas Parent Pairing Instructions https://gcs.instructure.com/courses/33659/files/4633305/download?download_frd=1

EOGs, EOCs, and related Alternate Assessments will not be administered this Spring 2020 per the approved State Testing Waiver submitted to the USDOE.

NCFEs are administered due to state policies. Once more information is provided by the General Assembly, an update on NCFEs will be communicated. 

The College Board has released the following information regarding AP exams:

· Traditional face-to-face AP exams will not take place.

· Students will take a 45-minute secure online exam from home on a computer, tablet or phone. Students may also complete exams with paper and pencil and submit by photo.

· Students will be able to choose between two possible exam dates for each exam. The dates will be announced April 3.

· Exams will consist of free-response questions (no multiple choice) that will only cover content which would have been covered in most classrooms by early March.

· While students will also have the option of cancelling their exam order with no penalty fee, GCS strongly encourages students to take the exam which will still be accepted by universities for credit and advanced placement.

· Teachers will continue to provide daily instruction on content covered by the exam as well as other major concepts that students would be expected to know for future college courses. o Students should take full advantage of practice resources on AP Classroom. o The College Board has also released free daily video lessons conducted by AP teachers across the nation which focus on high impact topics and skills. The full daily schedule is available online. The videos will also be available on the GCS AG Webpage. · Students may access the most recent updates from College Board here. 

• AP updates for students/families

You also may have seen some news related to seniors and getting a pass/fail grade. I will be receiving more information with further clarification on this as there were many questions created by this delivery of news. As soon as I receive all specifications, I will share them with you. Please know it is still very important to stay on top of what the teachers are delivering regardless of the outcome. The process in being educated is second to none. Please make sure you assist us with keeping your student engaged academically throughout the remainder of the year. 

Please continue to stay healthy, exercise, sanitize not only your hands, but items you touch. Social distancing is absolutely key to slowing this pandemic down.

Please make sure you all are signed up for your teachers' and counselors'  reminds if they have one to stay in touch besides as well as checking their websites for any necessary instructions to access online learning opportunities.

If you do not have internet, we want to remind you of Spectrum's free 60 day trial for internet service. If not, please call them at 1-844-488-8398

FAQs regarding this process can be found on the Southwest website under the Contact us tab at the top of the Southwest Guilford High School website. There will also be a link to submit a question you may need an answer for. 

Be on the lookout on our social media platforms as well as on our website under students services for the SEL activity for the week. Thank you to Ms. Farmer for leading the charge on this! This will start this upcoming week!

A gentle reminder that we have amazing staff on site who can support you during these times. Please make sure you reference this attachment in case you need anything. 

Please continue to stay healthy Southwest. Our staff continue to work extremely hard behind the scenes transforming their delivery of education to best serve your student at this time. We also know your lives have been turned upside down as well. Feel free to e-mail your students' teachers if you need assistance with your student's work, or call any of our support staff if your student needs extra support. I miss each and every one of you and can not wait to see you real soon!  Thank you very much, have a great night, practice social distancing please, and remember we are... Southwest!