Handbook: What Students and Parents Can Expect
Teachers will be in communication with their students on a daily basis. They will provide activities, guidance, and expectations. They will communicate via a number of different digital platforms. Email will always be a consistent form of communication, and if our students or parents need to be in touch with a teacher or administrator, email will be the most effective mechanism as long as our schools remain closed. Communication information is outlined below.
Daily Schedule
We know that it’s important for students to have structure during the day. We are also very conscious of the fact that every family situation is different at the moment. This is one of those rare opportunities when families can truly individualize schedules in ways that make sense for the lives of each individual.
So rather than impose a uniform schedule, we suggest the following:
- Create blocks of time for focus on academics and electives/specials. These could be from 45 to 90 minutes depending on the age of the child. Decide in advance what subject should be the focus during each block. Limit distractions during this time.
- Make sure there are real breaks between those blocks, when physical activity should be encouraged.
- Make sure there is time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. To the extent possible, this should be social time whether with family or with friends via phone or video-conference. Don’t let school work interfere with meal times.
- Encourage children to be outside regularly, while paying attention to all the social distancing and other health guidelines we are receiving.
Work Space
Again, we know that each family situation will be different, so these are recommendations:
- Try to create a dedicated work space for each child, where there is a desk/table, access to necessary technology and other typical school resources (paper, pencils, etc.).
- Try not to have the work space be the child’s bedroom.
- Try to have the space be in a quiet but not entirely isolated location (so that the student is aware of but not distracted by adult supervision).
Work Completion
It will be important for students to make every effort to stay current with the work their teachers are providing. We have asked our teachers to create windows of time when work can be submitted rather than hard and fast deadlines. Again, we recognize that every family situation will be different. We want our students to know that completion of their work continues to be important while minimizing additional stress during these challenging times.
Grading
Initially, we have asked teachers to mark individual assignments for completion rather than for a grade. Teachers will provide feedback to students and students are encouraged to ask questions.
We are still working to determine the most sensible approach to quarter, semester, and final grades and will communicate with you as soon as those decisions have been made.
Communication
While our schools are closed, we recommend that families NOT use our school telephone system. We cannot ensure that messages will be monitored on a regular basis.
Students can expect to hear from their teachers regularly and we believe the mechanisms for communicating back will be apparent. If they are not, all teacher emails can be found in the Faculty and Staff Directory that is located under the School Info tab on each of our school web sites.
All staff will make every effort to respond to emails within a 24 hour period.
Principals | Administrators
John Jay High School – Steven Siciliano – ssiciliano@klschools.org
John Jay Middle School – Jeffrey Swiatowicz – jswiatowicz@klschools.org
Increase Miller Elementary School – Kerry Ford - kford@klschools.org
Katonah Elementary School – Cristy Harris - charris@klschools.org
Meadow Pond Elementary School – Carolann Castellano - ccastellano@klschools.org
And district office staff as follows:
Superintendent – Andrew Selesnick – aselesnick@klschools.org
Asst. Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction – Mary Ford – mford@klschools.org
Asst. Superintendent for Human Resources – Alice Cronin – acronin@klschools.org
Interim Asst. Superintendent for Business – David Quattrocchi – dquattrocchi@klschools.org