NCA Students and Families,
Good evening NCA! I hope you are all doing well. Governor Walz and Education Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker announced today an executive order for Minnesota residents to stay home beginning at 11:59 pm on March 27 and ending no earlier than midnight on April 10. The executive order allows for essential personnel to continue only their work that cannot be done from home; this includes education staff. For this reason, NCA staff will continue to plan, prepare and deliver food and instructional materials as needed, during this executive order.
Governor Walz and Commissioner Ricker have also announced that Distance Learning will begin on Monday, March 30 and end on Thursday, April 30. All school staff will report back to the school building on Friday, May 1 and Monday, May 4 to prepare for students to return to the school building beginning Tuesday, May 5. If Governor Walz deems it necessary to continue distance learning beyond this period, staff and students will not report until the newly identified date. My hope is that if we all do our part to follow the executive order to stay home and continue to practice social distancing until April 30, we will be back to school on May 5. Please do everything you can to stay safe and follow the recommendations and executive orders provided by our government officials.
New Century Academy staff will deliver materials to ALL students this Friday, March 27 between 9:30 am and 12:30 pm. Staff will continue to follow social distancing recommendations during all deliveries. Along with the materials, staff will also be delivering food items to ALL students. Regarding food, this will be our practice each and every day until Distance Learning is over. If you do not want the food items please tell the staff member or call the school and notify us that you do not want the food. If you do want the food and have not filled out the consent form, please do so as soon as possible. Staff will have extra consent forms with during the deliveries.
I have added to the school website a posting that summarizes the distance learning plan. Our hope is to provide an online learning platform through google classroom and google hangouts meet. We will also provide these materials in print source each week. Students will therefore have the opportunity to complete the work online or on paper. Our goal is also to make contact with each student every day. Our paraprofessionals will be reaching out by phone to check on your needs. We acknowledge that there will be bumps in the road during the delivery of the Distance Learning plan. Our hope is that staff, students and families can work together to provide the highest quality learning environment possible during these difficult times.
We understand that our biggest challenge will be engaging students and getting everyone connected online. We are in contact with local providers to see if there are options for families. Remember that your cellular plan may allow you to connect using a hot spot. Local providers may also offer discounted services or free services for a time period. Please continue to contact the school if you have technology needs. We hope to deliver technology this Friday as well to those who need it.
Thank you all for your patience and understanding. We miss you all and look forward to connecting with you next week!
Jason Becker, Director
New Century Academy
