Per Kate Mulligan, July 30th Bulldog Bark:

Some of you have asked if Chartwell will be applying for a waiver to have some of our students attend school on our campus. In-person, relationship based learning is indeed the best model. We also feel that if anyone can do in-person safely, it is Chartwell with our large campus, excellent ventilation, small class sizes, no transportation or food service, and nimble staff. We have already designed learning cubicles, acquired medical quality air filters for each classroom, and created stable groups for learning based on the guidelines provided by the State of California. You can review these guidelines here: https://files.covid19.ca.gov/pdf/guidance-schools.pdf

For these reasons, the answer is yes, we are looking into the waiver option, but there are a few caveats:

1. The waiver is only available for elementary school students (which the State of California defines as K-6).

2. We may be able to make an argument to extend that through 8th grade because our kids have unique learning needs.

3. The County Health Departments do not yet have a process in place for considering waivers...so it is going to take some time. We are currently working through that process.

4. If we are given permission to open school, there will be some additional protocols that we didn't have in our original plan, including testing for faculty and staff. The testing guidelines are not clear yet.

On July 17, [Kate Mulligan] shared Governor Newsom's new guidelines for reopening schools. Specifically, he announced that California schools—public and private—may only reopen under specific conditions. First, the school must be located in a county that has been off the state's watch list for 14 consecutive days. Next, the school must enforce required safety protocols and gain approval from the county. Monterey is one of the counties mandated to open with Distance Learning.

We have spent a tremendous amount of time in recent months developing plans for our safe return to campus, and as soon as public health has improved and restrictions are eased, we will be ready to set those into motion. We look forward to welcoming your children back into our Distance Learning Groups on August 24th.

Chartwell is proud to offer a 1:1 laptop program for all students. All K-8 students are assigned a Chromebook laptop, while high school students are typically assigned a Macbook.

Students may also use computers available at home, so long as the computers 1 - Have a working webcam, 2 - Have a modern, updated operating system, and 3 - Have a working microphone and speaker (or ideally a headset).

If we find the computer at home is not compatible with the software needed for school, we may require you to use the Chartwell supplied laptop.

A stable and, ideally, fast internet connection is also important for distance learning.

You can help your child remove any obstacles to learning, such as slow internet speed or lagging video, by trying these tips:

• Turn the computer off at night while charging, and then turn it on again first thing in the morning. This will clear the system for a new school day.

• Situate your child in a working space that is close to the wifi router, so to ensure a strong signal.

• Be sure that your child's computer is using your home network, and not connected to another slower network.

• If possible, connecting the laptop directly (with a network wire) to your home router will increase the connection dramatically.

• Don't use any other streaming services at home during the online school day (Netflix or Amazon for example). This will free up bandwidth.

• If the network is still slow, consider contacting your internet service provider to see if they have suggestions or potential upgrades for you.

Just as if school was live and on-campus, attendance will be recorded: If a student will be absent or tardy for part or all of their online school day, a parent should contact Ms. Amaditz for elementary or middle school divisions. For high school, students should contact their advisor.

During emergency distance learning in Spring 2020, Chartwell chose to leverage Zoom conferencing so to take advantage of several critical features: Waiting rooms, student feedback and annotations, grid views, and most importantly - breakout rooms. Additionally, Zoom was quick to resolve security concerns as the product improved.

Zoom continues to offer more features than other platforms, and we have the benefit of most of our community already trained to use the tool. While we are a Google for Education school, we feel that Google Meet is not yet ready to offer the same tools we need for support and differentiation.

A pick-up day for school supplies has been identified and will be communicated on the Bulldog Bark. Everyday school supplies will be provided for students, and many additional supplies for mathematics, STEAM and more will be included with these materials. There may be additional pick-up dates in the future depending on the length of our distance learning program.

We strive to be a paperless school, though we understand if materials need to be printed at home. Currently there are two possible methods:

First, we suggest installing Google Chrome on another home computer and having the child login to Chrome on that computer, then printing from your family's printer.

Second, you may try connecting by USB from your child's laptop to a home printer.

We are working on other possible solutions. If you need help please contact John Langrill at jlangrill@chartwell.org.

Chartwell usernames and passwords can be found on the student's laptop, or in their homework folder. These credentials are used for most tools that we utilize. In some cases, the student will need to choose Login and select Sign In with Google. They follow a pattern of [firstinitial][lastname]@chartwell.org. For example, Pam Smith would login as psmith@chartwell.org. There are some exceptions to this pattern.

If you cannot find the username and password, please contact John Langrill, jlangrill@chartwell.org.

Prepare a learning space: Children should have a desk or table, or similar space, accessible and used mainly for the classroom day. Learning supplies needed for class should be available in that space (teachers will inform students and parents of any supplies that might be needed). Be sure an outlet is nearby, as laptops will need to be charged.

Plan for breaks. Routine will be important, and support for stretch breaks and snacks are critical to support your child's attention and energy. Consider packing a snack and lunch as if your child was still attending the physical campus for a day.

Dress and appearance are important. Reiterate to your child that they are still attending school and need to prepare accordingly. As this will be an entirely new environment, we need to work together on maintaining learning norms and adhering to rules as if they are at school.

Set rules about technology. Students should keep their mobile phones in a different room, and should only listen to appropriate music while they are doing independent work. When the school day is finished, the laptop should be charging overnight.

Our core online learning tools include Google Classroom, Zoom, and in some cases Google Meet. Homeroom teachers and advisors may utilize other tools, and in those cases will include very explicit directions on accessing those tools.

In many cases, such as with iReady, STMath keyboarding and more, students have logged in to the tool before and know how to sign in, or the sign in information is already saved when they log in. These are important diagnostic and supplementary tools that Chartwell already uses, every day.

With elementary and middle grade students, we encourage you to visit their Google Classrooms together and identify any missing work or activities. Sometimes, an activity simply needs to be marked as "done" and your child will appreciate the extra help.

The best option for keeping track of your child's progress is to request "guardian updates" from your homeroom teacher. In this case, the teacher will invite you as a guardian in Google Classroom, and you will receive daily or weekly (your choice) updates on all assignments, activities and missing work.

While we discourage parents from logging in with student credentials, your child should have that information on a homework folder or the laptop, or we can provide their school usernames and passwords to parents upon request to John Langrill, our IT Director at Chartwell.

Our email server does not allow for incoming or outgoing emails that are not part of the chartwell.org domain. For safety and security compliance, we're not able to change this setting.

Synchronous learning occurs when a student is connecting "live" with a teacher and in some cases, the entire class. We will use Google Meet and/or Zoom for synchronous learning during some classes, homeroom time, and advisories. In some cases, teachers may take students on virtual field trips using this method.

Asynchronous learning happens when students watch a pre-recorded lesson, and then apply what they learned. Often called flipped learning, this format is best for some cases as students can practice at their own pace, and return to the video when they need instruction repeated.

Your child's homeroom teacher or advisor is their first line of support. That teacher will feel empowered to connect you and your child to additional support as needed, whether for technology, SEAD, curricular matters or other. For direct help from our school leadership team and staff, please visit our directory.

The video can be seen HERE.