FAQs
Classroom Attendance, School Times, & Expectations
Q: When are Parent Teacher Conferences and how do I sign-up?
A: Parent Teacher Conferences are on Thursday, Oct. 22. and Friday, Oct. 23. Our district uses an online scheduling system called "PickaTime" which is easy to use. For directions, please click on "PickaTime" Directions.
Q: If my child is sick, how should I report their absence?
A: Parents/Guardians should call or email Reina Rago, the Coordinator of the Remote Learning Academy by 8:00 a.m. and provide the following information: student's name, grade, and reason for absence. Her email is: rrago@nrsd.net; Phone: (978) 779-0539 X3356
Q: When does RLA begin and end each day?
A: School starts every day at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 2:30 p.m. except for Wednesday, which is a full remote day for all middle school students. The core subjects (math, science, social studies, and ELA) are taught in the morning. In the afternoon, teachers from the student's hometown school teach the related art classes. Advisory is also held on Wednesdays, either in the morning or the afternoon.
Q: How does my child show that they are in attendance in their remote classes?
A: On synchronous school days when "live" teaching instruction is given (every day but Wednesdays), students show their attendance by joining a Google Meet for each of their classes. On Wednesdays, which is an asynchronous learning day, students need to go to one of their core subject Google Classrooms where they will find a "Wednesday Attendance Form." Every Wednesday by 8:30 a.m., students should complete and submit the Wednesday Attendance Form. Students should treat Wednesday as a regular school day which begins at 8:00 a.m. and is over at 2:30 p.m. During the Wednesday school day, students are expected to participate in their Advisory and Related Art classes and to complete independent schoolwork.
Family Communication/Updates
Q: How can parents learn what their child is doing in their different Google classrooms?
A: Google Classroom offers a "Guardian" feature that gives parents/guardians access to an email summary from the teacher's Google classroom. The email summary includes:
Missing work—Work not turned in when the summary was sent.
Upcoming work—Work that’s due today and tomorrow (for daily emails) or that’s due in the upcoming week (for weekly emails).
Class activity—Announcements, assignments, and questions recently posted by teachers.
NOTE: Guardians who sign up for email summaries can’t see the Stream, Classwork, People, or Grades pages in Classroom.
In addition, parents/guardians can check assignment completion and grades on PowerSchool.
Q: How can parents/guardians access the Google classroom email summaries?
A: Parents simply need to send a request to their child's subject teacher and ask to be invited. To invite guardians, a teacher or administrator sends guardians an email invitation. Once the parent accepts the invitation, they will receive automatic email summaries of their student’s progress. The teacher can only add guardians for students using Classroom with a G Suite account.
Q: How do students (and parents) find assigned classwork?
A: Teachers post their assignments on their Google Classroom in the tab called "Classwork" (some teachers may refer to the classwork as "Daily Work," which is organized by date. Alternatively the student can go to the "To Do" tab which will show work that has been assigned and work that is missing. Students should not look on the Stream page (which is the default screen that students see when they log on) to find their classwork as it contains a lot of information and may be overwhelming to a student.
Homeroom & Advisory
Q: Does my student have homeroom?
A: The RLA does not have a homeroom since the primary purpose of homeroom is for taking attendance. RLA teachers take attendance during the first class of the day.
Q: Do RLA teachers have office hours?
A: Yes, office hours for all grades are from 12:05 - 12:35 p.m. as follows: Grade 6 - Mondays; Grade 7 - Tuesdays; Grade 8 - Thursdays.
Q: Does RLA offer students an Advisory, and if so, what is the purpose and when does it occur?
A: Yes, all RLA students have Advisory with their hometown school peers on Wednesdays. Advisory is an opportunity for students in their own hometown to come together and form closer bonds. Advisory teachers facilitate group discussions and activities to help students with organizational skills as well as social emotional learning skills. Luther Burbank and Florence Sawyer run their Advisory in the morning and Hale runs their Advisory in the afternoon. Advisory teachers invite their group of students to a weekly Google Classroom Meet.
Independent Learning Time & Independent School Work
Q: How should my child spend their independent time when they are either done with their class work or they don't have a class scheduled during a specific block/period?
A: Teachers do not expect or want students to spend all of their independent learning time in front of a screen. Learning can certainly be deepened in other ways, and we encourage our students to be curious and explore topics of interest connected to their classes. For some students this may mean a hands-on activity, for others a listening experience, and for others a writing expression.
Q: How much time should students spend on their independent assignments?
A: The answer depends on the student and how they learn. We want to make sure that students have enough learning experiences that they don't find themselves with excessive idle time. We also want to make sure that learning experiences are achievable in the time allocated. Our teachers will continue to evaluate the right balance for their students when it comes to independent assignments.
Related Art Classes
Q: What are related art classes and when are they offered to RLA students?
A: Related art classes, previously referred to as "specials," are offered synchronously at the student's hometown school. NRSD offers six different related arts for all our middle school students: engineering, art, music, computer, health, and physical education. Every trimester, students participate in two different related arts classes in order to provide them exposure to all these wonderful learning experiences.
Technology
Q: If my child is having technology problems with his/her Chromebook, what should I do?
A: We recommend the following helpful hints for Google Meet classes to run better:
Close ALL tabs except for Google Meet prior to entering a Google Meet class.
Do not watch YouTube or listen to online music while in a Google Meet class.
If students are required to run additional Apps (e.g., PearDeck) in a Google Meet class, they should keep it under two open tabs/Apps at an given time.
Students using older equipment (windows laptop and desktop) should close all unnecessary browser tabs and programs prior to joining a Google Meet meeting.
NOTE: If the above tips do not solve the technical problem, parents of students in grades 6th-12th should submit all requests through the district's ticket
system at http://support.nrsd.net