Weekly Blog 9/9

 Dear Wines Families,

I want to once again welcome everyone to what is already a historic school year. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we navigate a brand-new type of educational delivery. We’ve had nearly 100% attendance over the first two days, and so I thank you all for your efforts to support your children. While there will be some hiccups, changes, and challenges in the days to come as we transition into our “Schoology” classrooms, each day we will all get more used to being online for school and things will normalize for everyone.

 

For returning families, this Wednesday Email will be familiar. In a normal school year, I send a weekly update to families each Wednesday. This information is also be posted on my blog at www.winesprincipal.blogspot.com and the blog is shared on twitter (@wineselementary) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/wineselementary) as well. During these early days of this unique school year, I will likely be sending more email messages than normal, however. I understand we are being inundated with information right now but please do what you can to stay on top of messages as there are frequent updates. As I said above, soon things will normalize and you’ll receive fewer messages.

 

Student Logins

In the US Mail, you should have received or will soon receive a letter that includes your child’s Clever and/or Schoology QR code. These will be used in coming weeks to ease login on devices and programs. In addition, each student will need to have access to their AAPS email and password. These were sent to families via email on 8/30. If you do not have your child’s email and password, please email me directly and I will send you this information. It appears that there will be an added security feature in Zoom to protect students that will require each student to create and AAPS Zoom account which will require logging in with their email for set up. This will, unfortunately, require some adult support for our youngest students. More information about this will be forthcoming. In the meantime, please ensure you have your child’s information and reach out to me if you need it.

 

District Provided School Supplies

Each student in AAPS will soon be receiving school supplies to support their virtual learning at home. We expect to be able to distribute these items during the week of Sept. 21^st. Please look for more information soon regarding what supplies will be provided and specifics about distribution.

 

Device Distribution

Last week over 15,000 devices were distributed to AAPS students. For families still in need of a device for students, we will have an additional device distribution this week on Thursday, September 10th, and Friday, September 11th, at the Balas Administration Building. Please fill out this 1:1 Form to select the date and time for device pick-up that works best for you. We plan to continue to schedule device pick-ups regularly in the coming weeks as necessary until all student needs are met.

 

Families in need of a hotspot for connectivity can fill out this 2020-21 Student Mobile Hotspot Request Form, and a member of the IT Department will call to discuss the best option for each family. For questions about device distribution or other technology issues, please call 734-997-1222 or email family_techsupport@aaps.k12.mi.us.

 

Thanks again for a great start to the new school year! As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.

 

David