OUTDATED: 2020-21 School Options

* BEFORE READING: The back to school guidelines listed below have changed. Please refer to the most up-to-date posts in the "Summer 2020 & Back 2 School Updates" Category in the Blog.

Just wanted to give y'all an update that Uplift has announced two choices for the 2020-21 school year. Note that both options will use consistent grading and attendance. We will also have to take the US History STAAR EOC at the end of the year.

• Fully Online (Using Schoology; Live Virtual Instruction & Self-Paced Learning)

• Traditional In-Person (Normal School Day, 5 Days/Wk, Following CDC Guidelines)

Uplift will be sending a survey on July 6 for your parents to choose which option they prefer, but for the sake of Class of 2022 events, I'd appreciate if you could please fill out the following Google Forms to let us know which option you will likely choose and what types of events you'd like to see:

If the embedded form below doesn't work, use this link: https://forms.gle/ycWKTkx8ew4HBcZz5

---

Below is the original email from Yasmin Bhatia:

Uplift families- I hope each of your families are having a fun and healthy summer.  It is hard to believe that we are a little over 6 weeks away from the start of the 2020-21 school year. Our Uplift team has been busy designing our learning models for next school year. Thank you so much to our families who have completed our surveys and provided feedback so far this summer.  Based on feedback from our parents and guidance from the State, Uplift be offering two options for scholars for next school year.  One option is the traditional in-person model where a scholar would attend school for a normal school day, five days a week, but with more stringent safety measures in place based on Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidance for schools.  The second option is an all-virtual option where scholars would learn from home and receive both live virtual instruction and self-paced learning activities to complete.  Please note this option will look very different than our remote learning during the end of the 2019-20 school year when we had to close our schools.  Attendance will be taken daily in both options.  Grading policies will also be consistent between both options.  All scholars who are in a STAAR-tested grade will also be required to take the State test at the end of the year in both options. On July 6th, we will email you a survey to choose which option you prefer for your child.  We will share out more details on our “all virtual” learning model at that time so you can make the best and most-informed choice for your child. We would like to continue to get your input as we design the “all virtual” learning model for the upcoming school year.  Hence, I would like to invite you to join one of our virtual parent town halls this week.

• Primary school parents- Tuesday, June 30th at 6:00pm

• Middle school parents- Wednesday, July 1st at 6:00pm

• High school parents- Wednesday, July 1st at 6:30pm

At the times listed above, please login to your personal Facebook and go to the Uplift Education page. The town hall event will go live on Facebook and will also be posted on our YouTube page afterwards in case you do not have a Facebook account. At the end of the presentation on Facebook, you will have an opportunity to ask questions in English or Spanish.  If you think of something later, please feel free to reply on our page anytime and we will get back to you shortly. Finally, in our last parent message with regard to preparing for the upcoming school year, I included information about the standard learning management system, Schoology.  Our teachers, scholars, and parents will receive training on how we will use Schoology to ensure that scholars in all grade levels can easily access their learning for both in-person and remote learning.  We want to be sure that we increase our consistency in using a singular platform, provide clarity around how and when scholars will engage in learning, and increase our ability to stay connected with our families over the course of the school year to share scholar progress and to learn of scholar needs.  Stay tuned for more information about Schoology throughout the summer. In partnership, Yasmin Bhatia Uplift Education CEO