SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Jan. 14, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — The Salt Lake City School District is going to a temporary period of remote learning beginning Wednesday, January 19.
The unanimous 7-0 decision was announced Friday night after an emergency meeting of the Salt Lake City School Board.
“With the temporary suspension yesterday of the Test to Stay program due to a lack of health department resources, we are looking at other ways to keep our school communities safe,” the Board said in a post-meeting statement.
“For that reason, the Board of Education voted unanimously tonight to have ALL district schools implement a temporary period of remote learning on:
- Wednesday, January 19
- Thursday, January 20
- Friday, January 21
“In-person learning would then resume on Monday, January 24,” the Board statement said.
“Tuesday, January 18, will be a regular, in-person learning day, and students will go home that day with the devices and/or learning materials they need to temporarily learn remotely on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
“Please note that East High School, Highland High School, West High School, and Northwest Middle School will be learning remotely on Tuesday, January 18,” the Board said.
“We realize remote learning is not the ideal learning scenario, which is why this change is only temporary. Our hope is that, combined with the January 22-23 weekend, these five days away from school will help us to curb the spread of COVID-19 in our schools. We look forward to welcoming our students back to in-person learning on Monday, January 24.”
The Board said they “strongly encourage all community members to continue implementing good public health practices, including using masks, and becoming vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19.”
Three Community Learning Centers will be hosting FREE vaccination clinics, which are open to the public.
More information on how the temporary remote learning days will operate:
INSTRUCTION
All students will be in remote learning Wednesday through Friday. Students at East High School, Highland High School, West High School, and Northwest Middle School will also learn remotely on Tuesday, January 18. Your student’s teacher(s) will reach out to let you know how they plan to make learning materials available to students. This may be done via technology (Canvas) or through paper packets.
Salt Lake Virtual Elementary will continue to operate as normal.
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
On Tuesday, Early Childhood students will take home learning materials packets for students and parents. They will also have access to resources on Canvas. Teachers will be available for questions and support throughout the school day. Families who need a device to access online resources will check out Early Childhood iPads.
Head Start programs that are housed within district buildings will be closed.
LAPTOPS/INTERNET
Every student will have access to a laptop and/or hard copy materials from their teachers for all their classes. Materials for students at East High School, Highland High School, West High School, and Northwest Middle School were distributed this week. For students at the remaining district schools, materials will be distributed at school on Tuesday. If your family does NOT have access to Internet at home, we also have a limited number of hotspots available for check-out.
Parents may pick up materials for students who are unable to attend school on Tuesday. Student IDs or parent ID will be required to check out a device.
SPECIAL EDUCATION
Students in Essential Elements, BSU (behavior support unit) and AS (academic support) including ASCEND and ATLAS will be offered 4 hours of in-person instruction each day. Teachers will be available remotely if your student is unable to attend the in-person portion of the day, synchronous and asynchronous options will be available. Students receiving in-person instruction will be provided district transportation. Morning pick-up times will remain the same; families will be notified of their student’s afternoon drop-off time.
Students receiving Resource services will be provided synchronous instruction on Canvas or Teams. Teachers will be available during regular school hours.
Students receiving speech services will be contacted by their speech and language provider to arrange synchronous instruction in accordance with their IEP.
If your student misses service minutes during January 18-21, we will try to reschedule those services so that your student can receive them before the end of the month. If appropriate, your student will be provided with compensatory education for services and instruction missed during these remote learning days. Your student’s special education teacher will contact you to discuss your student’s eligibility for compensatory services in the upcoming weeks.
STUDENT MEALS
We will provide free “Grab and Go” breakfast/lunch combo meals to students on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 10 a.m. to noon at the locations listed below. (Students learning remotely on Tuesday can pick up meals at East High School, Highland High School, West High School, Northwest Middle School, the Glendale Community Learning Center, or Rose Park Elementary.) Grab and Go meals may be picked up by the student or their parent / guardian at any participating school during a designated outside meal service time slot.
Grab & Go Combo Meals (Breakfast and Lunch) – 17 Sites
Backman Elementary (South Parking Area – Enter from 1500 West)
601 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, Utah
Clayton Middle (Southeast Parking Area – Located by front doors)
1470 South 1900 East, Salt Lake City, Utah
East High School (West Parking Area – Enter from 900 South)
840 South 1300 East, Salt Lake City, Utah
Edison Elementary (U-shaped Driveway – Located in front of school)
430 South Cheyenne Street, Salt Lake City, Utah
Escalante Elementary (West Parking Area – Enter from 900 North)
1810 West 900 North, Salt Lake City, Utah
Glendale Middle School (Northwest Parking Area)
1430 West Andrew Avenue, Salt Lake City, Utah
Highland High School (East Parking Area – Located next to main entrance)
2166 South 1700 East, Salt Lake City, Utah
Highland Park Elementary (Main Entrance – Located in front of school)
2700 South 1738 East, Salt Lake City, Utah
Liberty Elementary (Southeast Parking Area)
1085 South 300 East, Salt Lake City, Utah
Mary W. Jackson Elementary (Northwest Parking Area – Enter from 800 West)
750 West 200 North, Salt Lake City, Utah
Meadowlark Elementary (Northeast Parking Area)
497 North Morton Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah
North Star Elementary (South Parking Area – Located next to South entrance)
1545 North Morton Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah
Northwest Middle (South Parking Area – Located next to main entrance)
1730 West 1700 North, Salt Lake City, Utah
Parkview Elementary (Northwest Parking Area)
970 South Emery Street, Salt Lake City, Utah
Rose Park Elementary (West Parking Area – Located next to main entrance)
1105 West 1000 North, Salt Lake City, Utah
West High School (U-shaped Driveway – Located North of building next to cafeteria entrance)
241 North 300 West, Salt Lake City, Utah
Whittier Elementary (North Parking Area – Enter from Roberta Street)
1600 South 300 East, Salt Lake City, Utah
Free meals will be offered to remote learning students districtwide. All children 18 and under can receive one FREE breakfast and lunch each school day.
All meals will be pre-sacked and offered in a manner to protect students, kitchen staff, and the public from COVID-19. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide more than one menu option each day because of these constraints. Our menus are completely “pork free” and peanut butter will not be served to students who eat on campus. Other food preferences such as vegan/vegetarian that are not medically necessary will not be accommodated.
Meals for children with special dietary needs will be provided upon request. Contact our dietitian, Brianna Hardisty R.D., via email at Brianna.hardisty@slcschools.org or by phone (801) 974-8380 to make arrangements.
We understand this change will cause hardship for some of our families, and we thank you for working with us to make sure we can keep our school communities safe during this COVID-19 surge.
