May 24
Dear NBFA Parents and Families,
I hope this communication finds you well and in high spirits. I would like to thank everyone who joined us on Zoom for a face- to- face conversation about Distance Learning. We enjoyed the conversations and it was really nice to connect with everyone. More important, we hope you found the conversation informative and reassuring. Recognizing that some of you were unable to participate in these virtual forums, we have captured some of the pertinent questions/answers from the conversations and summarized them below for your reference. Please also find updates about distance learning and other important topics below.
Distance Learning Updates:
1. Chromebook Distribution: We held our final Chromebook distribution on Friday, May 22. If you did not pick up a Chromebook for your child and he/she is still in need of a digital device to access online learning, please let his/her classroom teacher know and we will do our best to make accommodations for you to pick-up a Chromebook from NBFA.
2. Online Learning Platform: NBFA will launch Microsoft Teams, our permanent online learning platform on Tuesday, May 26. Teams is a new learning platform for our students so we have created a series of online Student Tutorials to show them how to navigate the various components of this platform. These Student Tutorials can be found on our website (https://www.nbfacademy.org/) under the Distance Learning header. We strongly encourage you to view these tutorials with your child. Your child will need his/her Outlook email address and login information to access the Teams platform. Please contact your child’s teacher if you have not received this information. Please note that as of Tuesday, May 26 NBFA teachers will post students’ daily assignments to the Microsoft Teams platform; hence, instead of going to their teacher’s webpage your child should login into Microsoft Teams to access his/her assignments.
Trimester III Parent Conferences: Due to the sudden extended school closure, NBFA parent conferences that were scheduled to occur in April were postponed. However, we are going virtual with parent conferences during the week of June 8. Your child’s teacher will be in contact to schedule your conference. Thank you for your continued cooperation and collaboration as we adjust to this new way of doing school.
Report Cards: Trimester III report cards will be mailed home during the last week of school in June. This report card will look different from Trimester I and II report cards as we are using a different template to provide a narrative summary of students’ performance during Distance Learning. This novel report card will be attached to copies of your child’s Trimester I and II report cards.
Personal Belongings/Medication: There will be an opportunity to retrieve personal belongings/medication from the building. All students’ personal belongings and/or medication will be bagged and labeled with student’s/teacher’s name. Parents will be invited to come to NBFA to collect their child’s belongings during the fourth week of June. Please be on the lookout for communication from us with specific details about this process.
Summer School: NBFA leaders are still exploring the possibilities of summer school. As we have more information, we will share it with you.
The Re-opening of Schools in the Fall: The Connecticut state Department of Education and the State Board of Education would like to have student input as educators plan to re-open school in the fall. NBFA students in grades 5 and above are invited to share their thoughts via one of the following three ways:
• There are three ways you can access the Thoughtexchange
1. Please click HERE https://my.thoughtexchange.com/542224813 to participate.
2. Go to www.thoughtexchange.com click on the “Join” button and enter the code 542-224-813 3. Download the Thoughtexchange app (IOS) only, click on the “Join” button and enter the code 542-224-813
• Notes about this process:
1. It could take you as little as 5 - 10 minutes to participate.
2. You can complete questions at your own pace and come back to review your answers at any time.
Regards,
Collette A. Fearon Elementary Principal