Direct, face-to-face instruction is greatly valued by McDowell County Schools; however, we understand that students often need another option for a variety of reasons.  McDowell County Schools will support all of our students through the 2020-2021 school year despite the difficulties created by COVID-19.  Therefore, in addition to our hybrid A/B schedule in which students will be face to face on campus 50% of the time and remote 50% of the time, we are providing a 100% remote learning option as well.  Families should understand that remote learning for 2020-21 will be much different than the remote learning that occurred in the spring of 2020.  Now that everyone has the experience and has had time to prepare, expectations will be much higher. The following guidelines are to be adhered to whenever a student participates in remote learning offered through McDowell County Schools.

Devices:
All students will be provided with a MCS student device.  Students will be expected to follow the MCS Technology Responsible Use Agreement.  Please read over this agreement here:  https://bit.ly/3fKPPu4
All students must have access to a reliable internet source at least once weekly, but for best results, it is recommended that students connect daily if at all possible.  Live instruction and videos of live instruction must be watched online.  These videos can be uploaded to a device to watch later if the internet is not available in the home setting. In addition to each MCS campus, a list of other MCS Community Wifi locations can be found at https://bit.ly/2DZyJvu

Attendance:
1. Attendance will be taken daily in the remote learning environment.  
2. Elementary (K-5):  attendance is recorded once daily by the homeroom teacher.
3. Middle (6-8) and High School (9-13) attendance is recorded by each teacher each period on the student’s daily course schedule.
4. A student is considered present for daily attendance during a remote learning day or period if one or more of the following occurs:

Elementary:
1. Student or parent emails teacher with appropriate questions or information about the day’s assignments
2. Parent makes a phone call to the teacher about the day’s assignment (using Google Voice when possible to protect telephone numbers)
3. The student participates actively in a live class meeting via Google Meet
4. Student submits assignments in Google classroom and writes a daily check-in message on Class Dojo
5. Student work products for the previous week are uploaded for students (only for students without daily internet access)

Middle and High School:
1. Student or parent emails each teacher with appropriate questions or information about the day’s assignments
2. Parent-Teacher phone call about the day’s assignment occurs that day (using Google Voice when possible to protect telephone numbers)
3. Student participates actively in a live class meeting via Google Meet
4. Classroom assignment completion for the day in Canvas
5. Student work products for the previous week are uploaded (only for students without daily internet access)

Failure to show daily attendance as defined above in the remote learning environment can result in truancy and or forfeiture of remote learning privileges.

Instruction:
1. All remote learning will be facilitated through a learning management system (LMS). The LMS for K-5 will be Google Classroom and for 6-13 will be Canvas.
2. Live instruction will be provided daily on a set schedule.  The schedule may vary somewhat for each school/grade but it will be communicated on each teacher’s LMS site.  
3. Students will be expected to participate in the live instruction.  This will provide them an opportunity to interact with the teacher as well as other classmates at times. If a student is not able to access the internet at the specified time of instruction, he or she will be expected to watch the recording of the live instruction video.  4. These will be saved and labeled by date and topic in the teacher’s LMS site.
Assignments and other independent work will be assigned using Google Classroom or Canvas.  Students will be expected to complete assignments and turn them in on time through the LMS.
5. Various grade levels or subject areas may provide small group instruction via the online environment.  These times will be posted on the teacher’s LMS site as well.  
6. Each teacher will publicize two times daily during which they will be available for live phone calls or messages.  Families may reach out during those times.  Otherwise, it may take 24 hours to receive a response to a question or concern.

Accountability:
1. Students will be responsible for completing and submitting all assignments.  
2. Student work may take the form of a video of completing a task such as bricklaying, photos of a piece of art the student made, or other alternative means that are appropriate for the course.  Parents are responsible for staying in contact with the teachers and making sure this is done.
3. Students will be provided with feedback from their teacher(s) on assignments in a timely manner.
4. Grades will be recorded for remote learning and parents are responsible for checking PowerSchool weekly and reaching out to the teachers with questions or concerns.
5. Course grades will be reflected in GPA, class rank, etc as appropriate by grade level.

Technical Help:
1. The district and each school will offer Google Meetings and face to face meetings for families prior to August 24th, during which parents may receive training on the use of Chromebooks, Google Classroom, Canvas, PowerSchool, and other teaching tools they may need to use this school year.
2. McDowell County Schools will continue offering daily support at techhelp@mcdowell.k12.nc.us as well as academicsupport@mcdowell.k12.nc.us.  
3. McDowell High School maintains a help desk using a product called Fresh Desk with a landing page for submitting help tickets and online chat.  
4. On teacher workdays that are remote learning days for students, the district technology team will man a telephone hotline for students and parents to call in for immediate technical support during working hours. The phone number will be posted on the county website.  
5. The district will also offer remote instructional technology support with screen sharing in Google Meets and voice calls with Google Voice.

Special Circumstances:
Some students will require special services during the remote learning period.  These may be speech/language services, exceptional children services to meet the needs of an IEP, ELL services to meet the needs of English language learners, or AIG services to meet the needs of certain students. It is possible to provide most of these services in a remote environment. These will be determined and facilitated on an individual basis per student needs.

Parent/Guardian Responsibilities:
1. A parent or guardian must attend a face to face orientation meeting to pick up the device and to learn the expectations of remote learning.  Parents will leave knowing how to login to the LMS, use the calendar, find and submit assignments, and watch videos.  
2. Parents/guardians must commit to monitoring student progress and participation daily.  
3. Parents/guardians must respond to phone calls, emails or messages from the teacher in a timely manner.  
4. Parents are NOT to expect teachers to respond to questions immediately outside of their stated office hours or the times when they are logged in for live instruction with that student.
5. If a student’s or parent’s phone number, address or email address changes, the parent must notify the school immediately.  
6. The parent or guardian must provide a safe place, free of distractions for the student to participate in remote learning.

Photo/Video Release Form:
Please review the Photo/Video Release Form found at https://bit.ly/2DWonfP
You can agree to the form below.