Dear DCPS Community,
As we enter the second week of learning at home, I want to share my appreciation for your patience, flexibility, and understanding as our district enters unexpected and uncharted territory and our classrooms move to our homes.
Thanks to social media, I was able to watch students joyfully answer a Fun Family Question of the Day, thoughtfully explain their work, and enthusiastically engage in a Socratic Seminar. We continue to provide free meals each weekday to all students and our food and nutrition staff has served more than 34,000 meals to date, including to-go breakfast and lunch.
Over the past few days, I also saw how our educators are creating activities to serve our students with special needs and how principals are adjusting to a new digital world. I also appreciate the collaboration of our agency partners as we open school spaces to support childcare for the District’s healthcare workforce.
At the same time, we know there have been hurdles along the way as our teachers, our schools, and our families work to navigate new circumstances. DC Public Schools (DCPS) is here to support you, and we do not expect parents and guardians to take the place of our expert educators.
It can be challenging to know where to start to support your student’s learning, so we created this video to walk you through the online learning portal.
We will continue to provide curated and high-quality materials to keep students engaged and connected to their new school routine. We are also working with educators to ensure that all learning opportunities are taped rather than live so that the learning resources are as accessible as possible to all families. Additionally, high schoolers will receive information this week about how to receive their learning at home technology device.
Lastly, don’t forget that printed materials for the next two weeks of learning at home will be available at your school on March 31 and April 1 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
As the situation progresses, we will continue to share information with the entire DCPS community and learn together how to best serve our students during this time.
March 30 DCPS Updates