Category: COVID-19 Updates

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Dear Oconto Falls High School Students (and Parents/Guardians):

I cannot put into words how much our staff at OFHS miss you!  We cannot wait for you to return to our building. You are the energy, excitement, and personality that makes our school special and an amazing place to be.  While we all work together to move past the many challenges created by COVID-19, I hope you and your family continue to experience great health, enjoy additional time spent with one another, and find time to do things you enjoy.  We will be together in learning and competition again soon, I cannot wait for that day!  

I would also like to thank you for your commitment to completing our enrichment learning opportunities over the last three weeks.  Your efforts were critical in helping our high school identify how best to support you in virtual learning moving forward. Our teachers, school counselors, office staff, and administration have, and will continue to, work diligently to support you any way they can as we continue through our virtual learning experience.

A high school building, during our mandated closure, has different challenges to overcome and goals to meet in comparison to elementary and middle school buildings.  Our high school has a 26-credit graduation requirement, student pathways for course study and credit, and many advanced courses that earn high school and college-level credits.  Although enrichment opportunities provided an option for participation, our high school must now take the next step in our virtual learning journey and provide students instructional lessons and learning activities that are graded and keep them on track for graduation from OFHS.  (The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction provided a grid for state school districts to share what they were implementing for virtual learning programming. Of the over two hundred school districts to respond, Oconto Falls High School was one of two which was not grading academic work in some capacity.)

Below is a detailed description of our high school’s implementation of a CREDIT/NO CREDIT grading policy and instructional/learning format for Semester II of this school year, which was acted upon by our school board at a meeting on Tuesday, April 14.  This implementation will continue through the duration of our state mandated school closure.  

Please seek out the help of your teachers and administration if you need additional support as you work through your offsite, virtual learning experience.  I am confident, based on knowing who you are, you are going to do what generations of Oconto Falls Panthers have done when faced with a challenge – you are going to thrive, be the very best you can be, and succeed in a way that makes a difficult circumstance a positive experience that makes you better!  We will get through this together, grow from this together, and become stronger through this together.  

Go Panthers!

Mr. Jake Beschta
Oconto Falls High School Principal

Mr. Danny Smith
Oconto Falls High School Associate Principal
OFHS Alternative School Coordinator

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2019-2020 Semester II CREDIT/NO CREDIT Grading Expectations

Week Course Schedule

Monday & Wednesday:  Class Periods 1, 2, 3, 4
Tuesday & Thursday: Class Periods 5, 6, 7, 8
Friday: Student Work Day, Teacher Planning, Student/Teacher Contacts

• • EXCEPTION:  Students enrolled in NWTC, UWGB, St. Norbert, and/or AP courses will continue with the current course schedule (daily), course work, and grading based on the institution’s expectations.
  • Each lesson will be planned to require a minimum of 25 minutes and a maximum of 40 minutes of student engagement and work completion.  Teachers will continue to post office hours to address student questions, support individual students, and make parent/guardian contacts.  Each day’s lessons will be posted between 7 – 9 AM the day of the lessons.
  • Each week’s instruction, based on each individual course, will choose an essential learning target determined by the teacher and department to focus instruction.  These essential learning targets will be clearly posted and communicated, and will guide instruction each week. Learning targets will be equitable and similar regardless of instructional method.  (virtual vs. packet)  If you are an individual who needs paper copies, please contact the high school office at 9208484467 or email Principal Beschta at jacob.beschta@of-ps.org.  Arrangements can be made to have paper copies picked up at the high school office.  Completed paper copies will need to be returned to the high school office by a due date determined by the classroom teacher.
  • Teachers and ADMIN will support student learning by providing feedback through the use of Google Classroom, Schoology, NEO (learning management system), ZOOM video, LOOM demonstration videos, email, and phone conversation.  If a student is not engaging, the classroom teacher, school counselors, support staff member, and ADMIN will be in frequent contact with the student and his/her parents/guardians to find ways to support, provide additional instruction, and/or provide additional opportunities to demonstrate proficiency toward the essential learning targets. work completion. 
  • Students with an IEP or 504 will be provided necessary resources and accommodations through collaboration between classroom teacher, support staff member, case manager, the student, and parents/guardians.  If a change needs to be made, an IEP meeting can be scheduled to make necessary changes. Additionally, classroom teachers, support staff, case managers, the student, and parents/guardians will consider, as necessary, alternative methods to measure whether a student has met or exceeded minimum proficiency standards.
  • Every effort will be made to ensure that students have received feedback and opportunities to demonstrate at least an understanding of all learning targets.  (The GOAL will be, and always will be, to have students aim toward achieving a mastery understanding; however, we also know in these difficult times that realistic goals need to be set for student achievement.)

 

CREDIT / NO CREDIT Semester II Grading

• • Third-quarter grades will be progress monitoring grades ONLY and will be determined based on what the student achieved as of March 13.  Students will have the opportunity to continue to make-up/correct any assignments/assessments which were assigned and graded through March 13.  (These opportunities can only improve grades.)  Make-up and late work through March 13 must be completed by 3:45 PM on May 1.
  • Course CREDIT/NO CREDIT will be determined by cumulative work throughout Semester II.  Academic work, beginning on April 20, will be assigned a point value and graded. Work beginning April 20, the progress-monitoring grade from March 13, and a student’s daily engagement in completing work will be considered to determine the student’s Semester II CREDIT/NO CREDIT grade.  Final CREDIT/NO CREDIT decision will be made by the high school principal.  
  • A student who receives NO CREDIT will not receive Semester II course credit, and he/she will be provided additional opportunities – summer school, Odysseyware course(s), or potentially additional time based on circumstance – to complete work.
  • In order to receive CREDIT for work beginning April 20, a student must demonstrate at least a minimum proficiency of assigned learning targets through completion of assigned course work.  Minimum proficiency will be determined by the classroom teacher and must meet at least a percentage score of 64% or better.
  • Semester II will NOT be calculated into a student’s cumulative GPA.  Class of 2020 grade point average will be finalized as of the conclusion of Semester VII of the senior classes’ high school experience.  ( Each year, all scholarships are awarded based on Semester VII GPA and achievements.)
  • THERE WILL BE NO SEMESTER II FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE.

 

 

To Families and Community Members:

School Board Meetings
During the COVID-19 school closure, the Oconto Falls Public Schools Board of Education will be streaming meetings LIVE on YouTube.  The date and time of each meeting as well as a link to view the live stream will be available on our webpage https://ofpanthers.com/district-office/board-of-education/.  

 

Join Board Meeting Virtually by:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJPHJzRDGKpoUTYz4mXUHMA/live

Please keep in mind, the live stream is only available while the meeting is in session. This complies with State Open Meetings Law.  We will not be maintaining the videos to be viewed at a later time on our webpage. Again, please understand that this option to watch the Board meetings live is only during the school closure.

 

Public Comment for Board Meetings
We are offering an option to the public to share comments with the Board.  Please understand these submissions will be reviewed and will be subject to Board Policy 0167.3.  If you would like to submit comments to the Board, please click on the following link Public Participation Submission form.  

 

District Office Communication
We have recently added a COVID-19 Update webpage that will host our District communication throughout this closure.  There are many things that are changing daily, and we are doing our best to make decisions and communicate as quickly as we possibly can.   

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Debbie Woods at (920) 848-4471 or debra.woods@of-ps.org.

Thank you and please stay safe!

April 7, 2020

As we begin the fourth week of school closures, I am grateful for the teamwork that I witness every day. As a school district, we feel a partnership with our parents and the communities that we serve. Over the past few weeks, I have witnessed collaborations between you and our staff that have yielded outcomes that you and the staff can be proud of. As a district, we continue to provide educational enrichment opportunities that align with the educational guidance that we’ve received from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI). Our focus goes beyond academics and includes actions such as providing meals through our grab-and-go pick up programs and communications with students to check in and offer assistance. Thank you for your support as we work together to focus on learning and suppress the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

 

GUIDANCE FROM GOVERNOR EVERS
Based on the Governor’s “Safer at Home” order, “schools will be closed… until at least April 24.” In a recent communication from the DPI, school districts have been encouraged to, “do long-range planning as if students will not be back in school for the rest of this school year.” This is not an official order, but based on the guidance, we are planning accordingly.

 

SPECIAL BOARD MEETING AND EDUCATIONAL PLANS
On April 14, 2020, we will conduct a special board meeting that will include a briefing to the Board regarding the educational enrichment activities that have been occuring, as well as how the educational plan might be modified. The time of this meeting is yet to be determined. I anticipate that this meeting will include discussions related to student grading, graduation requirements, high school credit, and other aspects related to the educational plan as we move forward. I anticipate that the Board will take action at this meeting relative to the district’s future educational plan for the remainder of this school closure or until further action would be taken to modify that plan. We will be providing parents and community members with the opportunity to share questions/comments as part of a virtual “public comment” portion of this meeting. This will be available on Wednesday, April 8, on our COVID-19 webpage: https://ofpanthers.com/covid-19-updates/.

 

GUIDANCE FOR SENIORS AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
We are currently developing multiple courses of action to present to the Board that will address how we will work together with our seniors to assist them in successfully completing the course requirements to graduate. These plans will also include how we will work with students in grades 9-11 to successfully earn credit for the second semester of the 2019-2020 school year. Given our alignment with the guidance from the DPI as it relates to education during COVID-19, we anticipate recommending to the Board to continue forward with educational enrichment for students in Pre-K through eighth grade.

 

UPDATING COMMUNICATION
As we move forward, communication will continue to be a key aspect to our success. If you and/or your child have not received communication from a teacher or school, please contact your child’s principal so that we can update your contact information and begin working together. Through your assistance we can ensure that your child is receiving the educational materials intended to assist them. I also anticipate that you will continue to get information shared with you from school staff as well as your school principal. This will assist you in understanding the educational supports being shared with your child and will be a resource for your questions.

 

WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER
As we do when school is in session, we will continue to focus on the needs of our students. Given the ever-changing environment that we’re now navigating due to this public health emergency, we will do our best to keep you informed from the classroom, school, and district level. Our staff is available and committed to helping all students and fielding questions to the best of our ability. We strongly encourage all students to be actively engaged in the educational opportunities that are being shared with them. In doing so, students will be better positioned to continue their educational programming when the school closures are lifted and school is back in session.
We are in this together, and together we are stronger.

Dean R. Hess
Superintendent
Oconto Falls Public Schools

*View original copy of communication here.

What Our Teachers Do to Make Zoom More Secure

There has been a lot of news lately about “Zoom bombing”– a practice of bored teenagers and malicious Internet users entering Zoom video conference classroom meetings and disrupting lessons by sharing offensive or potentially dangerous content. Some teachers and parents have reached out to us with concerns about this possibility since Zoom is the tool teachers have been trained to use for live connections during the pandemic. The intent of this communication is help community members understand what the Oconto Falls Public School District is doing to secure our video conferences through Zoom.

The safety and well-being of our students and faculty while using the Internet is a top priority for Oconto Falls Public Schools. The district was able to purchase education-specific Zoom licenses for district employees, and this has enabled us to enhance the security and safety of our Zoom meetings through administrative settings that are not available through free versions of Zoom. In addition to district-level precautions, there are some settings our teachers have been instructed to change themselves to help secure their Zoom meetings.

• Teachers Adjust The Following Zoom Meeting Settings
• Disable join before host
• Embed password in meeting link for one-click join
• Enable the waiting room
• Disable file transfer
• Disable Use Personal Meeting ID when scheduling a meeting

At a minimum, these settings prevent anonymous bad actors from causing problems in Zoom classes. Additionally, there are a few more practices we encourage teachers to employ to secure their meetings even more.

• Use district email, district Google Calendar, Seesaw, Schoology, or Google Classroom to share Zoom meeting IDs instead of publishing Zoom meeting IDs publicly or through social media.
• Do not use your personal meeting ID (a 10-digit number like a phone number) to host regular meetings.
• Disable the private chat setting.
• Leave default settings to only allow the meeting host to screen share.
• Enable screen sharing for all participants only if planning to allow students to share during the session.

The Technology Services department and the rest of the instructional technology team are committed to keeping our staff and students safe online. With these precautions, we intend to provide a safe and productive environment for video conferencing across the district.

Corey Jeffers
Director of Technology

Oconto Falls Public Schools will be offering FREE Grab-and-Go Breakfast and Lunch options for students (PK-12) in our district. Please see the details in the image below for more details.

 

Dear Parents and Staff,

Based on Gov. Evers most recent declaration, we are cancelling the parent meetings scheduled for this evening at Abrams and Oconto Falls Elementary Schools.

We are also cancelling school for students for tomorrow, March 17 through April 5. As more information becomes available, we will contact parents with an update. Again, thank you for your patience and understanding during this ever-changing situation.

Dean Hess
Superintendent of Schools

 

March 15, 2020

Dear Parents and Staff,

Today, our Administration Team met to discuss and finalize more details as we build our plan to provide virtual support to students during this school closure. As stated in a previous communication, we will be conducting professional development of staff on Monday, March 16 and March 18 to help prepare them to do virtual instruction during the closure. For this reason students will not report to school on March 16 and March 18 through April 6.

In response to concerns, we are going to make modifications to the meetings planned for parents on Monday night. The plan for the elementary schools is to still host the face to face meetings on Monday night as planned for those parents that feel they need more than a virtual option. (Abrams Elementary 5:30-6:30pm and Oconto Falls Elementary 6:30-7:30pm) This information will be available virtually through our webpage for parents within a few days after the meeting. As for the Middle School and High School parent informational meetings, it has been decided to cancel these meetings and offer this information online only. This decision was based on the fact that our students in grades 6-12 have been using devices and taking them home and we feel there will be less requirement for face to face interaction. Our intent is to have all three level informational meetings (elem, MS, and HS) uploaded to our webpage by 5:00pm on Wednesday, March 18, 2020.

In regards to the concerns shared with us regarding students attending Tuesday, March 17, I want to restate that you as parents have the right to keep your child at home. Please understand that our reason for bringing students in on Tuesday is to ensure that they are prepared for virtual learning during this time of school closure. This will include ensuring they have their device and charger, and that they have the base-line knowledge to be able to communicate effectively with their instructors in a virtual setting. It will also allow us to identify students that do not have access to on-line service in which case we will put together a different plan for them. Please know that we have been thoughtful of social distance while also trying to ensure students are prepared to learn online over the next three weeks and possibly beyond.

As more information becomes available to us we will be sharing with families and staff.

Sincerely,

Dean R. Hess
Superintendent of Schools