VIRTUAL Return to School January 4, 2022

Greetings Families,

I hope you have had a wonderful and restful winter break filled with family and relaxation. As you probably know,  APS has made the decision to pivot to virtual learning for the week of January 4 – January 7 in response to the high COVID-19 transmission rate within Fulton and DeKalb counties. Our teachers and staff stand by, ready to deliver the best instruction we can during these upcoming virtual learning days. In order to help us prepare, please see below for important information regarding technology device pickup beginning at 10am TOMORROW (Monday, January 3), as well as virtual learning schedules for this week.

1. Teachers will send out an email on Monday outlining grade level learning expectations and class schedules. All grade levels, except Pre-K, will participate in virtual learning from 8am-2pm. Pre-K will follow a shorter school day schedule.

2. All students will continue to receive their typical instruction, including WIN Intervention, French, Language Lab (DLI), and Specials. These particular blocks have been reduced to 30 minutes each.

3. There will be a schoolwide Lunch and Recess break from 12-1pm daily.

4. Technology pickup will take place at both campuses in the carpool line (Main Campus-Howell Mill; Primary Center-Margaret Mitchell).

5. Feel free to pick up devices for multiple students as needed. Device distribution will remain open until 3pm on Monday for those who need additional time.

6. Please be sure you know your child’s homeroom teacher (as well as that of other students you may be picking up for) to better help with our technology distribution.

7. Teachers in grades Pre-K, KK and 1st may also send home workbooks or packets, teachers in 2nd-5th have been instructed to send home technology only.

8. Students that do not need a device do not need to come to school to pick one up unless your teacher communicates additional materials needing pickup (Prek-1st only).

9. Families that need assistance with technology pickup and do not have another device at home should reach out to our school counselor, Tamila Jackson-Whitaker (tjackson@apsk12.org) to arrange for delivery.

10. All devices should be brought back to school when we return in person on Monday, January 10.

Since we will be virtual all week, I would like to take the opportunity to make our community aware of vandalism that took place at the PC on Friday night. Please continue to be the eyes and ears of our school any time we are not in the building and if there is ever any information you know of or would like to share, please feel free to reach out to me or to APSPD at 404-802-2000. Mr. Hutson, our site manager Andre Fulton, several kind neighbors, former and current Brandon families, and I spent the entire day Saturday cleaning and pressure washing spray paint off of our neighborhood school. Thank you to those who stepped in to help.

We look forward to a great technology distribution day, and an even better week of virtual learning! Please note that staff have also been given the option to reschedule conferences throughout the week as needed.

And finally, thank you for continuing to be patient and flexible as we adapt to four days of virtual learning. Our staff and admin team have been working around the clock to formulate a plan, and to schedule and create virtual learning expectations that are beneficial to all of our students. While this may not be how we wanted to start the new year, our students are prepared to navigate virtual instruction and while there will inevitably be hiccups, I’m encouraged by the plan we have in place.

Take care and let us know if there is anything you need.

Principal Jay Bland
jbland@apsk12.org