Information regarding our Health Related Closure will be collected here in order of MOST RECENT FIRST.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FROM DR. SANTORA: PLEASE READ!
March 27, 2020
Dear Parent/Guardian:
I would like to take a moment to thank you and our dedicated staff for the flexibility, openness, and time it has taken to embrace virtual learning. This process was by no means easy, but as a community we were able to come together and make it happen for our students.
As you are aware, Governor Murphy has closed our schools indefinitely. This means we need to move forward in order to continue to do what is best for our students. For the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District, this entails, permitting video conferencing as an instructional tool.
Video conferencing is an efficient virtual instructional tool, but it does create a doorway between the homes of our students and our staff. We want to ensure that we are opening that door while continuing to maintain a professional environment. We have chosen to utilize Google Meet as our video conferencing tool.
Our staff has acknowledged our professional protocols for virtual learning. We request that parents and students also acknowledge our protocols for video conferencing. It is extremely important that you review these protocols, before your child participates in video conferencing.
At this time, the use of video conferencing will remain an optional tool for staff to use during virtual learning. If your child’s teacher chooses to utilize this tool, they will be providing your child with specific directions, including available times.
Additionally, if your child is in grades 3-5 and you have more than one child in the Manalapan-Englishtown School District and a limited number of electronic devices, we do have some loaner Chromebooks available. If you are interested in borrowing a Chromebook, please complete this survey.
Sincerely,
Nicole Santora, Ed.D.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 23, 2020
Good Evening,
As we enter our second week of virtual learning, I'd like to repost some important information:
1. Our teachers are available to help students and parents between the hours of 9am - 1pm. We ask for your patience during that time, as teachers are helping a number of students and responses will not be instant.
2. Student work should be completed between the hours of 8am and 2:30pm so that your child gets credit for attendance for the day. If work is not completed between those hours, your child will be marked absent. Additionally, your child must log into Classlink to record his/her attendance. If for some reason, that is not possible, you MUST communicate with the teacher!
3. Now more than ever, it is important for you to check YOUR email for updates and information from the school and the teachers. Many of the questions that we are fielding can be answered by checking your email and looking at the documents that have been sent previously. Important instructions can be found in many places including our TM homepage, the Genesis Parent Portal (documents tab) and previous emails. Many teachers are also sending daily emails to help you work with your child; make sure you look for those!
4. Special subject (art, music, library, PE, computers) assignments have been posted for the students as well. Students should pick ONE special subject assignment to do PER DAY. Students can follow their normal A-F cycle if they choose (Click HERE for the cycle day) OR just choose the special that they want to complete that day. By spring break, students should have completed TWO lessons in computers, THREE lessons in art, music, library, and SIX lessons in PE. There are no lessons for guidance classes. If your 4th or 5th grader has band or orchestra, make sure they practice and look for their lessons!
5. Students who receive RTI, ELL, and other student services should follow the directions that those intervention teachers have sent them regarding these additional services. This is work that supports students' individual goals and plans! It is important that we not leave this out of the daily routine.
6. Our school counselor, Mrs. Russin, has posted many resources on her website which can be found HERE.
We hope that this information clarifies some of the virtual learning questions you have. We are here to help you during these difficult and unprecedented times; please reach out to us via email.
As we enter a new week, we wish all of our families and all of our community good health as we move forward, and we look forward to the time when we will see you all again. Until then, let's all do what we can to minimize the spread of the virus and maintain our strong sense of community.
Warm regards,
Kerry Marsala
Principal
March 19, 2020
Click HERE to get to CLASSLINK.
Follow instructions below (from March 16) to log into Classlink and then into your child's Google Classroom for each subject.
Click HERE to get to our Staff Directory if you need to get in touch with your child's teacher.
Email TMsupport@mersnj.us if you need technical assistance.
March 16, 2020
To access the letter with directions, information, usernames, and passwords, you MUST log into the Genesis Parent Portal!
To troubleshoot the most frequently asked questions today, please see below:
If my email address is 30mgenesis@mersnj.us and my password is 12345:
Log into Classlink like this:
username: 30mgenesis
password: 12345
Log into Google Classroom like this:
email: 30mgenesis@mersnj.us
password: 12345
If you need tech support, please email TMSupport@mersnj.us . We will do our very best to respond as quickly as possible!
Thank you,
Kerry Marsala
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 15, 2020
Some notes about tomorrow's VIRTUAL LEARNING ITEM / MEDICATION pick up:
-Pick up of the items that your child's teacher prepared for virtual learning OR medications in the nurse's office will be between 8am - 12pm on Monday 3/16. These are the ONLY items available for pick up tomorrow!
-Classrooms will NOT be available for access during this time. All materials have been left on a table outside the classroom labeled with your child's name. (Why? Classrooms are being cleaned and sanitized throughout the day, and we don't want pick up interfering with that process.)
-Access tomorrow is restricted to those who were NOT in school to take home their materials on Friday.
-Only one person will be permitted to enter the building from your family, so please don't come in groups! (Why? We are trying to limit the number of people in a given area.)
-All available staff will likely be helping with the pick up process, so if we are not immediately available by phone, please leave a message or email Mrs. Marsala. I promise we will get back to you as soon as possible!
We appreciate how AMAZING you have all been so far, and we appreciate your patience throughout this unprecedented situation.
Thank you and be well!
Kerry Marsala
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 13, 2020
Dear Parents/Guardians,
By now you are aware that our district schools will be closed for the next two weeks. Your teachers and all of our staff members have worked very hard to prepare for a virtual/digital learning environment so that our students can continue to make progress and maintain the skills/concepts they have learned this year.
I know that many of you will likely have questions and may need assistance of some kind during this period of time. Please take a minute to review the information in the attached document which may answer some of your questions.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vw16qhqcoGoFQl1dJakvA5dSIGWUOeIdG92t8yvnfaU/edit?usp=sharing
Stay safe and healthy,
Kerry Marsala
