Documentation
COVID-19 & VIRGINIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Governor Northam Orders All Virginia Schools to Close for the Remainder of the Academic Year
On March 23, 2020
, Governor Ralph Northam extended his order that all public and private K-12 schools in Virginia close in response to the continued spread of COVID-19 for the remainder of the school year. This builds on the Governor’s previous school closure order and previously issued guidance asking child care providers to prioritize services for children of essential personnel, while asking all families to keep their children home if they can. Please note that the March 30, Executive Order 55 does not impact school meal distribution and instructional plans in localities.
For additional information please visit the VDOE website at: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/health_medical/office/covid-19.shtml
As of March 16 Radford City Schools has established the practice of no face to face contact with students, family, and staff during mandatory school closure. During current practices for the first two-week of closure the EL teacher made contacts with parents via calling, texting, and email to inform them of the instructional guidelines and methods for obtaining Chromebooks.
RCPS has implemented Continuity of Learning Information on 3-25-2020. Teachers and staff upload lessons weekly to support untaught standards/competencies on the staff web pages for students to complete. Students submit their assignments online but have contact with their teacher for support as needed.
Currently, RCPS Title III Services Plan includes the review of records for each EL student (grades, COL assignments), consultation with Teacher regarding COL assignments that provide suggestions for services, accommodations, and modifications that impact completion of assignments and English proficiency (speaking, listening, reading and writing).
Both the content and the English Language teacher will contact parents to discuss COL and EL services that will be provided to help ELL students with content completion and English Proficiency.
Due to school closure, Access for ELLS has been canceled for the 2020 school year.
Identification of English Learners (ELs) upon enrolling in Radford City Schools
The USED Office of Civil Rights and in conjunction with the US Department of Justice has approved the following questions to demonstrate minimal compliance with the requirement to identify possible English Learners in need of Language Assistance:
uWhat is the primary language used in the home, regardless of the language spoken by the student?
uWhat is the language most often spoken by the student?
uWhat is the language that the student first acquired?
uThese identifying questions are included on all registration documents and on a separate Home Language Survey (included above) provided parents and guardians of all students enrolling in Radford City Schools.
uIf a parent or guardian responds with any language other than English for one or more questions, then the student should be progressed to the language screening process.
uRadford City Schools must ensure that incoming Els are identified, screened, and placed in appropriate programs and services within 30 days of enrollment, and must ensure that all Els enrolling in RCPS (McHarg Elementary, Belle Heth Elementary, John Dalton Intermediate School and Radford High School) are identified in a consistent manner.
Monitoring Indicators for Title III, Part A are include for public review.
The results of the Federal Monitoring will be posted when the results are finalized.