We've been getting MANY questions concerning promotion and graduation of our students. The La Dept of Ed put out some guidance yesterday- it's about 6 pages long so we will try to sum it up here. (You can go to the state department's webpage, www.louisianabelieves.com if you want to see the whole document.) For the most part, whether or not a student is promoted and whether or not a student graduates is up to each local school district. We received a whole bunch of waivers for this year. Here's what we basically have as of now:

Graduation:
A- We have the option of taking the students' grades as of the last day we had school (March 13). If a student was failing, they will have the opportunity to bring their grade up through packets or virtual work. So, packets or virtual work could IMPROVE their grade but it could not make their grade any worse. We can also decide that the student was "close enough" and has not had the opportunity to bring their grade up due to the closing and allow them to graduate.
B- All standardized test requirements are waived. So, if they haven't passed an EOC but they've got the credits they need, they graduate.
C- The FAFSA requirement is waived (But still highly recommended)
D- IBC requirements are waived
E- We also can convert grades to Pass/Fail (but we really don't want to because this will create some issues with ranking and GPA so we probably won't).

(The ACT requirement for graduating juniors has also been waived, but we STRONGLY recommend taking it this summer.)

If we return on May 1, which is scheduled as of now, we will basically have 3 weeks to work on our non graduates' grades and make promotional decisions. If we don't return at all, these are a few guidelines we will use:

Promotion for all other students:
A- Again, these decisions will all be made at the school level
B- Same option with grades as our graduates- either give them what they had when we last met or give them the opportunity to bring the grades up through the packets or virtual work.
C- Each school will be putting out some things concerning these issues on their individual schools' facebook pages.

If you have questions, leave them here and we will try to answer them. Please keep questions on this post to only those involving promotion or graduation. It may be even better to call your child's school on Tuesday from 8:00-1:00 when someone is there to answer. You can also always email your child's school with any questions also.

Please be patient, I know you all want answers, but new situations are arising every day.

A conference call was held last night with representatives from
the Governor's Office, the Louisiana
Department of Education and state superintendents. All facets of the school food service program were
discussed. The issue is not whether feeding students is important. We all agree that it is. At the same
time, staff and employee safety must also be considered.

In one week alone, through the efforts of our dedicated employees and volunteers, we have fed more
students than we do in the entire summer. While this program is important, we must consider the safety and well-being of our employees. Not only is there a shortage of adequate protective gear such as gloves, face masks and thermometers, but we have no idea who may or may not have been exposed to the COVID-19 at this time.

Accordingly, given the shortage of these supplies and to protect both our employees and those who are consuming the provided meals, our school system is suspending these services until further notice.

The state did inform us that they are working with the National Guard and other entities to possibly have their own feeding program up an running by next week.

In lieu of a distance education program, the district is providing optional enrichment instructional resources that can be utilized to support student learning at home. These resources are available for students in grades Pre-K through 12. The resources span core content areas – ELA, math, science and social studies.

Student Enrichment Instructional Resources:

APSB Website – APSB has created a one-stop shop for students, parents, and educators to locate quality resources to continue learning enrichment at home.
Louisiana Department of Education – The Avoyelles Parish School System will provide updates on resources released by the Louisiana Department of Education. These resources will be developed by the department in partnership with Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB). The online hub is set to launch on March 18th and will consist of links to High-Quality Curriculum Resources.
Dual Enrollment Courses: Individual schools will be working with their teams to address options for Dual Enrollment courses based on guidance received from our local colleges and universities.