Return to School 2020 - General Info

First Three Days of Remote Learning

How will I know my Class Schedule?

PupilPath is up to date and active, and you may now logon to view your schedule of classes. Once again, please keep in mind that ALL STUDENTS are learning remotely for Sept. 16, 17 and 18. We suggest that you use the VIEW AS A GRID choice when viewing your schedule so it is clear what classes you will be attending.

How can I find my Google Classroom codes?

Your teachers will be communicating your Google Classroom codes in two ways! You will be recieving an Email / Anecdotal Message from your teachers, with a welcome message and the respective Google Classroom Code. Be sure to check your email inboxes for whatever email account you are using connected to PupilPath.  Also, if you go to the Assignments Section for your classes on PupilPath, by the end of today, your teachers will have posted an assignment, which is really just a welcome message with the Google Classroom codes included.

When is the 1st Day of In-Person and Remote / Blended Learning?

Monday, September 21st. The SITHS.org Return to School page has much of the information you'll need. 

The schedule for Monday, 9/21 and thereafter is as follows for In-Person and Remote Learners:

What is the schedule of learning for the rest of the month of September and the beginning of October?

The SITHS.org Return to School page has much of the information you'll need. 

Tune into FaceBook Live for an address given by Mr. Erlenwein on Wednesday, 9/16 at 7PM. 

I need general help and need to reach out to someone?

E-Mail our Parent Coordinator, Barbara Malenfant, at BMalenfant@schools.nyc.gov

Sincerely,

Mark Erlenwein

Principal

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Wednesday, September 2, 2020 Update

First Day of School Update

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Sunday, August 30, 2020 Update

Blended Learning Groups Assignments and Student Class Schedule Updates

I. STUDENT GROUPS

As explained in the August 25th update, we have divided the In-Person students into two cohorts, Group 1 and 2, while Group 3 are our Fully Remote students. Based upon the social distancing guidelines, of 8-12 students per classroom, the Blended Learning groups are being broken down accordingly by the following last name ranges.

Group 1: Student last names A - L 

Group 2: Student last names M - Z

Group 3: All students who opted-out of In-Person instruction for All Remote

See the chart below (Plan 1 - Exception Model 1B) to visualize the frequency and rotation of In-Person Learning over the course of the month of September. This is a tentative calendar view of the first month of school and intended to serve as an example only. The official NYC DOE 2020-21 Calendar has not been released yet, and September 10th as the first day of school is tentative, not definite. 

What if I want to Opt-Out of In-Person / Blended learning? According to the NYC DOE Student Learning Preference Website, At any time of year, for any reason, you can choose fully remote learning for your child. This means they would learn 100% remotely (all online, from home). Remote learning includes live interaction with teachers every day, and every class includes live instruction. Changing your preference: If you choose fully remote learning for your child, you will have the option to change back to blended learning at a few specific times during the school year, beginning in November 2020. Click here to change your learning preference to Fully Remote.

II. STUDENT CLASS SCHEDULE UPDATES

On Thursday, August 27th, the NYC DOE announced that a work agreement was reached between the NYC DOE and the UFT. Now that there is a work agreement defined and we are in the process of receiving further guidance on how to best adapt this agreement to our school schedule and individual student class schedules, we hope to be able to share what the actual school day will look like later this week for our In-Person and Fully Remote students. Once we are able to do so, we can engage in a larger Q&A to address any questions that may exist regarding the school day and any other concerns that may remain.

Note: The earliest we can deliver and release student's individual daily class schedules is September 8th or 9th. We apologize for the delay, but as you can see above and below, based upon the timeline and release of information, guidance and agreements, we (like every other high school) are still working diligently during the weekday, nights and weekends, to finish the challenging task of student programming.

Should you have any questions, please direct them to Mr. Erlenwein (principal) at Merlenw@schools.nyc.gov, or Barbara Malenfant (parent coordinator) at BMalenfant@schools.nyc.gov.

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Tuesday, August 25, 2020 Update

2020-2021 SITHS Student Schedule Proposal

(NYC DOE has Approved our Exception Model)

Click here to view the video of Mr. Erlenwein Explaining our Program Model.

(Disregard minutes 23:00 - 26:12, being our exception has been approved and we will not need to use Model 1B.)

Daily Schedule: Our school day for students consists of 5.5 hours of blended instruction delivered within a 6 Hours 50 Minute school day, from 8 AM to 2:50 PM.

Classes: Each school day consists of 3 periods / classes, for both remote and in-person learners, minimizing person-to-person interaction versus our traditional 9-Period Day. The meeting times for In-Person and Remote periods will be published on www.siths.org via the “Return to School” landing age button on the home screen.

School / Classroom Occupancy: Currently at 33% occupancy, there will be 8-12 students scheduled in a classroom. With 40% of our students opting out of In-Person instruction, students will be separated into two groups for In-Person instruction, while the third group is 100% remote.

Instruction:

- We will utilize a 3-day, ABC schedule 

- Students will be scheduled for 7 to 8 classes this school year, taking 2 or 3 classes each day.

- This schedule is adaptable and will work with remote (At-Home), hybrid (In-Person / At-Home) or 100% in-person (No Remote) throughout the 2020-21 school year if and when things change.

Based upon our current building occupancy of 33%, and 40% of our entire student population opting for All-Remote instruction, we would split the remaining 60% of our In-Person students into two groups (Group 1 - 30% and Group 2 - 30% = 60% of our In-Person learners). To maximize the number of students cohorts / pods and safety protocols, we would be using a Block Schedule (Day A: Pds 123, Day B: Pds 456, Day C: Pds 789), which would minimize the amount of student-to-student-to-teacher contact, and allow us to program the complex and specialized courses that are norms in Specialized High Schools. 

Our 9th and 10th grade students can easily be scheduled into pods that remain together throughout the day, with minimal or no movement necessary to multiple classrooms in order to execute their programs.

With the 11th and 12th graders, the mass number of individual programs for our students who are enrolled in our specialized sequences requires much more strategic grouping in order to fulfill our program commitments we have made to our families. The Block ABC schedule and a rotation of two student Groups 1-2, provides us the necessary physical classroom utilization to safely offer our students a program that meets the merits and expectations of our students, while doing so in the safest manner. Our course sequences encompass programs that students have worked very hard towards in order to be offered in their junior and senior years. Our plan ensures that students are scheduled for 7-8 courses, and see their individual teachers once every 6 days in-person, and once every 3-days remotely.

Changing of Classes: Teachers will be changing rooms, to minimize students moving. There may be small exceptions where both the students and teachers may change rooms, when there are clean / unused rooms available. 

Specialty Rooms: All technology classes will need to be in two rooms to allow students to enter clean environments. Additional rooms will be set up for support computers and equipment.

Lunch: Our school will provide students with grab-and-go meals for breakfast and lunch each day. Signage will be provided to direct students to pick up points within the school. Students will also be permitted to bring their own lunch, if preferred. Doing so will allow for more flexibility so students and physical distancing can be maintained during lunch time, a time when many students usually gather in one location.  Lunch will likely be in classrooms to minimize interaction between groups of students.  If the cafeteria must be used, our school will ensure appropriate physical distancing is maintained. After they have finished eating, our students and staff will wipe down the area where they ate their meal. Every evening, our Division of School Facilities will be cleaning our entire school building with COVID-19 approved disinfectant.