WST Updates

April 3, 2020

Message from Director Watkins

Hello, families, friends, and community members!

I hope that this message finds each of you healthy, well, and safe. It's been so hard not seeing the students and staff every day. Each of our staff members misses seeing our students and helping them be successful.

Our first priority is the well-being and safety of you and your students. Should you have any needs, please let us know.

I am holding daily office hours from 10:00 - Noon, should you have any questions, or just want to check in!

Each staff is working on connecting with students via Remind, Google Classroom, Zoom, and via email. If your student has not yet connected with their instructor, please let us know so we can get them connected!

While we are following social distancing, your student has the opportunity to improve their current grade and continue enrichment activities to increase their learning. As they complete the enrichment activities, students will earn a P or F grade for each of those assignments and instructors will provide feedback to help them learn.

The State Board of Education is voting on Wednesday, April 8, on the updated graduation requirements and credits. At that point, we will have a better idea of how grades will translate for students.

Please let us know if you need anything from WST, we are here for you!

WST Updates & Information

West Sound Tech

Updated Information for School Closure and student credit

West Sound Tech staff miss our students!

West Sound Tech is dedicated to supporting our students and their success. We are committed to allowing them to makeup work as available to support grade improvement and enrichment activities for students to ensure they have access to move forward with their learning.

Following is a list of expectations for instructors at WST:

· Each instructor is to be available Monday – Friday from 8:00 am – 3:30 pm for students, parents, and families

· Each teacher is to hold office hours daily for 2 hours that is dedicated to engaging with students

· Reach out to students regularly to check-in

· Use Remind, Google Classroom, email and/or Zoom to connect with students and families

Teachers are working diligently to continue to provide enrichment content for students. Students are currently earning a P or F on enrichment activities and are receiving feedback from instructors. In addition, when we return to school, students may test out of the sections that were completed during our stay at home time.

As each of you navigate new waters during this challenging time, so does West Sound Tech staff. Please be patient with us as we continue to learn how to support student learning in a primarily online venue with lack of access to supplies/materials required to support the hands-on learning portion of courses.

While we know that students may be concerned about grades for their WST class, know that students are able to make up work that they may have missed prior to the COVID-19 stay at home orders and are able to improve their current grades if they complete the work at home.

Students at WST have earned 2 credits so far (1.5 for first semester, and .5 for the last grade reporting time period), this means that students that were planning to use their WST class as their graduation pathway, they have met the 2 credit requirement (so long as they passed first semester and had a passing grade for the last grade reporting period).

Please reach out to Shani Watkins, shani.watkins@westsoundtech.org, should you have any questions at all!