Lessons (So Far) from Reopenings

As we all continue to adjust to the new reality presented by Covid-19, our team is consistently amazed at how resilient our district partners are. Whether it is making sure people have access to meals or finding creative ways to deliver instruction to students, our districts have not faltered on their commitment to the communities they serve.

After the many conversations we are having with our district partners, our CEO, Sarah, has penned a letter below highlighting some of the trends and best practices we’ve gathered. If you're doing something great that you want to share, please tell us about it. We love to spread the word on what's working!

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Welcome back everyone,

We’re going into a truly extraordinary year. The demands on you all are unprecedented and I am in awe of the dedication, fast mobilization, and leadership I’ve seen these past few weeks as everyone gears up for school. I compiled a list of major new processes created in the past 30 days below. I think it gives a picture into how districts across the country are operating in these new and very different times. 

Plans are changing by the day but there are some patterns emerging.

Prioritizing health screening and contact tracing for anyone coming onsite

• Some districts are finding a way to screen every employee daily but there are quite a few logistics involved, most processes we’ve seen so far distribute responsibilities across nurses at multiple sites
• Similarly many are tracking incident reports for students as office managers and school site staff are keeping records that might be helpful for contact tracing purposes

Collecting signatures is just the first step to consider 

• There are so many new back to school forms this year, getting approval and consent for new policies is important but making sure that info can be easily collected and distributed across site and district office staff who need it is just as vital and often much harder to course correct
• Design new processes with an eye towards who ultimately needs to see or manage the data (labeling fields, planning for accounts and permissions, formatting for a database etc.)

Get an early start on processes that are business as usual 

• There is so much that needs to happen even in a normal school year, we’re seeing many of you get a head start on things like benefits enrollment and we recommend planning ahead wherever you can so forms can go out together in a packet instead of in multiple mailings

Parents and staff may not expect (or necessarily want) their choices or requests set in stone

• Our team saw a slew of distance learning option surveys followed by a set of parent appeals to change or adjust their preferences, and many questions going to our support team from people asking whether they can change their plans over the course of the school year
• If it’s possible we recommend revisiting options and requests quarterly or every few months

What an incredible amount of thought and hard work this all is. There has never been a time like this one and there will likely not be perfect solutions, but here we are all doing our best. 

Every new school year is full of promise, even this one, and we are so excited to be here supporting you!

Very best wishes and best of luck these next few weeks, 

Sarah

CEO/Co Founder 

Informed K12

Trending forms for parents and students

Student Expectations Agreement

Parental Consent and Emergency Contact cards

Back to School / Opening Day Packet

Notice of Parent Rights and Responsibilities

Parent Tech Consent / App and web-based services

Food Service Meal Delivery Enrollment

Student Housing Questionnaire

Student Hotspot Request

Tech Checkout Form

Reopening Options (Technology Needs and Learning Preference) Survey

Learning Option Requests and Enrollment

Hybrid Model Date Change Appeal Form

Out of district Course Permission Form

Independent Study Form

Athletics COVID 19 Screening

Trending forms for employees

Benefits Open Enrollment

Return to Work Acknowledgement

Remote Work Agreement

Technology Acceptable Use Policy Agreement

Request to Complete Work Duties at Home

Request for Childcare / Work site Flexibility

Childcare / Preschool Enrollment Agreement

COVID 19 Employee Health Survey

COVID 19 Reportable Incident Form

Daily On Site Staff Health Screening

Employee Transition Guidelines

Temporary Remote Work Assignment

Substitute / Specialty / Extra Duty Timesheets

Families First Coronavirus Response Act Leave Request