ST. LUCIE COUNTY, FL –St. Lucie Public Schools (SLPS) recently received approval for its Spring 2021 Education Plan from the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE). The plan focuses on the continuation of the District’s 2020-2021 Reopening Plan that was approved by the FLDOE at the start of the school year. Specifically, the Spring Plan focuses on four areas; Interventions, Communication to Targeted MySchool Online Students, Enhanced Outreach, and Professional Development.
Interventions
St. Lucie Public Schools will focus on closing achievement gaps, especially those expanded due to the 2020 spring virtual instruction, and for students who fell behind. After School and Summer School programs will be provided to target and remediate skills or gaps created by the interruption of face-to-face instruction. Furthermore, students needing remediation will be closely monitored to ensure that they are getting the needed support in reading and/or mathematics.
MySchool Online Student Communication
St. Lucie Public Schools will continue to offer MySchool Online, our Innovative Learning Modality. However, personalized contact was made, prior to winter break, to the parents of MySchool Online students who were not making adequate academic progress, notifying them that they must return to the traditional learning modality through a formalized process with standardized notification and a district-wide monitoring plan. Parents who chose not to have their child return to school in-person were required to provide written acknowledgment verifying the receipt of the information and their intent to have their child remain in the innovative learning modality.
Enhanced Outreach
St. Lucie Public Schools has identified vulnerable students who have had limited or no contact with the district and transitioned them to the appropriate learning modality, including students who have yet to appear or enroll for the 2020-21 school year, through a variety of strategies. Furthermore, Student Services staff will maintain their focus on attendance and truancy through their commitment to working collaboratively with the Boys and Girls Club Truancy Project funded by the Children’s Services Council. Attendance Advocates from the program work alongside school social workers to conduct outreach to families whose children are exhibiting problems with attendance. These students are targeted through specific school interventions to reduce absenteeism. SLPS has also increased the number of School Social Workers and the frequency of attendance meetings to determine needs.
Professional Development
The Talent Development Department has focused on teacher support in virtual learning since the switch in March of 2020 and that focus will continue throughout the spring of 2021. MySchool Online teachers and traditional teachers continue to collaboratively plan together and follow the same District Scope and Sequence which has allowed students to stay on track with pacing regardless of modality. Training and support for MySchool Online teachers will continue with more advanced training on digital tools as well as targeted support, if needed, including one-on-one support from district Talent Development experts.
Chief Academic Officer Dr. Helen Wild commented, “Our plan focused on identifying MySchool Online students who were not making adequate academic progress and getting them back to in-person learning so that our highly qualified teachers can provide them with the face to face, differentiated support they need to be successful.”
The approved plan can be accessed here: SLPS Spring 2021 Education Plan