The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) approved the use of Flexible Instruction Days (FID) as an alternate form of instruction in place of a day otherwise canceled due to inclement weather or building emergency.  PDE will count this as a full day of school.  The District has been approved for up to five (5) FIDs for this school year.  On a FID, learners will complete learning assignments provided by the teacher at home on the day that otherwise would have been canceled. Learners will receive assignments for each subject that would have originally taken place during a regular school day.

Classroom teachers will have learning activities and assignments posted in Schoology or SeeSaw.  In the event that connectivity is an issue, the teacher will have an alternate method for students to complete assignments.  Teachers may also use pencil/paper activities.

Attendance is determined by work submission.  All work must be completed and submitted electronically by the end of the FID for a student to be “present”.  In the event work is completed with pencil/paper, it can be turned in at the start of the next school day for attendance.  Regular attendance procedures apply for excused/unexcused absence.

Activities can be downloaded on the device and/or the facilitator may provide learners with an offline version of the activities and assignments in advance. If work is not completed, it will be counted as a student absence.  Work makeup is based on the regular school policy for missed work during an absence.

Facilitators have designed learning activities and assignments that are equivalent to time spent on a similar activity on a regularly scheduled class period on a two-hour delay schedule. Learners working independently on an assignment will likely take less to time to complete the assignment compared to a large group setting.

Incomplete assignments result in an absence in eSchool. Make up work/grading procedures should follow the regular procedures for your class/building.

All learners would be expected to use their district-assigned device which may alleviate the demand on the home computer.  Some may want to work on offline options while others complete online assignments. All students have the ability to request an offline version of the learning activities and assignments prior to the scheduled FID or on the first day after students return to school.

Yes if that is a format that works for you and your learners.  The lessons need to be rigorous, engaging, and current no matter what the design.

The FID lesson will be designed for students with special needs utilizing their program modifications, specially designed instruction and supplementary aids and services identified in their individualized education plans. Upon return from a FID, teachers of students with special needs will meet with their students to review work submitted, checking for completion and understanding. Any related services (Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech, etc.) scheduled during the FID will be rescheduled according to the frequency requirements of the students’ individualized education plan.

Yes, after school activities will be canceled during a FID.

Yes, make up dates will continue to be built into the district calendar. A FID is an option that may be used in place of one or more canceled school days or make up days but may not be used for all canceled school days in any given school year.

Regular procedures would stand for absence, make up work and grading.

MCSD used asynchronous/virtual learning days throughout the 2020-21 school year due to the Pandemic.  With families and facilitators becoming more accustomed to the format, we decided to use our feedback from the past year to create this opportunity for the next school year.