The first Hope Public Schools parent/teacher conference day of the COVID-19 affected 2020-2021 school year is scheduled Thursday and the first "virtual" day is set for Friday.
Most campuses will have a virtual meeting component in their parent-teacher conference schedule after the planned early dismissal of classes at 1:20 p.m.
Parent/teacher conferences at Yerger Middle School will be between 1:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Teachers will be live on Zoom throughout the scheduled conference portion of the day. Extended one-to-one meetings via Zoom may be arranged by appointment for Friday, Oct. 30.
Students and teachers will not be on campus throughout the district during the day Oct. 30 and will work from home. The concept of “virtual” days has been incorporated into the calendar for dates including Oct. 30, Nov. 23-24, Feb. 15, and March 19.
The concept is intended to aid remediation for students and lesson planning for teachers, who now deal with both on-site and online students.
“Virtual Friday” will, however, become a regular feature of the academic year beginning Nov. 6 and will continue through Dec. 18, at which time it will be evaluated by district administration.
“Virtual Friday” will have a different look on each campus for on-site students. Yerger Middle School core classes will be blocked into longer periods, either with a morning and afternoon emphasis or morning-only emphasis with use of electives.
The “Virtual Friday” concept was adopted by the Hope Public Schools Board of Education in its Oct. 19 meeting to provide a weekly “virtual instruction day” to accommodate teacher workloads outside of regular class days created by the bifurcated on-site/virtual system used because of the COVID-19 health crisis.