August 17th, 2020

SJAM RETURN TO SCHOOL UPDATE
AUGUST 17, 2020

As students and staff await opening day 2020, we know many of you have questions about what this coming school year will be like.  We will do our best to provide updates when information becomes available.

Please note that most staff won’t be returning to school until late August/early September.  Until then, we will not be checking emails/voicemail regularly, so please refrain from emailing or calling with requests or questions at this time as we won’t be able to respond promptly.  Guidance counsellors also currently don’t have access to our scheduling system and must wait until we are back in the building to address student timetables, etc.

When we return, guidance will be focussed on fixing schedule issues, completing new student registrations and assisting with preparations for a safe startup.  That said, we know many of you have emailed with questions or concerns about September.  There is a great deal of uncertainty about specific details for the fall.  We are working on answers and students will be informed via Google Classroom and/or the school website when we have updates.

This is uncharted territory for all of us, so please be patient as we prepare for startup. Your support is greatly appreciated!

NOTE – THERE IS CURRENTLY NO SCHOOL ACCESS PRIOR TO OPENING DAY!

Here are a few key points to address some of the frequently asked questions SJAM staff/guidance have received in recent weeks:

TIMETABLES & STUDENT COHORTS

Student timetables are not yet complete and may need to be reworked in some cases due to the quadmester model and responses to the recent student attendance survey.  Unfortunately, this means student schedules will not be available until closer to opening day.  Some students may also receive incomplete timetables at that time due to conflicts and/or late cancelled courses.  Guidance staff will work as quickly as possible to resolve these issues.

Our hope is to communicate with families the student’s timetable and cohort so they are aware in order to prepare before the first day of school. We recognize and appreciate that students will need to know what cohort they are assigned to and their first quadmester classes before the first day of school (as only that cohort will attend).  Specific information about opening day and first week procedures will be coming in the next few weeks.

Please be aware that current information in MyWay may not be up-to-date and likely won’t reflect your actual schedule for September.  Students are advised to not check MyWay until after the resumption of classes.

STUDENT ATTENDANCE SURVEY

If you missed the deadline to declare intentions for in-person or online attendance in the fall, please contact our main office for assistance – via email at jam@wrdsb.ca no later than August 18th.

Our office staff/VPs will be reaching out to families who did not complete this survey to help ensure we have accurate information for startup and can organize our classes accordingly.  Families can also contact their alpha VP (by student last name) for assistance with the survey/info – please include the full name of the student in your email to help with the process:

COURSE CHANGES

All course change requests submitted online between March break and the end of last semester are still on hold and will be processed in the order received. Once we have finalized timetables, organized cohort groups and fixed any conflicts/issues, we hope to accommodate these requests where possible, but this may take some time.

No further course change requests are being accepted at this time.  Guidance will be working closely with SJAM admin to determine how to move forward with any late requests for changes after startup.  These will almost certainly be limited by our quadmester schedule and cohort groups.

ONLINE ONLY STUDENTS

The WRDSB is still working on the process to register students for online-only classes this fall.  We don’t yet know if course sign-ups and/or any change requests will be handled centrally at the board or via the SJAM guidance staff.  We are also waiting on details about how to handle any changes in plans (moving from online to in-person, or vice versa).

SCHOOL SETUP & DAILY/COHORT SCHEDULE

SJAM will look quite different than what you’ve been used to, but it’s all in the name of safety!  There will be clear policies in place for entering/exiting the school and movement around the building (one-way halls, staggered bell times, arrows/signage).  More details will be released closer to opening day.  Classes have been reorganized to follow cohort sizing, including removal of furniture (approx. 15 students per group). SCHOOL SCHEDULE:

If you haven’t yet checked out the model WRDSB secondary schedule, please CLICK HERE to review the proposed model.  We should hopefully have a more SJAM specific timetable to share in the coming weeks.

PRE-AP/ADVANCED PLACEMENT

Late applicants for pre-AP or Advanced Placement courses – stay tuned for updates as some changes/decisions may still be pending for some students.

LOCKERS

We are awaiting final Region of Waterloo Health guidelines regarding locker use.  If you left items in your locker last year and haven’t retrieved belongings, please contact the SJAM main office in late August.

EXTRA-CURRICULARS

The WRDSB is working closely with Regional Health to determine plans for extra-curriculars.  We will share further details when we know more.

There will certainly be more info to come as we closer to opening day!
As mentioned, we’ll do our very best to communicate with you via:
SJAM website (jam.wrdsb.ca)
Guidance Google Classroom
SJAM Guidance Instagram (@SJAMGuidance)
Twitter (@SJAMHighlanders)

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