Heritage Gateway Parents,
We are aware this is an immensely stressful and difficult time for everyone. Our country is facing a situation that none of us could have imagined. The amount of strain on families (including our staff’s families) is unprecedented. We are so proud of our scholars, their families and our teachers. Everyone is doing the best they can and it shows!
Every school is free to set their own rules for learning. At Heritage we would like to keep the same high expectations to the extent we can during these unusual times. Giving scholars feedback and grades is an important way to ensure that your scholar is learning and progressing academically. Heritage is a unique and, quite honestly, blessed school because we are able to continue to provide instruction to our scholars. Please do not confuse our desire to continue providing a quality education to your student with a lack of compassion or understanding on our part. Heritage made a commitment to our scholars and families to provide a high quality program. We are working diligently to live up to this commitment, despite the difficult times we are facing, because we want our scholars to continue learning and to be prepared for their next step; we have faith that this too shall pass!
Please reach out to your scholar’s teachers at Heritage and let them know if they are struggling. Our teachers really just want to help their scholars and they will probably have some suggestions. Our intent is that instruction is still happening by our teachers and that the work can be done independently by the scholar. Our hope is that scholars would be working on school no more than 4-5 hours a day Monday-Friday, approximately 2 hours per course, per week. (Dual enrollment courses, however, are also regulated by Rio Salado Community College and may have additional expectations.) We do not expect a full 8 hour school day plus homework time. Nor do we expect scholars to work on Saturdays unless they choose to.
Teachers have been asked to have assignments that can be done “offline”, by printing and working with pencil/paper, or perhaps taking a picture of the assignment and using pencil/paper if a printer isn’t available in an effort to help families who have a limited number of devices to use at home. Video postings have been created so scholars can watch them at their convenience, pause if needed, and re-watch if desired.
We have staggered due dates for each class so scholars have an entire 7 days to complete the assignments. This has been done to help those that have limited access to devices; however, scholars are always able to turn in assignments early. Here are the due dates that were set:
Monday- History
Tuesday- Computers
Wednesday- Languages
Thursday- English
Friday- Math & Fine Arts
Saturday- Science & PE
Most importantly, we are here to help your scholar and support your family. We are all aware that this is an experience none of us have had before, but we are confident we can do hard things together.
Again, please reach out directly to your scholar’s teachers with any specific concerns or problems you may have. We want to work with you to help your scholars be successful.
As always, please email me if you have questions or concerns.
Thank you,
Kathleen Lopez
klopez@heritageacademyaz.com
