ACPS@Home Update

Teen Doing Homework on Computer at Home

The Department of Technology has been working on a plan to support ACPS families and promote our Digital Learning Initiative at home. The program, known as ACPS@Home, works through partnerships with five major cell phone providers (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Verizon) and Kajeet to distribute Wi-Fi HotSpots to students without access to the Internet at home. With the current school closures, the interest in participating in this program has increased dramatically.

The demand for these HotSpots far exceeds the national supply available at this time. School administrative teams collected the names of over 650 students and staff who reported that they have no Internet access. Continue reading

Annual Leave Overflow Process Update

Man Working and Daydreaming of Vacation

With the disruptions to personal and work schedules related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we realize that many employees are not in the position to use annual leave at this time in order to avoid losing leave above the 320-hour maximum accrual cap set in Policy GCC, Leave Program. Effective immediately, we are temporarily disabling the conversion of annual leave at/above 320 hours that normally occurs at the end of an employee’s birth month, allowing those with birthdays in March, April, and onward extra time to use overflow annual leave. Continue reading

Economic Impact of COVID-19 on the School Division

COVID-19

Dear Members of Our Learning Community:

Earlier this week, the County Executive shared with the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors a projection on the possible local economic impact from the COVID-19 restrictions currently in place to protect public health.

It is likely at this point that the current national economic slowdown will have a significant and negative impact on federal, state and local tax revenues. Continue reading

Temporary Emergency Leave Provisions

COVID-19

Dear Colleagues:

First and foremost, I hope you and your families are well and I want to thank you for following the guidelines of our public health experts for preventing COVID-19 illness and its spread.

I also want to thank you for continuing to serve the needs of our students and their families during this unprecedented time. Schools are at the center of the life of our community, and these past few weeks have highlighted just how important our contributions are to the lives of our families. For many of us, however, providing these contributions from our homes can present challenges to our own family lives and responsibilities.

I’d like to update you on new federal legislation that may help. Continue reading

Teacher Talk – Connecting Teachers and Students

The Daily Progress

In honor of our community’s dedicated teachers, The Daily Progress is offering teachers a free and interesting way to connect with their students. Teachers are invited to submit a brief letter (150 words or less) to their students, which The Daily Progress will publish for free.

Interested teachers should complete the Teacher Talk form on The Daily Progress website. Continue reading