Bedford Area School District Update about the School Closure during Covid 19
The spread of Covid 19 impacted almost every aspect of life. At the Bedford Area School District we recognize this impact and are working furiously to normalize students’ educational experience as much as possible. Fortunately, educational leaders in both the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Representative Jesse Topper and the Pennsylvania Senate, Senator Wayne Langerholc Jr., worked diligently to create legislation to assist schools during the national crisis. Senate Bill 751 (now Act 13 of 2020) offered schools guidance about how to proceed during the spread of Covid 19 in a variety of areas. This document will provide students and parents important information about school operations during the school closure.
Additionally, the district would like to briefly underscore some of our past effort and how they allowed us to deal quickly and effectively with the national crisis. In 2015, the district launched a plan called Bedford 2020 in an effort to modernize the technology infrastructure, provide all students with a device, implement a district-wide learning management system (Schoology), and develop a district-wide social and emotional learning curriculum. Additionally, since 2012 the district invested a tremendous amount of time and resources into school safety and security. An element of our school safety and security initiatives always included planning, actual drills, and table top drills. These activities developed processes for cohesive and timely responses to challenges. Finally, the district took advantage of the opportunity to apply for Flexible Instruction Days offered by the State. Flexible Instruction Days is a program that allows schools to continue to offer education during events like floods or snow storms when schools are physically closed. The district’s participation in this program facilitated the district’s planning for a potential physical school closure. These three elements: Bedford 2020, safety and security planning, and flexible instruction days combined with the dedication and commitment of the BASD Staff allowed the Bedford Area School District to continue to provide our students with an education.
As we move forward, the district continues to monitor the implementation of our existing programs and expands our capabilities. Over the last three weeks, we held numerous leadership meetings to refine our processes, to set expectations for learning and teaching, to develop a safe and sustainable feeding system, to improve remote conferencing tools, and numerous other initiatives. The district stands ready to serve our students, their families, and our community. The school buildings may be closed but the Bedford Area School District is open to provide education. We offer the following question and answer to help students and families during the school building closure.
General Education Questions
What is the Bedford Area School District general plans for education for the rest of this school year?
As long as school is closed per the Governor, the district will continue to provide an education in the current format using technology supplemented with other methods as appropriate. The district has asked staff to focus on essential learning objectives normally taught in the fourth marking period to ensure students receive instruction in the most important areas.
What are the district’s expectations for students?
The district expects students to regularly check Schoology, participate in instructional activities, and complete assignments as requested. The district asked staff to regularly communicate with students and be available for students’ questions via email and/or telephone. All students must participate regularly in the district’s educational plan.
Will my child’s work count and be graded?
Yes. Your child’s work will count. Also, students will receive grades at the end of the 4th marking period.
Is the district following the normal school calendar?
Yes. The 2019-2020 school year will end on May 28, 2020. The district is asking staff to honor our normal scheduled student vacation days. Additionally, the end of the school year usually brings awards ceremonies, opportunities to make up work, and time to finalize grades. The district is asking staff to honor our usual closing process and begin to taper student work beginning May, 15, 2020 and no new assignments beginning May 20, 2020.
What if my child is struggling?
The district is working with staff to ensure students are receiving the correct amount of work and are not receiving too much. Also, all staff are available to help your child, please contact your teacher initially if the workload is too much or your child needs additional help. If you need additional support please contact your building principal via email. Please also know, we are actively monitoring student performance and do not want students to perform significantly different than usual. The district asked staff to look for these changes in performance and be proactive to support students. We appreciate feedback both negative and positive.
Building Principal Contact Information:
Leslie Turkovich
Bedford Elementary Principal
Kevin Windows
Bedford Middle School Principal
Kyle Kane
Bedford High School Principal
What if my child or a member of my family has an emergency?
We hope all students, family members, and members of our community stay safe during this crisis. If you experience an emergency, please communicate with your building principal. You have our assurance we will support you and help develop the best plan to help you. Please also remember that our staff and their families may experience emergencies during this time. Please be patient with us if such an emergency occurs.
Special Education Questions
Will my child continue to receive special education?
Yes. The district developed a plan to continue to provide special education services. Each building assistant principal is working closely with special education teachers and instructional assistants. At this point, all special education teachers have contacted all students and parents to check on progress, provide support, and/or to assign an instructional assistant. The district is very proud to provide all services and supports as normal. Please review the attached documents entitled Continuity of Education Plan for more information.
Special Education Contact Information
Kevin Steele
Bedford High School, Asst. Principal
Mike Trimeloni
Bedford Elementary School, Asst. Principal
Shane Bingman
Bedford Middle School, Asst. Principal
Greg Hays
Psychologist
Darla Cooper
Special Education Administrative Assistant
Dr. Paul Ruhlman
Assistant Superintendent
Bedford Area School District Student Feeding Program
At the beginning of the national crisis, the district approached feeding students like it approached education and past situations. The district set several important goals:
- Assist families who are experiencing food emergencies on a case by case basis.
- Protect employees, employee’s families, students, and families from community spread of Covid 19
- Create a sustainable approach to assisting families that will not fail during the peak of the infection
In an effort to achieve these goals, we did not rush into mass feeding, which would bring large numbers of employees and potentially others together and make tracking or identifying community spread difficult. Additionally, we did not want to create a potential situation where one exposure would cripple our ability to sustain the program.
Strategically, we developed a protocol for feeding which identified a core team of individuals who are solely in charge of packaging and distributing food while applying social distancing. Additionally, we collect the information on all students and families participating in this feeding program. Therefore, if there is an exposure to Covid 19, we can switch to one of our backup teams and notify all employees, students, and families about the exposure. Also, in an effort to refine this process, we immediately started with the students who were already participating in the district’s backpack program or students who are identified as homeless. By starting small, we found families value actual supplemental meals they can prepare at home after a single trip rather than multiple trips for single meals. Again, we are committed to supporting our students through a safe and sustainable feeding program.
If I have a food emergency who do I contact?
If you have a food emergency use the list below to directly contact district staff supporting the backpack/emergency feeding program. Please provide the support staff member with a telephone number. Also, you can contact your building principal who will forward your information to our support team. When the team member calls you, please provide our support person with the names and school buildings for all your children.
Julie Livengood
Bedford Elementary School
Megan Rose
Bedford Middle School
Kim Eller
Bedford High School
Can I contribute to the backpack program?
Given concerns about the potential to spread Covid 19, the backpack/emergency feeding program would prefer cash donations. If you would like to contribute to the backpack/emergency feeding program, please contact the district support staff listed above.
Upcoming Events
What is happening with sports?
Currently, all sports are suspended during the school closure. All organized practices are prohibited. We will communicate with our athletes as soon as we receive new information from the PIAA.
My child is a senior, how about the senior trip, prom, and graduation?
The district recognizes these events are important culminating occasions in the lives of our students and your children. We adopted the philosophy of rescheduling all senior events until rescheduling is no longer feasible. Unfortunately, we can only reschedule the senior trip so many times until it is no longer possible to reschedule. The worst case scenario for prom is we invite seniors back to next year’s prom. Graduation will absolutely occur even if we have to reschedule graduation to later in the summer.
My child is not a senior, what is happening with fieldtrips?
The district regretfully is cancelling all remaining fieldtrips for this year.
How about other events like concerts, award ceremonies, etc?
The district adopted the philosophy of making decisions as timely as possible. Therefore, we continue to consider other upcoming events and will provide updates as we make timely decisions.
Enrolling New Students and Registering Kindergarten Students
I just moved into the Bedford Area School District, how do I enroll my child?
The district created a procedure to enroll students with the goal of minimizing your trips to the physical school buildings. Please contact your building principal who will begin the process.
Building Principal Contact Information:
Leslie Turkovich
Bedford Elementary Principal
Kevin Windows
Bedford Middle School Principal
Kyle Kane
Bedford High School Principal
What is the plan for kindergarten registration in April?
The district rescheduled Kindergarten registration. The new dates for Kindergarten registration are June 29 and 30. If you were preregistered for Kindergarten registration, you will receive a phone call from the district to establish a new date and time for your child’s enrollment.
What if the new kindergarten registration dates do not work with my schedule?
The district will work with your schedule to determine a different date and time to register your child. Once normal school operations resume, please contact the elementary school for assistance.
Technology
What does my child need to log into Schoology?
They need their Bedford Google Account credentials.
I forgot or don’t know my Google Account credentials to log into Schoology, how can I get them?
Please email Ms. Kelly Baker at bakerk@bedfordasd.org and include your telephone number and she will get back to you.
I got logged out of the Schoology app on my iPad, know my credentials but can’t get logged into the app correctly. How do I get logged into the Schoology app on my iPad?
This video will show you the proper process: https://5il.co/egdv
How do I get login credentials for specific teacher related classroom applications (ex. IXL, Class Dojo, Khan Academy, Study Island, etc.)?
Contact your teacher via email and include your telephone number and they will get back to you.
What do I do if I have a technology question or my technology breaks?
Please email Ms. Kelly Baker at bakerk@bedfordasd.org and include your telephone number and she will get back to you.
General Feedback about District Operations
Who can I contact to ask general questions or provide feedback about the district’s operations?
The district appreciates questions and feedback. Frankly, it offers us an opportunity to discuss ideas, understand varying perspectives, and solve potential issues in small groups. Please contact the superintendent or the assistant superintendent (Please provide your phone number in your email):
Dr. Allen Sell
Superintendent
Dr. Paul Ruhlman
Assistant Superintendent