• Provide a regular message to staff and students and lead a daily prayer session for students and families
• Monitor teacher lesson planning, virtual instruction time, and grading to ensure continuation of learning occurs
• Ensure that daily attendance is taken
• Host virtual meetings regularly
• Provide regular updates to the pastor on teaching and learning progress
• Actively consult with other principals and the Office of Catholic Schools on best practices and collaborative opportunities
• Provide weekly communication to parents
• Plan for alternative coverage in the event of staff absences

• Prepare weekly lesson plans for students and parents to view; adjust as necessary throughout the week
• Hold regular class meetings (synchronous learning)
• Remind students that the lesson will be recorded and the link posted for those who were unable to attend the live class video conference
• Provide regular asynchronous learning opportunities for students through recorded video
• Provide the opportunity for students to interact with peers online with teacher supervision
• Consider ways to focus on relationships and connections, not just content
• Create cross-curricular work when possible to maximize efficiency
• Create projects and/or choice work that give students and families the flexibility to complete the tasks and tap interest and motivation
• Create and communicate an alternate learning plan if teachers or families cannot access the internet
• Host at least one virtual office hour each day for students to ask questions and receive assistance
• The school counselor will be available to provide support as needed

• Adhere to the Cougar Code and all other behavior expectations as outlined in the Parent-Student Handbook
• Set up a workspace and schedule work time for yourself (with parent assistance as needed)
• Attend all live classes and/or sessions. Absences will still be recorded by the school. If a student is not able to attend a scheduled live class or session, a parent must contact the teacher to let him or her know. The student will then be expected to watch the recording of the live session and complete the work as soon as possible
• Be considerate of others in online discussions
• Follow the “Teleconferencing Etiquette” expectations outlined below
• Do not set up or participate in any online discussions using a school platform without the teacher being present
• Follow the school’s Acceptable Use Policy regarding technology and be an exceptional digital citizen
• Students will continue on their path to complete this school year successfully by striving for academic excellence and earning grades in order to complete their current grade level
• Complete and submit work on time
• Do your own work
• School policies for homework and academic integrity still pertain
• Communicate if you have any questions or concerns. Ask for help if you need it
• In order to continue developing life skills, make positive contributions to household work and family life

• Set up a workspace and schedule work time for your child
• Continue to report absences to your child’s teacher(s)
• School policies for homework and academic integrity still pertain
• Don’t take over your child’s work. School policies on student original work and academic honesty still pertain
• Be sure your child gets exercise daily
• Email your child’s teacher if you have questions, comments, or feedback
• If you need to contact a teacher outside the regular school day (8:30am-3:15pm), allow time for the teacher to respond

• When first joining the meeting, please mute your own microphone and turn off the camera.  You many receive instructions to turn on your microphone and/or camera during the meeting, so please listen to instructions
• If you have a question, please type in the “chat” section and the teacher or assistant will prompt you to speak
• All chat must be on topic
• A student’s screen and sound should not become a distraction.  We have limited time with our meetings, and we want to make sure we use our time wisely
• Attendance is mandatory.  If for some reason you are unable to attend (i.e. sickness) the teacher will need to be contacted ahead of time
• Please hang up when instructed to by the teacher
• Remember, you signed a Technology Contract, so these rules still apply for HFK Online Learning

Currently all preschool-grade 4 classrooms are using individualized schedules for synchronous (live) and asynchronous (video) learning depending upon the grade level and taking into account the needs of our students and parents at these younger ages.

As we further refine our Remote Learning Plan for possible use in the fall, a more formal schedule is being created for all grades. This new plan will be posted on our website after it is finalized.

Grade 5 Schedule:

*30min of class together, 15min extra question time, 15min break

In addition to the live classes below, students receive instruction via asynchronous (video) learning from teachers and specialists.

Grade 6

Grade 7

Grade 8

1—Establish routines and expectations

From the first day HFK implements its RLP, parents need to establish routines and expectations. We encourage parents to set regular hours for their children’s schoolwork. Keep normal bedtime routines for younger children and expect the same from your older-aged students, too. (Don’t let them stay up late and sleep in!) Your children should move regularly and take periodic breaks as they study. It is important that parents set these expectations for how their children will spend their days starting as soon as remote learning is implemented, not several days later after it becomes apparent a child is struggling with the absence of routine.

2—Define the physical space for your child’s study

Your child may have a regular place for doing homework under normal circumstances, but this space may or may not be suitable for an extended period, as will be the case if this RLP is implemented. We encourage families to establish a space or location where their children will learn most of the time. This should be a public family space, not in a child’s bedroom. It should be a place that can be quiet at times and have a strong wireless internet signal, if possible.

3—Monitor communications from your children’s teachers

Teachers will communicate with students and parents through email, as necessary. The frequency and detail of these communications will be determined by your children’s ages, maturity, and their degree of independence. When you need to contact teachers, please remember that teachers will be communicating with many students as well as other parents and that communications should be essential, succinct, and self-aware. We also encourage parents to have their children in grades 5-8 explain the online platforms their teachers are using.

4—Begin and end each day with a check-in

Parents are encouraged to start and finish each day with a simple check-in. In the morning, ask what is your child learning today? What are their learning targets or goals? How will they spend their time? What resources do they require? What support do they need? This brief grounding conversation matters. It allows children to process the instructions they’ve received from their teachers. It helps them organize themselves and set priorities. Older students may not want to have these check-ins with parents (that’s normal!), but they should. Parents should establish these check-ins as regular parts of each day. Not all students thrive in a remote learning environment; some struggle with too much independence or lack of structure. These check-in routines need to be established early, before students fall behind or begin to struggle.

5—Take an active role in helping your children process and own their learning

During a regular school day at HFK, your son or daughter engages with other students or adults dozens if not hundreds of times. These social interactions and opportunities for mediation include turning to a peer to exchange a thought or idea, participating in small or large group discussions, asking questions for clarification, collaborating on group projects, and countless other moments. While some of these social interactions will be re-created on virtual platforms, others will not. Human beings learn best when they have opportunities to process their learning with others. Beyond the check-ins recommended at the start and end of each day, parents should regularly circle back and engage with their children about what they’re learning. However, it’s important that your child own their work; don’t complete assignments for them, even when they are struggling.

6—Establish times for quiet and reflection

A huge challenge for families with multiple children will be how to manage all their children’s needs, especially when those children are different ages and have different needs. There may be times when siblings need to work in different rooms to avoid distraction. Parents may even experiment with noise-cancelling headphones (no music necessary!) to block out distractions.

7—Encourage physical activity and/or exercise

Make sure your children remember to move and exercise. This is vitally important to their health, well-being, and to their learning. It is important for parents to model and encourage exercise! Think also about how your children can pitch in more around the house with chores or other responsibilities. Don’t let your children off the hook – expect them to pitch in!

8—Remain mindful of your child’s stress or worry

One thing is for certain: HFK will only implement this RLP if a serious emergency has occurred. Should this happen, it is imperative for parents to help their children manage the worry, anxiety, and range of emotions they may experience. Difficult though it may be, do your best not to transfer your stress or worry to your children. They will be out of sorts, whether they admit it or not, and need as much normal routine as parents can provide. Please reach out to your child’s teacher or contact us should you feel your child needs a counselor if they are expressing extreme worry.

9—Monitor how much time your child is spending online

HFK does not want its students staring at computer screens for 7–8 hours a day. We ask that parents remember most teachers are not experts in remote learning and that it will require some trial-and-error before we find the right balance between online and offline learning experiences.  Administrators or teachers will periodically check in with you to assess what you’re seeing at home and what we need to adjust. We thank you in advance for your patience and partnership!

10—Keep your children social, but set rules around their social media interactions

There’s always excitement and uncertainty when there is a significant change to a routine, like school. If HFK implements this RLP, the initial excitement of school being closed will fade quickly when students start missing their friends, classmates, and teachers. Help your children maintain contact with friends and see them in person when circumstances permit. Please also monitor your children’s social media use, especially during an extended school closure. Older students will rely more on social media to communicate with friends. Social media apps such as SnapChat, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Facebook are not official, school-sanctioned channels of communication. HFK asks parents to monitor their children’s use of social media. Remind your children to be polite, respectful, and appropriate in their communications and to represent your family’s values in their interactions with others. A student’s written words and tone can sometimes offend or cause harm to others.

 1—At HFK, we know our students and they know we care

Our commitment is to nurture relationships and demonstrate deep care for our students and one another. In the event of a crisis that leads to implementation of this RLP, your students may be stressed or worried. Before diving into curriculum, take the time to assess your students’ mental, physical, and emotional well-being. How are they doing? How are their families?

2—Evaluate your students’ conditions for remote learning

While most students will have reliable online access at home and the necessary devices to shift to remote learning, others will not. Teachers should remember that each family’s circumstances will vary and they should avoid assumptions about limitations or restrictions students are facing. Ask your students and/or their parents whether their online access is reliable and what devices the student has at their disposal. Determine which students will need to sign out a device. Open a dialogue with students and families and avoid assumptions that all students’ circumstances are the same.

3—Stick with the familiar

Especially in the first weeks after moving to this RLP, teachers should continue using existing communication channels and learning management systems. In other words, stick with what’s familiar to your students. Teachers should remember that while many students will thrive with remote learning, others will struggle.

4—Less is more

One challenge confronting teachers  during remote learning is how to best streamline content and elevate the most essential learning for students. Since it can be hard to know exactly how long a school closure might last, long-term planning will be difficult. We recommend that teachers take a less-is-more perspective, including the pacing of lessons and the volume of assignments and assessments.

5—Seize the moment; embrace new opportunities and possibilities for your students

Years or decades from now, how will your students remember the emergency that resulted in school closure? While remote learning should attempt to bring some normalcy and routine to students’ lives, teachers should welcome the opportunities resulting from school closure. Teachers might require students to keep a daily journal or diary for the duration of the crisis. Personal journaling and/or other creative writing assignments can help students process their thoughts, worries, and emotions particularly in times of crisis. Students might use other media as well, including video, drawing, painting, and music. Moreover, the crisis might also provide other real-life opportunities to study scientific phenomena associated with the crisis, as well as media and government responses.

6—Design asynchronous learning experiences

When school is closed and students are learning from various locations, teachers can still connect them asynchronously (not all students at the same time). For example, middle school teachers can use familiar discussion forums, threads, or tools to allow for student responses and dialogue during a set time period, knowing that students might not all be online at the same exact time.

7—Design synchronous learning experiences

When it comes to student engagement and learning, relationships matter as much online as they do in person. If HFK’s campus is closed, students will be able to gather for synchronous learning times (all students at the same time or in small groups) via Microsoft Teams. Collaboration remains important and there are many ways teachers can foster it through synchronous learning. This is a good time for discussion, class meetings, sharing, show and tell, and more.

8—Think differently about assessment

Assessment is one of the most challenging adjustments for teachers new to online learning. Remote learning should be an opportunity for students, individually or collaboratively, to complete writing assignments, design infographics, make video presentations, or complete oral assessments via video chat. Teachers are encouraged to think differently about the frequency and end goal of assessment instead of forcing a traditional assessment method that doesn’t fit remote learning. Thinking differently about assessment will positively influence the experience for students, leverage the strengths of remote learning, and prevent frustration on the teacher’s part when traditional methods do not work.

The guidelines above are modeled on the RLP of the American International School of Japan and ‘Iolani School, with our gratitude.

Most of our technology tools are not device-specific, which means students will be able to access learning through nearly any electronic device. If your family does not have access to a laptop, computer, or tablet, please notify Matt Gallant, Technology Administrator, and you will be allowed to sign out a Dell laptop from the school.

Just like if he or she would be missing school, please have your student contact the teacher of that class ahead of time to let them know why he or she won’t be able to make it. Students should also be sure to check the Outlook Homework Calendar to stay caught up and check in with their teacher when they return to find out what they might have missed.

First reach out to fellow classmates who may have had a similar issue.

Your second resource is your instructor.

Lastly, reach out to our Technology Administrator, Matt Gallant (mgallant@hfkchool.org and include your teacher on the email.

Yes. There will be daily grade appropriate homework for all students.

No, we believe there needs to be a balance. HFK remote learning includes a combination of time in front of the computer for live and recorded learning, as well as offline learning opportunities such as completing textbook and workbook handwritten assignments, reading books, and participating in physical education, music, and art activities.

At HFK, we believe that social-emotional learning helps students succeed in the classroom and throughout their lives. We teach students to have confidence, set goals, make better decisions, collaborate with others in work and play, and navigate the world more effectively. This continues during remote learning.  

Yes, the accommodations that are outlined in the EAP will continue during remote learning. The EAP is designed to help students be successful in learning, no matter if learning is happening at school or at home.