April 23, 2020

Greetings ACS families,

We are very grateful that we serve a God of love, compassion and peace, so I write this letter praying and wishing each of you, your families especially our scholars well. We miss you all dearly and I along with the faculty are so excited when we see our scholars online, read their assignments and marvel at the excellence they are striving for daily.

The most difficult part of this process for many of us is the uncertainty of when we can return to normal. Although our campus is closed, Annunciation Catholic School continues to be open and committed to provide academic instruction rooted in our Catholic tradition and faith. The Archdiocese of Washington Catholic Schools Office (CSO) has provided guidance to support Distance Learning since March 16, 2020.

Guidance has been provided through different Phases. The first Phase was developed for the initial 2 weeks of closure in order to continue learning through instruction and enrichment. On March 30, the CSO launched Phase 2 of Distance Learning which added more robust instruction and learning opportunities and included professional development for the faculty.

Phase 3 will be implemented beginning April 27, 2020. During this phase, the focus will be on critical standards. Each teacher has already identified and shared with me the most important standards to cover before the school year ends. This approach will provide focused instruction and assessment on those priority standards. Teachers will score assessments in the following ways:

• Met – the standard was achieved
• Revise – assessment needs to be resubmitted
• Incomplete – work was not submitted

Teachers will reach out to students receiving an Incomplete to determine if additional supports are needed to complete the assessment and meet the standard.

Standardized testing scheduled for Spring 2020 has been cancelled. This includes Scantron testing in reading, math, and science as well as the Faith Knowledge Assessment.

Grade reporting for Quarter 4 will be slightly different. For Grades PreK-3, the regular progress reporting tool on the report card will be used. However, teachers will enter an “I” for Incomplete work. This will be used if the student had accessibility issues that didn’t allow him/her to complete assessments. For Grades 4-8, students will receive either a “P” for Pass or an “I” for Incomplete. Final grades will be calculated by the teacher based on the first three quarters and the quality of work during Quarter 4.

During this phase of Distance Learning our class schedules have changed to reflect some of the feedback from our technology survey. We also are implementing best practices that will support a robust and concise academic program. To that end, you will receive an email from the Learning Center by Friday detailing the revised schedule of our scholars by grade for Phase 3. This phase of distance learning will allow our scholars clear and consistent online instruction and differentiation and support will continue to be offered by the Learning Center staff and teacher office hours.

Please have your scholars participate in our Virtual Spirit Week next week. The information has been sent out on Remind and a flier is attached to this email.

Our campus closure should not take away the memory our 8th grade students have dreamed of for so many years. We are investigating ways to celebrate graduation and other 8th grade events. While it may look different for our Class of 2020, we still plan to rejoice as a school community and celebrate the accomplishments of our 8th grade students. More details will be provided at a later date.

Finally we would like you to know that our faculty continues to keep all of you in our prayers. We are learning of families in our community directly impacted by Covid 19. Please pray for their health and speedy recovery. Ms. Mayhew, our counselor, is available to speak with scholars and families at this time. If you are in need of any assistance please contact me at [email protected] or by phone 301-485-9126.

We continue to learn and grow together. I am proud of our school and all that we have and continue to accomplish this school year. We surely have a great deal to be proud of from our awesome scholars winning awards, gaining acceptance and scholarships into top notch high schools, and even our youngest scholars embracing distance learning still making academic gains and showing compassion daily. The love that we have for our school and the school spirit our students possess is second to none. I am proud of ACS and we need to remember that we are all in this together.

Constant Blessings,

Nicole Peltier Lewis

Nicole Peltier Lewis Principal
Annunciation Catholic School