In this edition:

Important Information On Grade Promotion And Graduation Eligibility For Fort Worth ISD Students: District Changes Grading Procedures During Coronavirus Closure | PRE-K/K Registration Has Begun | FWISD Superintendent Joins Mayor for Live COVID-19 Update | FWISD Outlines Tasks before Teaching and Learning Moves Online | Fort Worth ISD Prepares Teachers and Students to Go Back to School - Online | Food Distribution to Fort Worth ISD Families at Four Mobile Pantry Sites this Saturday, April 4 | Churches Partner With FWISD To Support Families During District Closure | Fort Worth School Trustees Conduct Historic Meeting | FWISD Policy Alert For April 2020 | Academic Advisement: About 30 FWISD Seniors Named TCU Community Scholars | Xello Offers Roadmap To College, Career Planning| WLI Freshman Earns Congressional Award Recognitions | Inside FWISD Briefs | Fort Worth ISD Snapshot | Community Resources | MedStar, Tarrant County Public Health Partner For In-Home COVID-19 Testing For People Under Investigation | Calendar | View more stories throughout the week on the Inside FWISD Blog

FORT WORTH ISD PREPARES TEACHERS AND STUDENTS TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL - ONLINE

This is orientation week, a time for students, their families, and teachers to make every effort to transition to Learning at Home, the online, teacher-guided learning experience beginning this month.

Amid ongoing school closures to curb the coronavirus, the District, for the first time ever, is putting curricula online and training all teachers to instruct virtually.

“The equitable delivery of high quality, online instruction to our 84,000 students is a massive undertaking,” said FWISD Superintendent Kent P. Scribner. “And, doing it in such a short time requires intense planning and accepting the reality that it’s a transition that still has to be done in phases.”

In the first phase, immediately after spring break, the District not only mobilized to make sure students continued to get meals they would normally receive at school, but also arranged online engagement activities and other resources for students and their families.

After that, FWISD provided students with two weeks of lesson plans tied to learning objectives. Now, in the second week of those lesson plans, the District is directing teachers to set up their online learning environments. At the same time, the District continues to make sure students get the internet access and devices they need to learn at home.

The District has also asked teachers to:

• Connect back with students
• Set their office hours (especially secondary teachers), when they will be available to parents to talk about their child’s work
• And, send out at least one assignment to their students this week of March 30.

Fort Worth ISD has steered teachers to the District’s Learning at Home website for creating their online classrooms. The site includes links to multiple webinars and videos using Edgenuity, It’s learning, Google Classroom, and other resources that support virtual teaching and learning. For teachers who missed a flex day opportunity in March, FWISD will count as flex hours the learning from these videos.

Parents and students should expect to hear from their teachers this week. And, before the week’s end, FWISD will update families on where the District is in getting all systems in place to begin online learning this month.

More information will also follow on resources for families, including a Parent-at-a-Glance feature on the Learning at Home website. This is where families will be able to see the learning objectives set for their child. The District has already listed contact information for all elementary and secondary principals on the website, encouraging parents who need to get in touch with their campus to email their principal.

Fort Worth ISD is committed to open channels of communication in order to learn of problems as they pop up and be able to find solutions quicker.

FOOD DISTRIBUTION TO FORT WORTH ISD FAMILIES AT FOUR MOBILE PANTRY SITES THIS SATURDAY, APRIL 4

The Tarrant Area Food Bank (TAFB) continues its work with local partner organizations and the Fort Worth ISD and will provide boxes of food to families this Saturday, April 4, from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. at four mobile pantry sites.

TAFB and its partner agencies will distribute 25-pound boxes of non-perishable food to families at the following mobile pantry sites:

• Sagamore Hill Elementary, 701 S. Hughes, Fort Worth 76103
• East Handley Elementary, 2617 Mims, Fort Worth 76112
• Meadowbrook Middle School, 2001 Ederville, Fort Worth 76103
• Leadership Academy at John T. White Elementary, 7300 John T. White Road, Fort Worth 76120

Volunteers are with TAFB partner agencies and will take all necessary safety precautions and employ social distancing during food distribution. Food boxes will be provided to families on a first come, first served basis. TAFB hopes to continue this effort with more food distribution mobile pantry sites on future Saturdays.

Churches Partner with FWISD To Support Families During District Closure

Area churches are partnering with the Fort Worth ISD to support families in neighborhoods across the city.

In the recent weeks of the District closure to prevent the spread of COVID-19, local churches have stepped up to assist FWISD in feeding and offering resources to students and their families. From gift cards and groceries dropped off at the homes of families without transportation to tutoring refugee families and assisting with Chromebook deployment events at FWISD campuses, area churches have shown up as strong partners in assisting FWISD families in weathering this global health pandemic.

Students and their families have also been supported with book and school supply deliveries.

"Rush Creek Church purchased and delivered food and other essentials to one of our fourth grade students and his family. This act of kindness was done the same day it was requested," East Handley Elementary School Principal Tiffany Hayes said.

Several organizations have pitched in to support the Seminary Hills Park Elementary community.

"University Baptist Church has partnered with us to deliver a week's worth of groceries to high-needs families each week,” said Principal Devona Burgess. “Tarrant Baptist Association has collaborated with University Baptist Church to make sure our families have been provided support. They also share resources with us when there is a near by resource give away. The most recent notification was the food pantry hosted by Southcliff Church. Catholic Charities is not a partner, but have reached out to us, to help provide tutoring to our Refugee families."

Recently, FWISD launched a database with information of where families can access food and other resources from District partners. For more details, click here.

FORT WORTH SCHOOL TRUSTEES CONDUCT HISTORIC MEETING

The Fort Worth ISD Board of Education conducted a historic meeting on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 when the entire Board met with Superintendent Kent Scribner and District staff, and the general public online. The virtual meeting was conducted in response to the COVID-19.

With every Board member, and every staff member in a separate remote location, and utilizing an online meeting application, the Board conducted regularly scheduled business without interruption. In addition, the Board was able to hear comments and questions from three members of the general public.

One of the more noteworthy decisions by the Board was the approval of a resolution allowing Superintendent Scribner to make decisions normally reserved for Board consideration. The resolution was a recognition that the current local and national medical emergency may require immediate decisions which, if delayed for Board approval, would be disadvantageous to the District. The resolution is valid for 120 days.

The meeting was carried on the District’s YouTube channel, FWISD EdTV and on the local Spectrum (Charter) cable system. Replays of the meeting are available at FWISD EdTV YouTube.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following alert is from the FWISD Division of Policy and Planning 

FWISD Policy Alert For April 2020

The FWISD Board Policy manual contains policies governing the operation of this District. Periodically the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) provides updates to various policies based on changes in the law and Texas Education Agency (TEA) requirements. Occasionally revisions may be needed to meet the needs of the District as well.

As a courtesy and in an effort to keep you informed, a policy alert will be provided monthly so that you may be aware of changes specific to our District. Each employee is still expected to be aware of and follow all policies of the District.

The District policy manual consists of four (4) different components:

• LEGAL policies compile federal law, state law, and court decisions, providing the statutory context in which all other policies should be read; these cannot be changed by District administration or the Board.
• LOCAL policies reflect decisions made by the Fort Worth ISD board of trustees and are specific to our District.
• REGULATION documents are administrative procedures that implement board policies.
• EXHIBIT documents may contain forms, charts, and other kinds of supporting information.

The following policies have been revised and/or added:

• CH(LOCAL): PURCHASING AND ACQUISITION
• CNA(REGULATION: TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT- Student Transportation
• DBAA(LOCAL): EMPLOYMENT REQUIREMENTS AND RESTRICTIONS- Criminal History and Credit Reports
• DBAA(REGULATION): EMPLOYMENT REQUIREMENTS AND RESTRICTIONS- Criminal History and Credit Reports
• FM(REGULATION): STUDENT ACTIVITIES

**Special Note: As stated above LEGAL policies cannot be changed by District administration or the Board. GB(LEGAL) was revised November 2019 and is included as an FYI. See policy GB(LEGAL) for more detail.

GB(LEGAL): PUBLIC INFORMATION PROGRAM

• Public Information on Private Device: A current or former board member or employee of a district who maintains public information on a privately owned device shall:

1. Forward or transfer the public information to the district or a district server to be preserved as provided by Government Code 552.004(a); or

2. Preserve the public information in its original form in a backup or archive and on the privately owned device for the time described under 552.004(a). Gov’t Code 552.004(b) [See GB].

If you have questions, contact Dr. Amanda Coleman in the Division of Policy and Planning at amanda.coleman@fwisd.org or 469-223-5985.

XELLO OFFERS ROADMAP TO COLLEGE, CAREER PLANNING

As the District continues providing student resources throughout its closure, seniors still have an opportunity to research colleges and request transcripts through Xello.

Xello is an internet-based career exploration and planning tool students (K-12) can use to explore career and college options and develop a career plan. Xello can be accessed from the MyFWISD Portal via ClassLink from home or wherever there is access to the Internet. All Fort Worth ISD students who have not already done so must reset their online District password before accessing MyFWISD. Information on how to reset student passwords is available at http://www.fwisd.org/studentpasswords

Key Features of Xello

• Interest and Skills Assessments
• Career Profiles
• College and University Information
• Career Portfolio

>>Click here to learn more about requesting student transcripts.

WLI Freshman Earns Congressional Award Recognitions

The Congressional Award Foundation recently recognized World Languages Institute (WLI) freshman Francisco Lugo for personal goal development and voluntary public service.

The ninth grader earned the Bronze Congressional Award medal for achievement in the two categories. Additionally, Francisco received silver and gold Congressional Award certificates, respectively. To earn the personal development award, youth must prove they’ve pursued a new interest or advanced to another level in an ongoing interest. Voluntary public service recognizes youth for giving back to their communities at large.

Bronze Congressional Awards for personal development are presented to youth who’ve committed 50 hours and seven months to their goals while the bronze medals for voluntary public service are given to students who’ve completed 100 hours and seven months of activity. Silver and gold certificates are presented for a specified number of hours spent doing an activity.

The Congressional Award is the U.S. Congress’ only charity and the highest honor bestowed on youth civilians between the ages of 13.5 and 23. Established by Congress as a public-private partnership in 1979, the program recognizes initiative, service and achievement among youth.

Last April, Fort Worth ISD and the Congressional Award Foundation announced a regional collaboration addressing the need to prepare tomorrow’s workforce with tangible skills and attributes necessary to excel in a classroom setting and beyond. WLI is a Congressional Award designated school.