By Rita Li, Staff Writer
As we transition to a new spring semester, Mills administration and staff are putting their best effort to make sure the facilities and students are safe and healthy and have access to covid testing.
Mills have scheduled all of their staff members, which include the facilities, security and office staff, administrators, Instructional Assistants, and teachers that work on campus regularly, to test for the coronavirus on January 19th. The school plans to offer testing to students that plan to stay on campus often in the upcoming weeks. People who are qualified will be notified to sign up online for an appointment, and they will be assigned a time to take the self administered Curative test at the Mills faculty lounge. Test takers should not eat or drink twenty to thirty minutes prior to testing. During testing, the test taker will have to cough three to five times with his or her mask on into the elbow, facing away from others. Then, the person will swab his or her mouth(cheeks, gums, under tongue, roof of mouth) and put it in a test tube. The tests will be sent to Curative and within a week, the results should be back.
Along with ensuring the safety of Mills staff, much work has been put into ensuring students are attending their virtual classes. Attending all classes everyday is essential for academic achievement and is required by law. Staff across SMUHSD have emphasized to parents how important attendance is during these times and how to communicate with their teens to ensure they have been staying on top of their academic progress. If necessary, parents have been advised to encourage students to review assignments in canvas, log in to all classes daily, and check in with their teachers during office hours. Parents should make sure students are not succumbing to peer pressure, as it can lead to them skipping class. It is important to contact Mills administrators if the child is behaving differently. Parents have a two day time range to communicate and excuse student absences. Absences not excused within two days will receive a Q-code, which means a distance learning student absence and continued absences will result in truancy attendance letters being sent home. There may be disciplinary consequences such as counseling, Behavior Contracts, and mandatory truancy meetings if students do not attend school.
Students will be marked present with an F code on Aeries if they log in to Zoom with their stu.smuhsd.org account and respond to their teacher and peers throughout the class period. On asynchronous days, students submit work by the end of the day to be marked present and engaged. Aside from F codes on Aeries, there is also a J code, which means a student logged in to class, but is not engaged. After multiple J codes, the Mills attendance clerk, counselors, and dean will contact student families to find out the cause of the student disengagement. If a student continues to be non engaged, the Non Engagement During Distance Learning Letters will be sent home to alert parents to the problems the student is facing. The J codes will not appear on the student’s transcript, but serve the purpose of letting schools make sure students are able to participate and access their classes.
As Mills Vikings, we will be on our best behavior to attend class on time and to maintain our safety. Hopefully, we may return back to the red tier and finally be qualified to resume learning back on campus.
