Archive for month: March, 2020

Hello Dragon Families and Students!

Thank you for your understanding and patience during these unprecedented school closures. Per the Governor’s Executive order (see attached press release) our school building is closed for the remainder of this school year.

As we go into Spring Break, March 30th- April 3rd, we have some updates. There will be no lobby access for paper packet drop off or pick up during Spring Break. While no one could have anticipated this situation, our teachers have prepared continuous learning, with pass/fail grading, for all students via online instruction. This is not time off for our staff. All staff are expected to continue to deliver services to all learners. Students in grades 6-8 should work 30 minutes per class (3 hours per day) and 5th grade 90 minutes/day.

We appreciate your continued support of your students’ learning and your communication with us to make sure students are studying, learning and submitting their assignments to their teachers. Please log in to PlusPortals regularly for your students’ current 4th quarter grades. All students should be logging in to their academic classes via Google classroom or Canvas. To access class codes, please go to our school website http://21stcenturypa.com/wp/.

All students also have access to a social community called FlipGrid. In an effort to provide students and staff with a means to communicate and socialize with one another in a safe and controlled environment via video during the shutdown, we have set up a school Flipgrid account. Flipgrid is a platform for recording short video messages to post and share with others within our school community. You can access Flipgrid on a computer at their website (flipgrid.com/21stcpa) or on a phone by downloading the app on your iOS or Android device (search Flipgrid). You’ll need to enter the code for our school grid when first joining, which is: 21stcpa. you’ll want to use “Sign in with Google”, and use your school email account.

Students should check their 21st Century email accounts, complete work as assigned and continue to communicate regularly with all of their teachers. All students have assignments to complete and will continue to receive feedback from their teachers through the 4th Quarter. However, state testing in English language arts and math will not take place this year.

As our staff continues to deliver services in our Continuous Learning Plan, we will also continue to follow guidance from the Governor, the State of NM Department of Health and the State of NM Public Education Department related to social distancing and group gathering limitations. Therefore, our school building remains closed for the remainder of this year.

Please stay safe, stay healthy, and together we will get through these precautionary school closures during unprecedented times.

Thank you, 21st Century Public Academy Administrative Team
Mary Tarango, CEO
Bianca Belmonte-Sapien, Principal
Jennifer Elliott, IEP Specialist
Jeremy Peckens, CPO

Dear 21st Century Families,

In light of recent events, the teachers at 21st Century Public Academy have been hard at work preparing for potential online instruction, so that we may continue to provide educational opportunities to students even while the school building is closed.  To that end, all teachers have created online platforms for delivering lessons, most within the Google Classroom environment.

More information about our online instruction is available on our website here: http://21stcenturypa.com/wp/?page_id=5948.  The official launch date for these platforms is Thursday, March 19th.  If you need assistance with helping your student access their online lessons on the Google Classroom, please read below.

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Your student will need to use a web browser to go to the following website: classroom.google.com.  There are also apps for Google Classroom on all major cell phone carriers.  When your student has accessed the website, ensure they are signed in to their school Google Account.  If you are unsure, find the small circular image in the top right corner, click on it, and make sure it is logged in as your student’s school account.  

If it is not, simply choose “add another account”, and direct them to log in using their school account.  Their login information is the same as if they were using a chromebook at school.

Once they are logged in, they will see a list of all of their current classrooms.  If they need to join a new one, direct them to click the small plus-sign in the upper right corner, and select “Join Class”.  They will be asked for a class code. These codes are listed on the 21stCPA online hub, here: http://21stcenturypa.com/wp/?page_id=5948.  Once students have joined a class, they will not need to rejoin it again.

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All teachers will be providing constant instruction via these online platforms for the duration of the closure.  From now through April 6th, these online lessons and activities are voluntary. Should the closure extend beyond that time, assignments will be required and grades will be posted in every course each week as usual.  Grades will continue to be available to view on the PlusPortals gradebook, as they were before. Feel free to email individual teachers if you have any questions about individual classes.  

Be safe and healthy as we continue to learn during the closure!