The Secretary of the Department of Education (DE), Elba Aponte Sants, indicated that, as stipulated in the academic calendar, classes in the second semester of the 2020-2021 school year will resume on Monday, January 11, 2021, while school staff will start work from today 8 January
“We are very happy and excited about the start of the second semester and it is an honor for me to work with her as a secretary first hand. At first, the classes will be in distance mode, but we will work with a plan. detailed with the Department of Health and the National Guard for the vaccination process against COVID-19 and thus be able to reopen schools in a staggered manner and, all, safe for our children, youth and staff. which I assume with great firmness and determination, “said Aponte Sants.
Classes in the public education system continue in the distance mode, mainly through the Teams platform, so the secretary urges parents or guardians to have their username and password on hand.
On the vaccination process, Aponte Sants recalled that the DE conducted a survey in which 71% of all employees of the agency participated. Of that total, 88% expressed a desire to inoculate. Staff will be duly informed of the days they must attend for the administration of the vaccine.
In turn, the secretary recalled that from January 11 will begin to generate and send the Academic Progress Report of students via email. Submission will be by grade, starting from the primary level and continuing with the secondary level. It will take an estimated five days to be remitted in full. Parents or guardians must verify that the email that was registered on the Online Enrollment platform is available to receive grades.
“It is also important to mention that they can contact the school if by January 15 they have not received the report of grades or have any doubts about it,” he added. In the event that parents do not receive grades, they must notify the school and principals of establishing their individual plans for the delivery of grades in person while safeguarding virus prevention measures.
As part of the agenda for the start of work for teachers, two talks will be offered through the Teams platform focused on the management and control of emotions. The first talk, to be given today, January 8, by school psychologists, will be for school staff and will address the issues of emotion management, change management and identification of students who require particular attention. The second talk will be offered to students of all levels and will be aimed at emotion management.
“We invite the whole school community to take part in these talks which are very helpful for everyone. In a fun way, 3 school psychologists shared their knowledge with us so that we can work on these areas that may affect us in the “In the same way, our schools have school psychologists who are available to attend to any situation and to support all members of our schools,” concluded Aponte Sants.