As many other schools in Bucks County have done, Palisades School District took their classes online starting Monday, March 30th. Palisades had received a grant to institute a one-to-one program a couple of years ago which made the transition more seamless, especially for students in grades 6 through 12. These students already been assigned devices and are very accustomed to using the district’s learning management system, Canvas. The challenge was to deploy chromebooks, the district’s choice of device, to all elementary school-aged children. The Tech Department, led by Director Gary Adams, was charged with this task which was completed over a ten day period. In addition to ensuring that all students had a device at home for their use, it was important to also assess the ability of students to access the internet. Those students who did not have internet access in their homes were provided with a district-owned hotspot, also purchased with grant monies received. Staff was in-serviced for three days leading up to the kickoff of the fully online instructional program. Overall, the transition has been very successful-students and staff have been troubleshooting problems and beginning slowly with instruction to be fully in place with graded assignments through the fourth quarter of the 2019–20 school year. Special thanks to the families, staff, administration and School Board for their flexibility and persistence in making online learning a reality in Palisades!
Click on this link for an inspirational slide show sent out to all families prior to the kick off of online learning: