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Check this page frequently for updates to Frequently Asked Questions and Communications.

Communication from Principal Dr. Charles Moore

Dear HPCS Families,

It is my intent with this update to provide a brief overview of all that our faculty and staff are doing to prepare for the upcoming school year. This update will not likely answer all of your questions, as there are still so many unknowns while we continue to wait further direction from other entities. I am hopeful that it may provide some clarity, especially to those who are uncertain about their individual and family intentions for the upcoming year.

If you have been reading previous updates, you know that HPCS has a team of people in contact with the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and Public Health Madison and Dane County (PHMDC), and Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS). On Wednesday, PHMDC released requirements that schools must meet in order to re-open in the fall. These requirements are not a decision about whether or not to open schools for the 2020-2021 school year as scheduled, but reflect the safety measures that must be in place if schools are to reopen.

High Point Christian School is planning to provide full-time, in-person education to all students (unless new orders from PHMDC restrict us from doing so). For families who elect not to attend in person classes, virtual learning will be available. We will also prepare to offer a modified or hybrid learning model, should the need arise.

In compliance with the School Requirements released by PHMDC, High Point Chrsitian School is working to develop and implement:

  • a written hygiene policy. 
  • a written cleaning policy and procedure.
  • a written protective policy and procedure that includes use of face coverings* and distancing.
  • a written action plan for a COVID-19 outbreak at the school.

*Under the current order, students and any other person in the building will be required to wear a face covering except while eating, drinking, or napping. We are also waiting for additional guidance regarding “mask breaks” and use of other equipment to protect teachers, students, and staff. If the current order lifts before the start of the school year, or at any time after the start of the school year, HPCS will re-evaluate our policies regarding face coverings.

As stated in my previous update (see below), at our Madison campus, we are also working to move classes into larger rooms or in some instances split the classes into two rooms. This will allow students to maintain a distance of 6 feet to the greatest extent possible (as per School Requirements), while also maintaining as much of a sense of “normalcy” in the classroom as possible. At our Mount Horeb campus, classrooms/class sizes are already such that students will be able to properly distance.

It is our goal to be as transparent with our families as possible. We understand there is much confusion and frustration about the plans for the upcoming school year. These policies and procedures will be made available as soon as we are able to do so. We are awaiting further clarity and instruction from DHS and PHMDC.

We also understand that each of our families are experiencing this situation in different ways. Some people have health concerns that put them at risk if they are exposed to the virus. Some people are implementing measures within their families and personal lives that limit their exposure to others. Some people, by choice or necessity, are in frequent contact with many people outside their home. We cannot dictate how our families experience this ever-changing situation, but we can strive to implement measures at our school that will allow our students to safely and comfortably learn, interact with their peers, and receive social-emotional support. 

Additionally, each family varies in their response to schools being open or not. Some do not wish their students to be exposed to people outside their home. Some families have great difficulty in providing care for their children if schools were to close. Some families wish we could continue on with school as normal, with no added restrictions or precautions. It is our greatest hope in all of this that you would know we understand your individual concerns and circumstances, and that we are doing everything in our power to meet the needs of our students, families, and staff. 

We understand that nothing we implement will be a one-size-fits-all solution. There may be aspects of the plan that you are not comfortable with. You are more than welcome to voice your concerns, as we greatly appreciate feedback from our families. Please know, however, that there are certain requirements that we must meet in order to comply with DHS, PHMDC, DPI, and other orders. 

Please also know that we are praying for you, our HPCS community. We are so thankful to serve a God who is in all and above all. We appreciate your prayers and support as we all work together to navigate this season.

 

Serving Him with You,


Charles “Chuck” Moore, Ph.D.
Principal
High Point Christian School,
an Impact Christian School
cmoore@hpcsmadison.org

 

Executive Assistant: Whitney Johnson
wjohnson@hpcsmadison.org
(608) 836-7170 ext. 152

 

Update from Dr. Moore in theHigh Point Highlights:
 
It is now two weeks since our last High Point Highlights and I am disappointed that I am not able to provide much additional clarity about how our school will reopen in the fall. We have a team at HPCS monitoring the regular conference calls and emails organized by Public Health Madison and Dane County and as tidbits of information are divulged we are inculcating them into our various scenario strategies. We are discussing scenarios and trying to be prepared in the event that we are required to limit school to all-virtual, or if we are allowed to deliver all in-person, or even a combination of the two with some in-person and some virtual.


We have decided that regardless of the allowable requirements for in-person attendance we will offer as an elected option for families not willing to attend in-person an all-virtual program.


We have also decided that if the rules allow us to offer in-person education for all students willing to attend then we will offer that as well. The current plan (at our Madison campus) would move some classes into different larger Micah rooms and divide some classes into cohorts that would meet in two rooms instead of one. We would work to minimize the movement in the building by students when necessary moving teachers instead of students.

 

We are working to determine what changes may need to be made at our Mount Horeb campus, should there be a need to reduce class sizes.


Our fall-back position would be to offer some kind of in-person and virtual combination with the intent of having as many students as possible present each day.


As we work on these scenarios we are aware of the challenges of this COVID-19 situation, the absence of direction from Public Health Madison & Dane County, and the current rise in cases. Please unite with us in prayer that God brings this COVID-19 plague to an end. Please lift our government agencies and civil servants in prayer as they seek to allow schools to reopen safely. Finally, please pray for our faculty and staff as we struggle to figure out the best offerings and options for our students and families.

This afternoon, Governor Evers closed all public, charter, and private schools until May 26, 2020. At HPCS, we will follow the governor's orders and remain closed. We will, however, as you would expect, continue to deliver virtual/study at home instruction through the end of our normal academic year (which would normally have ended on May 22, 2020). I am in consultation with our faculty and staff about several necessary additional things surrounding closing out a normal year to include locker clean-outs, the return of school books and materials, and kindergarten and 8th-grade graduation - to name a few. We will be communicating more details about these various things in the next week or two.

Some of you may be interested in this article written by the reformer, Martin Luther in August of 1527, while the bubonic plague (Black Death) was raging in Wittenberg where he lived. He had been ordered to leave the city by the authorities and he refused. This letter was his explanation. It is a long read but amazingly apropos to this current COVID-19 pandemic 493 years later.  

https://blogs.lcms.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Plague-blogLW.pdf

Please continue to pray with us as we ask God to end this plague, heal those who are sick, prevent others from becoming ill, and for our city, county, state, and federal leaders to lead well and with wisdom.

 

(See Press Release from Gov. Evers)

Today, our faculty met in a video conference to discuss our process and progress in delivering virtual/study-at-home education for our students. I am very impressed with the initiative and excitement with which they have undertaken learning in very short order how to deliver instruction at home for our students! It was also instructive for me how very critical they are of their efforts. They absolutely want to do this the best and right way. They want to deliver appropriate instruction in ways that families can handle. They are concerned about workload, availability of devices and Internet bandwidth, shared time with siblings and parents, confusion in providing complicated instructions, and grading  . . . it goes on and on.

After some discussion, I have asked teachers to follow some new guidelines about how we will deliver instruction moving forward.

Preschool
Our preschool program will continue as it has started as we largely think we are on track with work-load and participation.

Elementary
In grades K-4, four lessons will be covered each week, Monday-Thursday. The teachers will post lessons daily.  It is important for the students to have a consistent review on a daily basis as the foundation is being laid for math, language, and reading. Teachers will list optional work for those desiring to do more. 

Middle School
I have asked our core subject teachers in middle school to limit the number of lessons each week to three for each subject. Core classes for grades 5-8 are Bible, Math, English Language Arts, Science, and Spanish (but only in grades 6-8). I have further asked them to plan to provide the entire list of assignments, videos to watch, etc before school begins each Monday. The assignments given on Monday (for the whole week) will be due by midnight the following Sunday. This will allow families maximum flexibility to schedule the use of their internet bandwidth and devices for each week. These changes in the middle school may require teachers to make adjustments in what they have previously communicated - for that I apologize, but we all felt it was important to monitor our workload and expectations.

Welcome back to school (Virtual school, that is)! I trust today was a positive experience! After receiving the results of our technology survey we were encouraged by how many families were equipped to engage while at home in virtual learning. For those who are struggling with the lack of appropriate devices, we may have some options to assist. If you are looking for answers, please email us at office@hpcsmadison or call 608-836-7170 during the office hours we are announcing below. As options become available we will contact those expressing needs.

After consulting with our HPCS Administrative Team today, I have decided we need an extension for students who still have outstanding incompletes in their third-quarter grade book. Therefore, third-quarter grades are due from Teachers next week by the close of business on Tuesday (April 7th). Students who have incompletes will have until Monday the close of business – or 3:30 pm to submit them to their teachers. Report cards will now be sent out on Thursday, April 9th.

Additionally, beginning tomorrow, HPCS will staff the office from 9:00 am until 2:00 pm Monday through Thursday to answer the telephone and be available to assist with virtual learning/materials exchange, etc.

Spring Break (for what it has been worth during this COVID-19 Pandemic) is nearly over and our faculty and staff continue to work behind the scenes getting ready for our virtual/study-at-home instruction beginning on Monday (March 30th).

Our middle school students (grades 5th – 8th) in Madison had Gmail accounts before the crisis, and it was a simple thing to enable Google Classroom for any middle school classes that were not already using it. By Saturday evening, your middle school students should hear from all their core subject areas teachers (Science, History, Math, English Language Arts, and in grades 6-8 Spanish) about how they will be doing virtual school (for example Google Classroom, Video Lessons, Zoom Meetings, etc). In addition to that, they will also be getting instructions on how they will get daily work and assessments back to the teacher. It should be noted that most of this instruction will be asynchronous (not all at one specific time) but students will be assigned work to complete by certain deadlines. These assignments should be up-to-date in RenWeb.

Our elementary students (grades K – 4th) in Madison are also going to use a couple of platforms to enable our best efforts to help them learn at home By Saturday evening, elementary parents should receive information directly from their classroom teachers with their initial plan for the first week.

Regarding Specials (Art, Computers, Music, Physical Education, Library, and 1st - 5th Spanish classes) we are planning that all 4th quarter grades for Specials will be pass/fail and the Specials offerings will be enrichment ideas, voluntary projects, ideas, etc. No student will need to complete any of these offerings, but they are provided for students and families to have ideas to engage our elementary and middle school learners throughout the day.

Regarding Google Classroom set up for K-4 in Madison and K-8 in Mount Horeb. Our office staff and teachers have been working hard to get your Google Classroom accounts ready to go for class on Monday.

Parents of students at Mount Horeb grades 4-8, have already been contacted by Mrs. Johnson  and most have set up their accounts for their children. If you have not yet set up your 4th -8th grade student’s account please email Mrs. Johnson. 

Parents of students in grades K-4 on the Madison campus and in grades K-3 on the Mount Horeb campus will have to activate their classroom accounts in order to get their classrooms up and running by Monday. [In Madison third grade even though they have already set up a Google Classroom account directly with Miss Sutherland will have to also use this process to set up different accounts than the ones they set up earlier to allow the Specials to collaborate.]

1.   Go to the Google Classroom site (www.classroom.google.com)

2.   Login with the first and last name of each enrolled student (K-4 on the Madison campus, and all grades in Mount Horeb) as it appears in Renweb, followed by @hpcsmadison.org or @hpcsmounthoreb.org.  

Their names will be as follows: (example) 

kristinrozema@hpcsmounthoreb.org 

or

kristinrozema@hpcsmadison.org 

3.   When you are finished adding the email address, add the password:  !HPCS2020

4.   You will be prompted to change the password.

5.   Indicate if you are a student or a teacher (say student)

6.   When you are finished with one student, log out of their account and begin the process with the next student.   

7.   You may notice a prompt that says your student may have been invited to join a classroom by a teacher.  Please accept the invitations to join classrooms.   Madison students will see not only their homeroom but also invitations for specials classes.  

If you find that your login is not working, please contact Amy Pellitteri directly at apellitteri@hpcsmadison.org.  She will be happy to assist you.

Finally, if you have not yet completed our Technology Survey, please do so at this link.

Dear HPCS Parents, Faculty, and Staff,

Today so far more than half of the packets have been picked up! Remember, if you have not yet picked up your children's packets and books the school is open until 6:00 pm tonight and will be open from 8:00 to 6:00 tomorrow. Please make every effort to collect your books and packets in this window.

Less than an hour ago, Governor Evers updated his order closing all public, private and charter schools in Wisconsin. The original order suggested there would be a review to consider reopening as early as April 6, 2020. Now schools are closed indefinitely. 

(Bars and restaurants to close, gatherings of more than 10 people banned)

Our team continues to prepare for delivering remote instruction (online and packets) to your homes beginning on March 30th.

Please keep all our families, faculty and staff in your prayers!

Dear HPCS Parents,

Shortly after my previous email, President Trump modified his recommendation for the upper limit of groups to be 10 instead of 50. Therefore, when we are allowing parents and middle school students into our building tomorrow, we will limit the number to enter at one time to 10 instead of the 25 we announced in the earlier email.

Dear HPCS Parents,

Our faculty and staff have been meeting today to imagine how we should offer virtual and “study-at-home” scenarios to our students. The two main issues we had to solve were a) what our actual “school” days will be and b) how to allow parents to pick up necessary books and packets to facilitate learning at home.

First, we will consider the school days this week (March 16-20) as yet unused “snow-days” and will not hold any school or instruction during these dates. Additionally, our regularly-planned spring break dates (March 23-27) will continue as planned with no school or instruction.

Second, teachers are pre-planning for at-home school and instruction through packets and some virtual instruction, which will begin Monday, March 30th. To be clear, school WILL NOT BE OPEN for classes (school will be closed) during the week of March 30th through April 3rd. We will find out later if school will actually be open on Monday, April 6th or not.  In order to begin “at-home-learning” on Monday, March 30th (through virtual and packets), books, workbooks, and materials must be picked up.

Pick-up procedures are as follows:

  • The building staffed between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm tomorrow, March 17th and Wednesday, March 18th to allow pickup. 
  • Materials will be available in each student’s homeroom classroom. Middle school students should also get necessary materials from their lockers, which have already been unlocked. 
  • We will limit the number of people (outside our minimal staff) in the building at one time to 25 or less. If you arrive after 25 people are already in the building, we will ask you to wait until someone leaves before entering. 
  • To provide access to as many families as possible, we ask that you limit your visit to 5-15 minutes. Teachers will not be available to answer questions during this time, however, please feel free to email them with any questions or concerns you have.
  • All parents or students who enter the building should be COVID-19 symptom-free. 
  • We will limit access to the building in grades preschool-4th to ONLY Parents. Grades 5th through 8th may be a student or parent (to minimize numbers please choose either a student or a parent - multiple students in a family in grades 5-8 may require more than one student per family to pick up).
  • The school office will be staffed from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm on Thursday (3/19) and Friday (3/20), until 11:30 am for those who cannot pick up on Tuesday (3/17) or Wednesday (3/18).

We are in the process of putting together a Frequently Asked Questions resource for families on our website. This is the FAQ Link: https://www.highpointchristianschool.org/about/covid19.cfm

As part of our longer-range planning, we will be sending an electronic survey to assess what at-home technology is available. Please complete this survey as soon as it arrives.

Please keep our school, faculty, staff, families, and students in your prayers. This COVID-19 pandemic is not outside the sovereign will of our loving Father in heaven. He will make all things work together for good.

Dear HPCS-MH Parents,

Our faculty and staff have been meeting today to imagine how we should offer virtual and “study-at-home” scenarios to our students. The two main issues we had to solve were a) what our actual “school” days will be and b) how to allow parents to pick up necessary books and packets to facilitate learning at home.

First, we will consider the school days this week (March 16-20) as yet unused “snow-days” and will not hold any school or instruction during these dates. Additionally, our regularly-planned spring break dates (March 23-27) will continue as planned with no school or instruction.

Second, teachers are pre-planning for at-home school and instruction through packets and some virtual instruction, which will begin Monday, March 30th. To be clear, school WILL NOT BE OPEN for classes (school will be closed) during the week of March 30th through April 3rd. We will find out later if school will actually be open on Monday, April 6th or not.  In order to begin “at-home-learning” on Monday, March 30th (through virtual and packets), books, workbooks, and materials must be picked up.

Tomorrow, March 17th between the hours of 2:00pm and 6:00 pm HPCS-MH will offer access to parents to pick up necessary books, workbooks, and packets. These will be located at their table spots in their classrooms.

We are in the process of putting together a Frequently Asked Questions resource for families on our website. This is the FAQ Link: https://www.highpointchristianschool.org/about/covid19.cfm

As part of our longer-range planning, we will be sending an electronic survey to assess what at-home technology is available. Please complete this survey as soon as it arrives.

Please keep our school, faculty, staff, families, and students in your prayers. This COVID-19 pandemic is not outside the sovereign will of our loving Father in heaven. He will make all things work together for good.

Dear HPCS Parents,

Probably by now, everyone has seen this notice (below) from Governor Evers. All public and private schools will close after Wednesday, March 18th at 5:00 pm and remain closed for at least two weeks when the order will be reevaluated (4/7). 

High Point Christian School will, of course, follow this order. I have consulted with our HPCS Administrative team this evening and we have further decided to close school on Monday (3/16), Tuesday (3/17) and Wednesday (3/18) preceding the Governor’s closing order. HPCS (both campuses) will remain closed and not reopen until after April 7th (unless the order is reevaluated and extended).

Our HPCS Staff will be using Monday, March 16th and Tuesday, March 17th as staff professional development/workdays. Students will not be in school so that our staff has the opportunity to put plans and resources in place in the case, after April 7th, we are faced with prolonged closure. Additionally, on Monday (3/16) we will announce a procedure for parents to pick up students' books/workbooks to be kept at home as we figure out how we can have virtual and "study-at-home" options in the event of prolonged closure.

Dear HPCS Families,

This has been a week of dramatic change (as I write this note I am aware I may need to update it before sending it as new information and/or public health decisions may yet occur) for our community, state, country and school. COVID-19 has everyone’s attention!

At HPCS, we are committed to serving our students and families in the midst of community crisis. Our faculty and staff are working hard to be able to provide virtual and “study-at-home” options for families who elect to keep students at home, while also providing our at school instruction for everyone else. We continue to sharpen our understanding and application of appropriate ways to make our learning space as safe as possible.

 

Dear HPCS Families,


The Coronavirus (or COVID-19) continues to be in the news regularly. The risk in Wisconsin remains low, but we wanted to give you an update on our plans.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction this past week released Pandemic Planning guidelines. We are reviewing the materials and monitoring the ongoing news and recommendations to ensure we have an appropriate plan in place. We have been and will continue to follow the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s pandemic planning guidelines.
The CDC currently recommends germ prevention as the best tool to keep the public safe.

  • Our facilities will continue to be disinfected on a regular basis following CDC guidelines.
  • Classroom teachers have been encouraged to promote regular classroom handwashing and disinfect commonly shared items.
  • Since we do not have sinks in most of our classrooms, we have provided each classroom with a sanitation kit which includes disinfecting hand rub. On our Madison campus we are in the process of replacing our existing alcohol-free hand rub with alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR) and should have that in place by next week (our Mount Horeb campus already has the ABHR available in their classrooms).
  • Students and staff who are ill should continue to follow CDC guidelines on when to return to school: fever free (<100 degrees) for more than 24 hours without the aid of fever-reducing medication, food and water are tolerated, and any remaining symptoms present will not prevent them from functioning.
  • The CDC also recommends those who get flu-like symptoms and are at high risk of severe flu illness to ask a healthcare professional if they should be examined.

The CDC recommends families follow the below guidelines to help reduce the risk of Coronavirus, colds, and flu:

  • Wash your hands frequently for at least 20 seconds using soap and water.
  • If a sink is not available, alcohol-based hand rubs (ABHR) can be used to clean hands if they are not visibly soiled. If they are visibly soiled, using a wipe and then ABHR is effective.
  • Do not touch your face/eyes/mouth with unwashed hands.
  • Cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze or cough with a disposable tissue or the crease of your elbow.
  • Regularly clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces. Regular household cleaning products are effective against most viruses.
  • Keep your student home if they are feeling sick or have a fever. They may return after 24 hours of being fever free without any medication.
  • It is not too late to get a FLU SHOT.

Please help us educate our students by working with them on proper germ prevention techniques.

We also realize there are questions about students and families traveling abroad. At this time, the World Health Organization (WHO) has not placed any restrictions on travel and the U.S. Department of State and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending travelers avoid all nonessential travel to South Korea, China, Italy, and Iran as of March 4th (see: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices).We will continue to rely on those organizations for their guidance going forward.

We understand there is uncertainty involved in this situation. We will continue to update families as needed regarding recommendation or guideline changes. 

For the most up-to-date information visit the CDC’s 2019 Novel Coronavirus website at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/2019-ncov-factsheet.pdf.

Frequently Asked Questions

The HPCS Hot Lunch program has been suspended for all recently declared no school days.  Effective beginning today, March 16th, meals that were pre-ordered and pre-paid will not be delivered by TNT.  Refunds for all undelivered meals will be issued in your FACTS account in the coming weeks.

If RenWeb has assignments posted for the week of March 16-20 the middle school teachers are currently working to clear those assignments. No new work is being assigned until March 30, 2020.

Yes! When you come to pick up your students books and materials over the next two days, there will be a cart set up near the 4th grade classroom door. There will be a sign-out sheet for the Book Battle Books by the cart.

Yvonne Schwinge will contact parents of band students after Spring Break to inform them of plans for distance learning.

Please make sure your child has their band instrument, lesson book and band folder at home.  If it is still at school, please make arrangements to pick it up. The HPCS office hours are as follows:

Wednesday, March 18: 8am - 6 pm 
Thursday, March 19: 8am - 4pm
Friday, March 20: 8am - 11:30am

All Band students should have an assignment from their last lesson that they should be practicing, including scales, lesson book assignment, and band songs.

We are committed to continue providing instrumental music instruction through this ever-changing situation.

If you have any questions, please contact your band director.

Office Hours

Office Hours
Monday - Friday
7:30 AM - 4:00 PM

During these times our office will be staffed by one team member.  To keep our team members safe, we ask that if you have had any of the following symptoms below, to call or email our office:
  • Fever
  • Cough
  • Shortness of breath
  • Sore throat
  • New loss of taste or smell
All office team members are available by email. 
Please see our staff page for direct emails or use office@hpcsmadison.org.  
ENROLLING NOW!