Dear Parents and Cadets,
I want to begin by thanking you for all of your patience during this strange situation. I applaud all of your efforts to keep on top of schoolwork through Canvas and to maintain learning as much as is possible remotely.
As I’m sure most of you have heard, the governor has decided to close down schools through May 1st, and we will continue onward with our new “normal” of social distancing and online schooling. The state will be reviewing the COVID-19 situation in about a month and give us further guidance at that time.
UMA staff is heartbroken. We truly miss you and hope that we can welcome you all back to UMA in May. Until then, we are still here for you, just from a distance!
In the meantime, here are a few expectations that we need everyone to be aware of:
Expectations for Cadets:
1. Cadets should be logging into their Canvas every day!
2. Cadets should expect to spend roughly 30-45 minutes completing work for each of their classes that day (A or B days, respectively).
3. Cadets should be turning in assignments when they are due. Remote learning does not mean vacation!
4. Cadets need to reach out to teachers when they need help, but also look to parents and classmates when possible, as teachers are swamped with work, trying to keep up with individually meeting each cadets’ needs. Also, if they need to speak with a counselor, they can still email them to set up a time to talk.
5. Keep going! We know online learning is not ideal for most cadets’ learning styles, but refusing to work is not an option! Grades will still be given at the end of the term, so keep up with your assignments!
Expectations for Teachers:
1. Teachers should be responding to emails within 24 hours.
2. Teachers should be grading assignments within 3-5 days.
3. Teachers should be posting videos and assignments regularly. They are likewise not on vacation (except for our upcoming Spring Break), and are trying to run classes as normal as possible, but from a distance.
Expectations for Parents:
1. Please keep your cadets engaged. School is still in session, so encourage them to keep regular study hours each day.
2. Check your cadet’s canvas account at least weekly. If you need help accessing Canvas, please see the following link: https://utahmilitaryacademy.org/dynamic/content/1144/126/canvas_parents_guide.pdf
Remember that teachers are used to working with 25-30 cadets at a time, over a 65-minute class period. Now that we don’t have classrooms, teachers are doing what they can to maintain “office hours” and be available on Google Hangouts, so they can work with multiple cadets at once. If cadets don’t make it to those meetings, it dramatically extends the time commitment on teachers to respond to specific emails and help out individual cadets. The key is that we all need to be flexible, and we all need to be very patient with each other.
Stand Strong and Rise Above!
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