Good morning,

I hope this email finds you well! As we plan for the fall semester there are so many unknowns.  However, I want to share the most up to date information I have related to field experience for fall 2020.


·       At this time we are planning for our students to attend face-to-face field experiences in the fall for all experiences - practicum and student teaching.



·       Students will be required (by the state of Virginia) to fill out a COVID-19 Acknowledgement of Risk Form (see attached template) which will be accessed electronically. It is currently under development.


·       Institutions of Higher Education in Virginia have met twice virtually with Dr. James Lane, Superintendent of Public Instruction, in the past several weeks to discuss concerns with school openings and their effect on field placements.  We know of at least a couple of school divisions who have decided not to accept fall placements.  He is working with them and all division superintendents to advocate for our students to be placed in school settings as they develop their opening plans.  The requirements as of today from VDOE in order to meet licensure requirements are as follows:
o   All student teaching candidates must be placed with a cooperating teacher who is physically present in the school and primarily providing instruction in face-to-face environments.
o   Since school divisions are opening, the expectation is that candidates should complete practicums in schools (except in those cases where candidates are at risk, and we will need to review those situations on a case-by-case basis).  Some experience may be virtual, but most experiences should be in person.
o   All leadership/ internship candidates must be placed with the appropriate school personnel who is physically present in the school and who is primarily able to provide internship hours in face-to-face environments.
o   If the school outright closes, we don't expect the student teacher/leadership intern to be moved; addressed on a case-by-case basis when we come to it.
o   Up-to-date school reopening guidance can be found here.<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__ateva.us4.list-2Dmanage.com_track_click-3Fu-3Ddd1fc579b86c10e03c4160ab7-26id-3Da309fd27ca-26e-3Db1fac15664&d=DwMBAg&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=EWaOlpbUdGV9p89JrEjwbg&m=Bi9p64aD3I2GcN6HTxpIRg5P-4e4vX1jaR7ZEv5AzCY&s=B3Lo9Q5RysBzlY4cGatUMVYqu9CQbpocVpUhW9OnCxw&e=>

·       Pam Ungar, Benita James and myself at the Education Support Center are working hard to place student teachers and practicum for the fall.  Please know that there is a giant puzzle - particularly for practicum - that has been created because when planning their school openings our local school divisions are planning to have students present 4 days a week and not present one day/week as follows:
o   No students on Mondays - Waynesboro, Staunton, & Augusta
o   No students on Wednesdays - Rockingham, Harrisonburg, & Page
o   No students on Fridays - Shenandoah (FYI 5th grade will be in the middle school and 8th grade will be in the high school)
§  Therefore, practicum placements  for certain days may not be made in the divisions/schools that were originally requested because students must be present.

·       Yesterday (7/15/20) there was a meeting with the MidValley Consortium (our local partners in the seven school divisions indicated above, as well as MBU, BC & EMU). Based on this meeting it was determined:
o   All seven local school divisions recognize that there is great value in placements, they are open and welcome to receiving our students, and with so many unknowns in instruction they see this as an opportunity for our students and their mentor teachers to learn together!
o   Our students MUST follow the protocols that are put into place for teachers and visitors to their schools.  The safety protocols will be shared with us prior to the start of the placement and we will in turn share it with our students.  These include self-screening, good hygiene, mask wearing, and physical distancing.
o   Due to concerns about exposure when students go out of area (weekends, Thanksgiving, etc.) - we will encourage students to recognize the importance of making good, professional decisions and to refrain from travel whenever possible.  School divisions policies about quarantines will need to be followed.
o   As a representative of whatever school they are working with, teacher candidates will be encouraged to follow safety protocols even when outside of the school building.  Even if they don't believe in mask wearing, if they run into parents and students in the local stores, they should be modeling the state recommended guidelines.
o   University supervisors will be encouraged to have virtual meetings/conferences on days when P-12 students are not present, but they will be permitted to be in the building for observations.  Also the divisions will permit video observations that are used for instructional purposes only and are deleted after use.  These videos are still subject to the guidelines of schools and cannot include any students in the classroom who do not have permission to be included.
o   University supervisors should include the school administrator in communications about scheduling visits so that they are looped in and know when additional visitors will be in the building.
o   Buildings will be cleared early each day and pre-service teachers will not be able to stay long before or after school.
o   Virtual platforms - Schoology and Virtual Virginia - will be used by many of these divisions - however, our candidates will be permitted to create lessons instead of using the modules.
o   Some of these school divisions may have later start dates than normal - still subject to approvals from school boards.
o   For short term early field experiences and/or observations (e.g. 1 -2 hours per week), school divisions prefer fewer visits for longer time. This will help with contact tracing.  In observations and practicum, there will be a limit of how many students can attend at one time.
o   School divisions have asked that we spread the number of students across all schools in their division.  Whereas the practice has been to put as many in the same school as possible for supervision and carpooling purposes, this can be a problem for adding too many bodies in the building.  We need to change these practices and put more students in schools that we may not use as much because of their location.
§  We will need to be flexible with the way we are used to doing our field experiences! We may need to adapt to different models of supervision.  But the most important part is that our pre-service teachers get time working with students in the schools.

·       As early as this morning, I have learned that at least one school division in NOVA (PWCS) is delaying their in person start until the end of October.  Obviously, given the information listed above this presents an issue for meeting licensure requirements.  I am checking in with VDOE for guidance now.
We will work through each issue as it presents itself.  If you are working with a teacher education student or a school division and there are field experience concerns, please forward the concern to me and I will work with you and our students to try our best to work through the situation!

Wishing you all good health and good spirits!

Best,
Dara


Dara Hall, Ph.D.
Executive Director of Teacher Education and Student Success
Education Support Center, Memorial Hall 7230/40
JMU College of Education
540-568-2996


############################

To unsubscribe from the COE-TEACHER-EDUCATION-UNIT-L list:
write to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
or click the following link:
http://listserv.jmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=COE-TEACHER-EDUCATION-UNIT-L&A=1