April 3, 2020
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4
High School Parents!
I hope and pray that you and your families are healthy and happy during this unprecedented time. This is my first official communication to all of our high school parents at once. I want to thank Dr. Buuck for his excellent communication over the last month.
First off, I want to thank all of the parents for their overwhelming support as our entire school community quickly pivoted to digital learning. I am so appreciative of the hundreds of positive comments, praising our teachers for their heroic work over the last few weeks. It truly makes a difference! I wish every parent could have sat through the preparation meetings, the Zoom department meetings, and the Zoom classrooms like I have had the opportunity to. It has been truly inspirational. Your children’s teachers are working so hard, sometimes in difficult situations of their own. You want to know who I am most impressed with? The students. Their level of Zoom attendance, completed work, and communication is exceptional. We have high expectations for our students, and they have exceeded them. I want to say, “thank you” from the bottom of my heart to all of you.
This letter is meant to inform you of what to expect in the coming weeks, to provide information about how we are operating, and to give some hints that will help you continue to lead your children academically in the coming weeks.
Remember, I am not only the Principal, I have twin sophomores who attend Faith Lutheran. I have learned some of my own lessons as a father of online learners during these past weeks, too!
So that this does not become a novel that nobody wants to read, I am not going to provide full reasoning for every topic below. Please reach out to me via email (fogos@flhsemail.org) if you have any questions. We can set up a time to call or Zoom, if you would prefer.
Coming Weeks:
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Spring Break--Saturday, April 4--Monday, April 13
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Online Week 3 ends Tuesday, April 14.
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Online Week 4 spans from Wednesday, April 15--Tuesday, April 21
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Online Week 5 spans from Wednesday, April 22--Tuesday, April 28
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At that point, we will reevaluate depending on the recommendations of Governor Sisolak and the Nevada Health District. Currently we are scheduled to come back on campus on Friday, May 1.
Event Calendars:
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The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA athletics) currently has a plan to play games if students return to school on May 1.
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Faith Lutheran has a constantly updated calendar where each event has a designation of one of the following: “as scheduled”, “postponed”, “tentative”, or “cancelled”. Click here for that current calendar.
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Our Seniors and their parents had a letter sent home earlier today with different scenarios for their big May events. Click here for that Note
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AP Exams have changed both their format and dates. Each exam is now only 45 minutes and is being offered between May 11-22, 2020. The most up-to-date information can be found on their website
Student Academic Support:
We understand that many students need extra time with their teachers both on campus and online. Every teacher is providing additional support for individual students that need it via Zoom. If your student is struggling, the first step is to contact the teacher. We also have some additional support systems in place:
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Our Counselors are still serving our students. Please contact Mr. Chilman (chilmanj@flhsemail.org), Mrs. Lescenski (lescenskil@flhsemail.org), or Mr. Smith (smithd@flhsemail.org) if you have a child in need of additional academic support. Our counselors are still holding online college counseling also. Mrs. Washington (washingtone@flhsemail.org) is still available to meet your children’s socio-emotional needs.
Student Activities & Spiritual Growth:
The wonderful students and adult leaders that normally provide activities and spiritual leadership on campus are still at it. One way to keep your children physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually healthy is to make sure they are participating in more than just their academic work.
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For a list of favorite Christian Songs, check out this spotify playlist and chapel videos created by our High School Praise Band.
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Our Applied Christianity students who normally create and lead our chapels are providing our students with devotions, prayer time, and mini-chapels.
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Our creative Student Leadership kids are providing daily activities to make these quarantine days more interesting. Emails have been sent out and a list of the daily activities can be found here. Some were just for this week, but some are ongoing. Many of the events are also posted on Faith instagram accounts (@iliveforfaith, @23faithlutheran, @classof22flhs, @flhsclass2021, @faithlutheran_2020)
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Our High School News Broadcasting students are providing weekly broadcasts to keep our students informed https://www.crusaderchronicle.
com , Also follow @flnewsnetwork on Instagram, @crusaderchron on Twitter. Our social media journalists are continually updating activities.
Combining the Best of Both Online Learning Strategies: Asynchronous & Synchronous Learning
We wanted to have an opportunity to explain how we are delivering our online curriculum at Faith Lutheran. As you might already gather, private schools across the country are turning to Faith Lutheran for ideas of how to do distance learning well. Our teachers were already well prepared to transition to online curriculum because we have emphasized the use of creative, diverse, digital tools both inside our on-ground classrooms and during our Online Learning Days.
Schools that are trying to deliver content, assessments, and learning activities to their entire class on Zoom, following their normal ground schedules, are quickly finding that it does not promote the best learning. Why? This fully synchronous schedule is far from ideal and does not model strong on-ground teaching. Inside of Faith Lutheran’s on-ground classrooms, you would not find teachers lecturing for the full 80 minutes. There are digital tools that foster better and deeper learning activities and support individual student learning styles much better than 80 minutes of Zoom. That is why Faith is employing both Asynchronous (students completing work on their own schedules) and Synchronous (students required to join activities at a particular time) learning. Click here for more detailed information.
Hints for Parents:
As a parent of high school kids at Faith Lutheran myself, I am learning how to help and support my own children at home during this time. In addition, I receive educational research that is getting pumped into my inbox at an unprecedented rate. Most of this is not new or ground breaking information, but I think it is helpful. These are just suggestions. Families and individual students/situations differ.
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Get your children on a close-to-normal sleep schedule. We are hearing news that some students are staying up really, really late (sometimes until the wee hours of the morning) and then sleeping until the afternoon. They are rolling out of bed for their required Zoom meetings and then going back to sleep. There are many reasons why this is unhealthy.
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Help your children organize their work load. My wife and I have been printing out the teachers’ Crusader Connect lesson plans (found in Topics) and making our children check off their assignments when they submit them. With our academic weeks spanning from Wednesday-Tuesday, you will see some assignments due throughout the week but most due on Tuesday. Consider a plan for your child like the following one:
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Wednesday: Do all your work that is due on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. If you don’t get it all done, use Thursday to finish that.
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Next, move to a model where students complete their hardest subject and their easiest subject each day. Students are often leaving their hardest subject for the last day which is not advisable. On Thursday, do your hardest and easiest classes. Do the hardest and easiest classes left on Friday also.
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If you get behind on that schedule, catch up over the weekend.
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Monday and Tuesday, follow that same thinking.
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Have your child exercise and get outside. Too much screen time is not advisable and needs to be supplemented with other activities. We are hearing stories of students that are doing homework or playing video games for 15-16 hours a day. Help them break that up. Schedule this time for them daily.
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Create a specific study space for school. Some students feel more comfortable working in bed, but this habit can be destructive to sleep habits. In order for students' brains to function the best in this new environment, it can be very helpful to create a specific space where your student can learn. It should be different than where they sleep or relax, in order to produce the best learning environment.
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Have daily “family activities.” Most of you are doing this at this time, but I know teenagers can sometimes fight us on these things. Human contact is important. Take time to eat meals or play games together, if possible.
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Routines are important! Here is a “cool” historical story and hints to help our students.
We Need Your Help:
Teachers have asked me for your help. Some students are rolling out of bed (or staying in bed) for their Zoom Meetings. Sometimes, they are still in their sleep clothes while attending. Please help us get your students out of bed, dressed for school (no uniforms needed), and off other devices (like a cell phone when it is not needed). There have been a few uncomfortable situations that we have had to address, and we don’t want that to keep happening.
Other Tidbits:
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We will be having Final Exams whether we are back on campus or still online. If we are still online, these might look different than the past.
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Information about yearbooks, awards, and other end-of-the-year activities will continue to be provided if we need to stay online. At this point, we are all praying that it will be safe to come back to school May 1.
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Community Crusade Hours (service hours) have been reduced to 10 hours for the year, and the due date has been extended to July 1. We have also expanded students’ options to serve. For further explanation and ideas regarding service see our changes here.
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If your students are bored over Spring Break or you want them to continue learning, here a list of websites you might consider.
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Daily Devotion Podcast--https://www.lhm.org/
podcasts/default.asp -
Wide Open School--https://
wideopenschool.org/ -
Khan Academy--https://www.
khanacademy.org/ -
Discovery Education--https://www.
discoveryeducation.com/
Please let my team of leaders or me know if you have any questions or concerns. We are all in this together! Faith Lutheran has always strived to provide a diverse, holistic, and challenging college-preparatory education with a premium of truly caring and loving your children. Most importantly, even in difficult times, we want their relationship with Jesus to continue to grow. We will continue to do our very best in all these areas during this unique time.
In Christ,
Scott Fogo
High School Principal
702.804.4400
