Covid-19 Update (March 31st )

White Oak Community,

Today, Tuesday, March 31st , Governor Abbott extended the school closure period for Texas school districts through May 4th. White Oak ISD will comply with this order. Tentatively students will return to school on Tuesday, May 5th. We will continue to follow future guidance from the Governor, CDC, T.E.A. ,County Judge etc. and will disseminate ASAP.

White Oak ISD will continue with the ‘continuity of education’ plan both hard-copy and online for as long as is practical (through the end of May as needed). We are attempting to balance the need of keeping our students engaged in the learning
process and the logistical, real-life issues facing parents and guardians in our community.

White Oak class of 2020: Our heart is breaking for each of you and we understand that this is a difficult time. Please know that we are exploring every option that we can think of to try and give closure for y’all. At this point we are not sure if UIL activities can/will resume (currently shut down until May 4th) but we will update as we can. We WILL have some sort of graduation ceremony, although at this point we are not sure what that might look like….perhaps a virtual ceremony to begin with and an ‘actual’ ceremony at a later date. We want to give each of you your moment. We will update.

The lunch/breakfast program will continue uninterrupted.

Thank you for your continued support during these very challenging times. I know it is difficult for everyone. Please know that White Oak ISD is trying to make the best decisions we can that benefit our kiddos and community during these very
fluid and changing times. Please stay safe, healthy and continue to follow CDC recommendations.

Go Roughnecks!

Brian Gray-Superintendent of Schools
White Oak ISD
The HOME of Roughneck PRIDE!

Parents and Guardians,

If you are able, we would love for you to return any completed packet work to us. There is a box inside the double doors of the primary entrance that you can place the completed packets. We know many of you are also doing great work on the SeeSaw app from your teachers. We are excited to see all of the hard work you have done. We would also love for you to share with us any of the books you have written! Please label anything completed that you turn in with your child’s name and their teacher’s name. Thank you!

There is a new packet of work that you can pick up in the lobby at the Primary School. 2nd Grade only included a weeks worth of work in it. We will also be sending out another packet next week that will also include a weeks worth of work. It will be located in the lobby as well. We were trying not to overwhelm parents and students with a lot of work at one time. Please do not feel you have to complete all the work in a week, just work at your family’s own pace. We know that there are some of you who have more than one child at home doing work and so we don’t want you to feel overwhelmed. We just want to make sure that we continue your child’s education during this time.

Next week I will be assigning more Seesaw lessons on a daily basis, again please don’t feel you need to complete everyone of these. I will try to have a reading, math, writing, science and social studies lesson. Just have your child complete what they can and when they can.

Hello, 

I hope everyone is healthy and well!  Since we will be extending our online learning from home because of the mandatory Shelter-in-Place till April 13th, I will be using and posting work for students on Seesaw.  If you have not already downloaded Seesaw I encourage you to do so. 

There are two different Seesaw Apps:

1. Seesaw Class: This is where your child’s work will be posted and completed.
2. Seesaw Family: This is where I am able to mass communicate any information that you may need to know without having to email each parent individually. (Like the blog)

*If you are having trouble connecting to your child’s Seesaw account please email me and I’ll send you a QR Code that you can scan.

These are new to me as well as new to most of you so please be patient with me as we work out the kinks.  If you are having an issue or need help getting this up and running, please let me know.  I have a couple of teaching buddies that are helping me but I think I’m finally getting the hang of it.  Setting it up has been the hardest part.

White Oak Community,

Gregg County is now in a mandatory shelter in place beginning tomorrow night Thursday, March 26th and running through Thursday, April 9th.

I have sent you an email inviting you to join Seesaw.  I am new to this so it will take me awhile to get use to it, understand it and post activities for your child to be able to access to help with them with online learning. Please be patient with me, I am learning too.  I have a teacher on my team who is very familiar with using Seesaw and will be my help desk/support.   I’m hoping to get this up and running by today or tomorrow.  Again please email me if you any questions, concerns or if you did not receive an email invite from Seesaw. (I am currently in Dallas helping my mom who is having shelter-in-place and she does not have internet so I am having to use my cell phone as a hotspot. I may not be able to get to something right away because as some of you may know, hotspots can be slow or unpredictable.)

[email protected]

We will get through this!! We can do it!

A teacher friend recommended this educational website.  She used it at a school she previously taught at and loved it.  Being that I am doing this on my own we will have limited access to their features because I do not have the funds available for a full subscription at this time.  Let’s give it a try, it can’t hurt. After playing around on this website it seems that we will have access to My Study Plan.  I will be sending you an individual email with your child’s username and password.  I had to create them myself in order to set up the account. Please let me know if you use this website, your thoughts and your child’s thoughts.  If it’s positive then maybe I can find a way to get funds to have access to the entire website.

Hang in their parents, we will get through this together!

Parents, if you are having trouble signing up on Epic! here is the class code: hnb8398. 

I’m looking into other online programs that I can share. As soon as I have something set up I’ll post that information. 

Parents, 

I have sent you an email invite from Epic! which is an online reading app/program that we have on our iPADS and computers at school.  Your child is familiar with how it works and already has an account.  Hopefully this is just one more way to help your child continue their education while at at home. Please let me know if you have any questions.