FORTIFYFL
FortifyFL is a suspicious activity reporting tool which enables students and staff to notify school and law enforcement officials of questionable activity on school campuses. Both students and teachers have shortcuts to this app on their District devices. More information is included in this State of Florida handout.
BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS AT THE SANIBEL SCHOOL
The District guidelines for students sharing food at lunch as well as for special celebrations. The guidance is:
- At lunch/breakfast no sharing of food.
- Birthdays - elementary students can bring in individually wrapped commercially prepared (such as Little Debbie) treats. Parents must arrange this with the teacher first. The teacher will pass out treats (wearing gloves) to students at a convenient time. Ingredient labels must be provided due to possible student allergic reactions.
- No middle school birthday treats. Students will be recognized at lunch with the “Happy Birthday” song.
This information updates and supplements the guidelines published in the student handbooks. If there are any questions, please contact your student's teacher.
FOCUS vs. ONCOURSE
The School has provided these two applications, as well as the student planner, to facilitate communications between you, your student, and the school about individual student expectations and progress. Please be sure to log in and check both on a regular basis. FOCUS and OnCourse data are not linked; therefore it is necessary to check both because they serve different purposes. There are links to both applications on the homepage under Shortcuts.
FOCUS is a live portal into your student’s current grades. The assignment and due dates appear when input by your student’s teacher, and this input varies. Some teachers enter assignments ahead of time, say for a few weeks out or a quarter. So you might see the assignment and details, but the grade area might be blank or have a symbol such as an N or 0 in it until the assignment is graded and the grades entered. Other teachers do not enter the assignment in FOCUS until after it is graded. So use FOCUS to see your student’s current grades, not homework assignments. For elementary grades, homework is not counted towards grades, so homework assignments probably won’t be shown in FOCUS. Homework however is tracked, and completion is reflected in the effort codes displayed on report cards.
OnCourse is the program used by teachers for lesson planning. Homework assignments are part of lesson plans. Homework is displayed after the close of school the day is it assigned in the OnCourse homework portal. Ongoing expectations, such as daily reading at home and long-term projects are also posted daily. Grades are never entered or displayed in OnCourse.
Student planners supplement OnCourse content; for example, additional information about an assignment or due dates might be manually entered here by your student. Using a planner effectively is a lifelong time management skill and helps to prepare students for situations where online resources are not provided. These resources provide a common and tangible starting point for all shareholder (parents, students, and school staff) discussions regarding your student. Frequent parental oversight of FOCUS, OnCourse, and planners helps to reinforce that students are accountable and responsible for their own academic progress.
In short:
FOCUS – Live display of your student’s current attendance, classwork, tests, and homework grades. Only MS homework grades are displayed. Input by the teacher.
OnCourse – Displays homework assigned to your student. Input by the teacher. All teachers K-8 are expected to post homework daily.
Student Planner – Supplements OnCourse. Should list all homework assignments and additional details such as due dates necessary to complete the work. Input by your student.
Please do not let doubts about homework assignments or grades be an issue. FOCUS, OnCourse, and your student’s planner should contain all of the information necessary to answer any questions.