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COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates, Aeries Distance Learning Resources, & Aeries COVID products and services response

Aeries Software wants our customers and the community to know that we are here to support them through these challenging times. This page contains all information that we have released related to COVID-19 (Coronavirus). We will continually update this page as we gain new information or resources.


*Updated August 18, 2021


Quick Links


Teacher's Toolkit for Distance LearningGoogle Integration and VideoOnline Learning URL in Portals and VideoSchool and District Portal MessagingTeacher file sharing using Briefcase and Backpack
Student Wellness Check-In / Health Scanning  PageGradebook Options During Distance Model InstructionManage Parent & Student Portal PasswordsDisplay VPC codes to teachers and othersParent Portal Usage Log
Grading to Support Pass/Fail or CR/NCView Parent feedback messages from Portal. (can't login)District Assets for 1:1 DevicesCOVID-19 and Attendance in AeriesUC/CSU newly announced policies on course completions
FREE Aeries Academy - Online PDTeacher App and VideoHow to communicate about the stresses of school closuresStay at home order by the state of CaliforniaModifying the Calendar to Maximize ADA 
Parents option to opt into either receiving a letter or pass/fail term grade. CALPADS STAS reporting Disable loading grades from the gradebook Sent report cards home online...an alternative to mailing 2020-2021 Hybrid and Distance Learning Procedures
SB98 - Update - Daily Participation and Weekly Engagement Reporting for Distance LearningAttendance Recommendations for the 2020-2021 school yearFAQs regarding weekly engagement Flex Scheduling to help with Hybrid LearningRe-Opening Schools Safely - Aeries SIS and ParentSquare staff discuss how Aeries Communications help schools safely re-open their schools
Using Immunizations to record student COVID VaccinationsUsing the Visitation page to record contract tracingHow to record and track Student Wellbeing in Aeries





Updates


Update 8/18/2021


Update 4/1/2021

  • Re-Opening Schools Safely - Last week Aeries SIS, along with our partners at ParentSquare, hosted a panel discussion featuring California-based K-12 leaders from Paso Robles Joint USD, Madera USD, and Porterville USD. They discussed the timeline for re-opening at their districts, challenges they are facing or anticipating, and how Aeries Communication powered by ParentSquare has played a role in helping organize their district's efforts to safely re-open their schools. The webinar recording is available here: https://vimeo.com/529095766/0f104422d7


Update 10/3/2020

  • As previously mentioned in the SB 98 Update (step 6), the new Weekly Instructional Minutes Certification feature has been released with the 9/24/2020 version.
  • A Webinar Wednesday presentation for SB-98 Enhancements was held on 9/30/2020. A Recording is available at the bottom of the  SB 98 Update  page.
  • A 2-hour session session on SB-98 Weekly Engagement and Participation Tracking has been added to the upcoming AeriesCon and is scheduled for Monday Afternoon. There is still time to register for our first virtual AeriesCon that's happening October 5-8. The low price of $150 gets you access to up to 20 individual sessions, keynote speakers, Open Forum, and access to recordings of all sessions for the rest of the year. Here's the link to register, registration closes on October 8, 2020. http://www.aeries.com/conference

Update 9/16/2020

  • As previously mentioned in the SB 98 Update (step 3), the new Class Calendars feature has been released with the 9/11/2020 version.
  • A new feature to Mass Apply Attendance and Quick Attendance Notes has been released with the 9/15/2020 version. This feature allows teachers to quickly mass enter attendance codes or attendance notes.


Update 9/11/2020

  • It was recently decided to continue to offer ALL Aeries Academy courses and certifications for FREE through December 31, 2020. Register at learn.aeries.com


Update 9/2/2020


Update 8/28/2020

  • After multiple discussions with CDE on 8/27/2020, we now recommend that the default Absence Code "A" be the ONLY absence code marked as "Unverified Absence" and be used by teachers to indicate any student who is not present when expected, either On Campus or in a Distance Learning environment. It should be updated to the appropriate Verified Absence Code as part of the normal Absence Verification Process. If it was for a day of Distance Learning, and there was no subsequent contact with the student or parent, it should be changed to Distance Learning-Not Engaged (Unexcused Absence-Verified). This will allow schools to track students who may need to be placed on a re-engagement plan. We apologize for the confusion on this matter, but we received the template and instructions from CDE at the same time it was given to the LEAs. 
  • We have scheduled some free webinars next week on our plans for the Daily Participation/Weekly Engagement requirements that were just announced. Customers can register for the webinars at the following link:  https://support.aeries.com/support/solutions/articles/14000119806-sb-98-aeries-adjustments-for-daily-participation-and-weekly-engagement


Update 8/27/2020

  • In response to recent information disseminated from the California Department of Education concerning the accounting of Daily Participation and Weekly Engagement during the 2020-2021 school year for Online, In Person, and Hybrid Instruction of students, Aeries is being enhanced with new features including the ability to produce a Weekly Engagement Report. We invite you read about these upcoming changes or register for a webinar on the topic. Because of this, we have also modified our Hybrid Procedures to Consider document.


Update 7/23/2020

Update 7/20/2020

  • The article Hybrid Procedures to Consider for 2020-2021 School Year has been updated to also include information regarding Distance Learning only, since many counties in California plan to open online only.
  • We are getting Aeries ready for the challenges you face starting school this year. Part of the preparation is deciding what changes to Aeries will have the most impact.  We have put together a survey that will help us prioritize development.  We worked with many districts and the CDE to come up with these possible enhancements.  Please fill out this quick survey at https://aeries.link/hybridfeatures as soon as you can as we are looking to start development this week on the highest priority items. Here is a list of the development items we are considering along with some background to help you prioritize these on the survey:
    1. For Teachers - Easily Create Recurring Gradebook Assignments
      • For students engaged in distance learning on a particular day, a teacher must track the means by which the student engaged that day. The Aeries Gradebook is a great place to record this information with a Daily Assignment so the ability to create a recurring assignment would be helpful.
    2. For Teachers - Allow student sorting using the Additional Student Field Columns (this would be useful when students are identified by the on-campus vs at-home work pattern)
      • When taking attendance for a class of students who are mixed between on campus and distance learning, this will help group these sets of students to make attendance taking easier for teachers.
    3. For Office Staff - Adjust the Classroom Attendance page to include the Additional Student Fields that teachers can see.
      • For A/B Groups of students, students will be flagged using a Student User Code field. This information can be displayed to teachers on the Teacher Attendance page, but if office staff have to take attendance for a teacher, the Classroom Attendance page also need to display this information for each student.
    4. For Teachers - Allow for quickly adding and editing Attendance Notes on the Teacher Attendance page in order to track the details of Student Distance Learning Engagement
      • For students engaged in distance learning on a particular day, a teacher must track the means by which the student engaged that day. Attendance Notes is a possible way to track this information instead of the Gradebook. But Attendance Notes are not easily added for large groups of students. This feature would make it a simple process of checking the correct box(es) for students on how they engaged that day.
    5. For Teachers - Allow for separating students on the Attendance Page by Section instead of by Course
      • For A/B Groups of students, students from each group may be scheduled into different sections of the same course for the same teacher. Currently the Teacher Attendance page groups students in the same course with the same teacher but different sections as one large group. This option would allow for breaking up the different sections visually on the page and make taking attendance for these groups easier.
    6. For Teachers - Add a Select All feature for Attendance Codes on the Teacher Attendance page. This would be unique for each "class" displayed on this page.
      • This features goes along with the option to group the Teacher Attendance Page by Section. With this option, each section would have the option to mass select a particular attendance code for the section and "save" the selected value and any changes as a secondary button to be clicked by the teacher.
  • We are also planning on scheduling a few additional webinars next week (week of July 27) to go over complex scheduling.


Update 7/16/2020

  • An article on Hybrid Procedures to Consider for 2020-2021 School Year has been released with information on California AB77.  Aeries has reviewed this new information and has compiled some suggested procedures  using existing Aeries features to meet these new guidelines. 


Update 6/30/2020

  • We are reviewing the  CA 2020-21 State Budget signed today by Governor Newsom, and have a call scheduled with the CDE to obtain their guidance on what documentation is expected from districts as far as reporting daily and weekly student engagement. Once we have that information, we will be developing procedures for how districts can use the Aeries system to provide the reporting necessary, for in-person, remote, and hybrid learning models. This project will receive our highest priority in order to be ready for school to begin this fall. 


Update 6/16/2020

  • In alignment with the California Department of Education Stronger Together Guidelines, we are researching recommendations and best practices for managing attendance for these hybrid schedules. If districts receive any guidance or recommendations on this matter, feel free to send that information to Aeries Support.
  • Documentation on report card comments has been released. This will aid those wishing to have custom messages on secondary report cards.


Update 5/13/2020

  • Aeries Software has extended the FREE access to Aeries Academy till August 31, 2020. See more at https://learn.aeries.com 


Update 5/11/2020


Update 4/29/2020


Update 4/28/2020


Update 4/17/2020

  • To assist with student wellness-check outreach, Aeries has a couple of solutions to assist in recording the wellness-check activity. See details at How to create a Student Wellness Check-in Page . 
  • Districts practicing online distancing model of instruction and learning are looking for different Gradebook grading options in lieu of traditional in-classroom grading. Such as Pass/Fall or Credit/No Credit grading and/or grading new distance learning assignments while not changing the previous overall grade. See features at Gradebook Options During Online Distancing Model Instruction .
  • The Quick Links section on this page was added


Update 4/8/2020

  • In order to properly report data for the CALPADS STAS extract, we will be making some adjustments to Attendance History to only calculate attendance data until a specified date, so that no changes to the school calendar will be necessary. This data would then be reported correctly for the STAS extract. This is in development and will be released in the coming weeks in time for EOY reporting. More details on this process will be announced.
  • For schools switching to Pass/Fail or Credit/No-Credit, Aeries Supports P/F and CR/NC marks right now. They would need to be configured on the Update Valid Marks page. Additionally, we are planning to adjust our UC/CSU calculations to accommodate recently announced policy changes on A-G Completion Logic for Spring and Summer 2020 Course Completions.


Update 4/3/2020

  • This page (https://aeries.link/coronavirus) was created as a central location for any COVID-19 Coronavirus updates from Aeries, and will be updated as information changes. Feel free to bookmark this page and check back for any new updates.

Update 4/2/2020

Update 3/26/2020

  • We have published some resources to support Distance Learning. This page includes videos and links to various features within Aeries that may be used to support digital learning including using Aeries as a light-weight LMS.

Update 3/20/2020

Update 3/19/2020

  • All Aeries Academy courses are now Free through June 30th. Users can register for Aeries Academy courses here: https://learn.aeries.com/
  • An email was sent out to all of our customers, letting them know not to make any changes in Aeries until we know more.

Update 3/27/2020

Update 3/18/2020

  • Our physical office location is now officially closed through the end of March, and all employees who can do so are transitioning to remote work.

Update 3/16/2020

  • We recommended all employees work from home at least through the end of March.


6 people like this
33 CommentsSorted by Oldest First

Hey Kevin,

If districts are contemplating implementing alternative grading for 2nd semester (Secondary schools) and 3rd trimester (Elementary schools) like Pass/Fail or Credit/No Credit, does Aeries have any suggestions on the best way to do this or have any ideas on the total impact this would have? Thank you for your guidance.

3 people like this

Hello,


I sat through yesterday's CalPads CIM meeting and they specified that for STAS reporting at EOY, we should be reporting any actual student attendance from 2/29 to the day we actually closed (for us that was 3/13) but no attendance is required after the school closure.  Can you please advise how we will be indicating that in the STAS if we are not changing calendars?

@Heather - We will be making some adjustments to Attendance History to only calculate attendance data until a specified date, so that no changes to the school calendar will be necessary. This data would then be reported correctly for the STAS extract. This is in development and will be released in the coming weeks in time for EOY reporting.


@Leanne - Aeries Supports P/F and CR/NC marks right now. They would need to be configured on the Update Valid Marks page. Additionally, we are planning to adjust our UC/CSU calculations to accommodate recently announced policy changes on A-G Completion Logic for Spring and Summer 2020 Course Completions.

2 people like this

Kevin,

I manage Aeries for SLOCOE and have not received any email regarding any of this info.

How do I get on the email list?  I do not know who is on the list for us.

Thank you,

Wendy Johnson

1 person likes this

We made some updates today.


  • To assist with student wellness-check outreach, Aeries has a couple of solutions to assist in recording the wellness-check activity. See details at How to create a Student Wellness Check-in Page . 
  • Districts practicing online distancing model of instruction and learning are looking for different Gradebook grading options in lieu of traditional in-classroom grading. Such as Pass/Fall or Credit/No Credit grading and/or grading new distance learning assignments while not changing the previous overall grade. See features at Gradebook Options During Online Distancing Model Instruction .
  • The Quick Links section on this page was added

Today we published an article on modifying the Calendar to Maximize ADA. There is specific section addressing our current school year and the current COVID-19 situation.


Update 5/11/2020


Hi Kevin,

How are you handling STAS for new students who enrolled after last day of in-class attendance for distance learning? CSIS is saying we need to send up a STAS record for new students who enrolled after our last day of in-school attendance but we can exempt them. Is there a way to auto-exempt them based on the new date field in District Options for our last day of attendance if the student's first day of enrollment falls after that date? Or should we just add a new STU.SP code, tag the new students, and include that in CALPADS Extracts > Other Options (STU.SP values for STAS Exemption)?

We are in communication with CALPADS on the issue of students who were enrolled after February 29. It sounds like they will be issuing some guidance in a flash update to treat these students like normally enrolled students, except that they will recommend using the STAS Eemption Indicator instead of submitting attendance for these students. We don't currently have a way to add exemptions for these students automatically, however I would imagine the number of students in this situation is not many and can easily be managed on the CALPADS end. We'll consider making some adjustments, but will want to look for official guidance from CALPADS before doing so. We don't recommend using the STU.SP field to mark these students.

Update 6/16/2020

  • In alignment with the California Department of Education Stronger Together Guidelines, we are researching recommendations and best practices for managing attendance for these hybrid schedules. If districts receive any guidance or recommendations on this matter, feel free to send that information to Aeries Support.
  • Documentation on report card comments has been released. This will aid those wishing to have custom messages on secondary report cards.

Hi Kevin,


I see the 6/16/20 update on researching recommendations and best practices in response to CDE's Stronger Together guidelines.  I know for many Districts and the secondary schools in them, a major learning curve will be to figure out how to do the Master Schedule.  As seen in the CDE document, many will be doing configurations where you divide your total students in half, thirds, or fourths, depending on what your school size and classroom capacity for socially-distanced desk arrangements can be.  An example of this is a school that divides school in half with some students coming Mondays/Thursday and the other half coming Tuesday/Friday and Wednesday being a distance learning day for all students.  How do we move from course requests to SMS then MST maintaining the kids on seperate sections for this type of configuration?  

@Michael, there are several, probably dozens of ways to split up the students, but ultimately they will likely need to be in separate sections and then those sections set accordingly to the days of the week they meet. Our support team, or even your district IT team, can likely provide more detailed guidance for your specific scenario. Right now there's a lot going on and lots of changes happening every day. I want you to know we are here to support schools as best we can during these crazy times. If you're interested in learning about some new options (in addition to traditional SMS/MST scheduling), we're offering several webinars on Flex Scheduling in July. You can sign up for these on our events page. We are providing some time for Q&A during these sessions as well. 

Any idea when the flex scheduling option will become available?

I would like to know as well.  I completed the survey at the end of the webinar and I brought it up in my rollover ticket.  We would like to be converted so we can start working through it so an ETA would be great!

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