DISTANCE LEARNING PACKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE NOW; FOR PICKUP THURSDAY - In an effort to ensure quality instruction continues through our distance learning format, we have printed packets for our students. Printed copies will be available for pick up at schools on Thursday, March 19th during specified times being communicated to our students/families from their schools. Parents/students have the option to download these packets online at www.acpsd.net through this Distance Learning Link. If parents/students choose to download packets at home, please make sure your child’s teacher(s) is notified. Teachers are keeping track to help ensure all students receive their necessary materials.

Throughout this school closure, teachers will be available during set office hours of 9-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. via web conferencing or by phone to assist with questions regarding how to access or complete content. If you or your student has any questions during non-office hours, please do not hesitate to contact the school directly.

Thank you for joining us in a commitment to ensure that students continue to receive quality instruction and support regardless of school closures. 

NOT GETTING ACPSD'S PHONE CALLS ? - Our calling system pulls information directly from PowerSchool, our student information system from student registration. If you are not getting phone calls, please first call the opt-out hotline at (855) 502-7867 from the phone you should be getting calls from. It is an automated system and will take less than two minutes to opt back in. Some families accidentally opt out. And, if you switched phone carriers, but kept the same number, a number of carriers automatically opt you out from receiving automated calls. If you are not able to opt back in by calling the number above, please contact the school to be sure that they have a working phone number for your family.

ACPSD PHONE MESSAGES REPEATING? - Several parents/guardians have made us aware that our phone messages repeat after five seconds. The automated calling system is prompted to restart if a sound is made on the receiver's line (this allows for messaging to be delivered to answering machines). Parents/guardians experiencing this issue are encouraged to mute their phone when they receive an automated call from our District. This should eliminate background noise/sound and correct the issue.

NUTRITION SERVICE BEGINS TUESDAY; DISTANCE LEARNING PACKETS AVAILABLE THURSDAY BEGINNING AT NOON, March 16, 2020 Update - Although students are not physically in our classrooms, our employees' commitment to meeting your students' learning and nutritional needs will continue. While our schools are closed, our District office, teachers and staff are working. 

Beginning Tuesday, March 17, our school buses will be transporting meals to students along our regular bus routes. These no-cost, grab-and-go meals are available to any student desiring one. Each grab-and-go bag will contain nutrition for breakfast as well as lunch. Buses transporting food for students will begin their routes at 11 a.m., and most will have made their deliveries by 12:30 p.m. Please review the routes for estimated arrival time. 

Please be reminded about the laws in stopping for school buses. When a school bus is stopped on a two-lane road with its red lights flashing and its stop arm extended, you must stop your vehicle 20 feet from the bus. Oncoming traffic and motorists approaching the bus from behind may not move until the stop arm is retracted and the red lights are no longer flashing. There are going to be buses making deliveries, so please use caution and watch out for students as they make their way to bus stop locations for these meal deliveries.

If a student has not received a meal and the bus delivery time is delayed by more than 30 minutes at the published meal delivery time, please contact the District Transportation Office at (803) 593-7201 and a bus will be radioed to deliver a meal to your stop.

Food for students is also available by picking up a grab-and-go bag at any of our school campuses between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.

Please note that student meals will be available throughout this school closure on weekdays for students beginning Tuesday, March 17. Student meals will not be distributed or available for grab-and-go pickup at school campuses on the already published day off of Monday, March 23.

In the absence of specific distance learning assignments for your students, which will be available beginning Thursday, please encourage your child to practice sustained reading. Also, there are Online Student Learning Opportunities available under the Instructional Services Department on our District website, www.acpsd.net.

Paper and pencil Distance Learning Packets are being assembled and will be available for pick up at school locations on Thursday, March 19, from noon until 7:00 p.m., and Friday, March 20, from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. School principals will communicate additional details with parents/guardians along with a schedule for pickup to ensure that they are distributed in a way that allows for appropriate social distancing in our continued efforts to protect the health of our students, staff members and community.

In order to accommodate the varied communications preferences of our students and families, the paper and pencil printed Distance Learning Packets will include all instructional materials students are required to complete for remote learning throughout this closure. The State Department will require that students complete 200 minutes of instructional activities per day. Our Distance Learning Plans received approval this afternoon from the State Department of Education and, following those, we expect to continue with spring break and our established school calendar as planned.

Teacher conferencing, virtual classrooms and online enrichment activities will be designed to enhance the educational experience. In order to assist our teachers with planning to connect with students during this closure, parents/guardians are asked to answer a few questions about home computer and internet access. Schools/Teachers may also be requesting the same through other communications. Please take a moment to complete this request for each of your Aiken County Public School students.

ACPSD Student Home Computer & Internet Access Survey

We appreciate your flexibility and understanding and are certainly keeping all impacted by these changes in our thoughts.

NOVEL CORONAVIRUS INFORMATION - Understanding that parents/guardians, teachers, and staff have concerns about the widely-publicized new or “novel” coronavirus, COVID-19, and how this new family of viruses could impact our community and public schools, our district administration wants to ensure you are made aware of preventative efforts and procedures in place related to this public health concern. Please visit our webpage devoted to sharing updates, prevention details and other information by clicking on the words "Coronavirus Prevention & Updates." 

4K REGISTRATION NOW OPEN - 4K Screening and Registration is open until April 3, 2020. Children must be 4 years old on or before September 1, 2020 to attend 4K. Please use the School Zone Locator found here to determine your child's 4K location. You may stop in at the school your child is zoned for between 8 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. to register. Please be sure to bring the following items the day of registration: Two Proofs of Residency (utility bill, cable bill, mortgage statement or rental agreement), an official copy of your child's Birth Certificate, a South Carolina Immunization Form, Medicaid Card, and Proof of Income (W2 or paystub). Click here for more information on 4K.  

5K WORLD LANGUAGE PARENT INTEREST MTG - Interested in the many benefits of a world language immersion program for your rising 5K student? Attend a parent information meeting to find out more about Belvedere Elementary's Mandarin Chinese Program, Clearwater Elementary's Spanish Immersion, or Millbrook Elementary's German World Language Offering. All interested parents/guardians are invited to learn more about these programs on Tuesday, February 18, or Tuesday, April 14, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. 

#WhyITeachACPSD CONTINUES - The #WhyITeachACPSD social media challenge, hosted by Affect the Culture, was such a great success and fun way to wrap up the 2018-19 school year that many educators are continuing the trend! We love seeing your reasons for teaching on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and encourage all Aiken County Public School Distirct employees to continue to post about what sparked their interest in teaching, using each school's unique hashtag.