MIAMI-DADE, Florida – Following a weeklong Spring Recess, Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) resumes its Instructional Continuity Plan (ICP), the District’s distance learning model that engages hundreds of thousands of students and their teachers in meaningful and innovative online lessons.

“During these challenging moments, I am hopeful that students, employees and their families used this past week to spend quality time with one another, while staying home and finding comfort in knowing that we are all in this together,” said Schools Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho.

“The M-DCPS team is refreshed and ready to continue providing distance learning to our students, with guidance and expertise from our dedicated teachers, and with the support of parents and caregivers.”

Beginning Monday, March 30, we can expect the following:

Distance Learning: Students and teachers return to their second week of distance learning, engaging with one another through a variety of virtual means based on the District’s ICP. As part of the established plan, the District has also adapted content to be accessible for students with special needs and English Language Learners. More information can be found at icp.dadeschools.net/ or by calling the Distance Learning Helpline (305-995-HELP) Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Helpline will be available in English, Spanish, and Haitian-Creole. The next phases of Distance Learning, ICP 2.0, will soon be announced.

Students and teachers return to their second week of distance learning, engaging with one another through a variety of virtual means based on the District’s ICP. As part of the established plan, the District has also adapted content to be accessible for students with special needs and English Language Learners. More information can be found at icp.dadeschools.net/ or by calling the Distance Learning Helpline (305-995-HELP) Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Helpline will be available in English, Spanish, and Haitian-Creole. The next phases of Distance Learning, ICP 2.0, will soon be announced. Device Distribution: Six high schools throughout the district will continue to serve as distribution sites, utilizing a drive-through pick-up method. The distribution hours are from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and the list of locations can be found at covid19.dadeschools.net. In order to ensure that all students are able to participate in distance learning, principals will continue contacting parents to determine the mobile device needs of their children. For additional information, parents are encouraged to contact 305-995-3000. To date, more than 57,000 mobile devices have been distributed.

Connectivity: The District will continue to collaborate with private and public sector partners to ensure geographic areas lacking Internet connectivity are addressed, eliminating any digital deserts that may exist.

Xfinity WiFi hotspots across the country are available for free to anyone who needs them – including non-Xfinity Internet subscribers. A map of available hotspots can be found here. Comcast has also created new educational collections for all grade levels in partnership with Common Sense Media. Customers say “education” into their X1 or Flex voice remote to use.

AT&T offers internet access for qualifying limited income households at $10 a month through their “Access from AT&T” program. They are also offering new “Access from AT&T” customers two months of free service. Learn more here.

High school students can request a Samsung phone from their school, which can be used as a hotspot. So far, the District has distributed more than 11,000 hotspots/smartphones to high school students. The District has just received an additional 1,000 phones for student use.

Visit distancelearning.dadeschools.net for more information about connectivity.

Adult and Career/Technical Education: M-DCPS launches its distance learning plan for adult, career and technical education. All teachers and adult students can access instructional lessons and resource content through active, program-specific links provided online. Adult Education students may visit www.adulteducationworks.com/. Career/Technical Education students may visit www.careerinayear.com/. For more information on either of these programs, please call 305-558-8000.

Parent Academy Offerings: The District’s Parent Academy is launching two new Virtual Campus workshops entitled The Instructional Continuity Plan for Parents and Helping Children Cope During Forced Isolation. Please visit the Parent Academy’s Virtual Campus at https://parentacademymiami.com/ for these and other important workshops addressing issues such as online safety, vaping, Open Educational Resources (OER), anxiety, and mental health. You can also follow the Parent Academy on Twitter at @FamilySS_mdcps.

WLRN At-Home Learning: Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., WLRN will be airing At-Home Learning, a new educational programming schedule to complement the District’s ICP. To learn more about these innovative offerings, visit http://www.wlrn.org/athomelearning/.

Magnet Program Notifications: Notifications will begin on Monday, March 30. Parents/guardians have until April 15 to accept offers of admission. If parents/legal guardians applied online or with a paper application, and provided a valid e-mail address, they will receive an e-mail notification and can accept their seat online on or before April 15. If parents/legal guardians applied with a paper application and did not provide a valid email address, they will receive the notification via U.S. mail and can accept their seat by calling the HELP desk at 305-995-HELP on or before April 15. For questions regarding the Magnet acceptance process, please call the M-DCPS help desk at 305-995-HELP.

Meal Distribution: “Grab-and-go” meals will be distributed at 50 select school sites throughout the district. On Monday, March 30th, meals will be served between 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m, and 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Beginning, Tuesday, March 31st, meals will only be served from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., times chosen to ensure that the virtual instructional day is not disrupted. For a list of all sites, please visit covid19.dadeschools.net/. Since the first day of school closures, M-DCPS has distributed more than 200,000 meals to families in need.

Sanitization of Schools: Custodians will resume sanitization of schools. To date, the teams have thoroughly disinfected more than 49 schools using hospital-grade germicides and specialized equipment to clean floors, classrooms, cafeterias, gyms, all common areas and contact points; wiping and mopping down surfaces and fogging where needed.