Tony Evers, PhD, State Superintendent Continuing Learning During a School Closure All schools have emergency response plans, and those plans should include continuity of learning components for school closures, be they short or extended closures. With respect to pandemic planning, the Department of Public Instruction has encouraged all school districts to develop alternative procedures to assure continuity of instruction in the event of district school closures (e.g., web-based distance instruction, telephone trees, mailed lessons and assignments, instruction via local radio or television stations). As school officials plan for a possible closure due to the H1N1 virus (Swine Flu), they may wish to use the resources online and broadcast on Wisconsin’s public television stations that can be used to continue or review instruction at home. In Wisconsin these stations include: WHA- Madison, WPNE-Green Bay, WHRM-Wausau, WHLA-La Crosse, WHWC-Menomonie-Eau Claire, WLEF-Park Falls, WMVT/WMVS-Milwaukee, and WDSE-Duluth-Superior. The instructional programming broadcast Monday through Friday from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m. and from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. has been selected by the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board in conjunction with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction curriculum content consultants. These programs are curriculum-based and correlated to Wisconsin’s Model Academic Standards. Weekly program schedules are available at http://explore.ecb.org/ecbschema/plsql/itvsched1. The weekly schedules include program descriptions along with links to supplemental materials including teacher guides and Web. All materials are free. In addition, Wisconsin Public Television (www.wpt.org), Milwaukee Public Television (www.mptv.org) and WDSE-Duluth/Superior (www.wdse.org) broadcast many children’s programs before and after the instructional programming schedule suitable for elementary grades. Please also check the evening schedule lineups on their Web sites for programs appropriate for middle or high school students. As parents at home look for educational activities to keep their children in the learning mode, please consider adding these links and information to individual teacher homepages or to your school’s Web site. For additional information on Educational Communications Board and public television programming, please contact: Linda Hanson, Administrator, Education Division, Educational Communications Board [email protected], 608.264.9688 Revised May 5, 2009 125 South Webster Street P.O. Box 7841, Madison, WI 53707-7841 (608) 266-3390 (800) 441-4563 toll free (608) 267-1052 fax (608) 267-2427 tdd dpi.wi.gov .