Upcoming Dates

View the full Tacoma Online Calendar View the full Tacoma Public Schools Calendar

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News & Updates

Welcome Back to School!

Whether you’re returning to TOL or new to us this year, welcome! We’re very excited to continue improving and expanding what we offer and how we do it at Tacoma Online. While many things will be similar, there are a few improvements to our model.  Here is a handy 1-page calendar for this school year.

Upcoming Dates

Thursday, September 8 – First Day of School!
Tuesday, September 13 – Drop in event for Pictures, ID Cards and more, see below
Thursday, September 15 – Drop in Meet and Greet for TOL 6^th Graders

School starts on Thursday, September 8^th

8:30AM – Go to www.tol.tacomaschools.org  - a pop up window will appear with a link to our webpage “Starting School at TOL – A Survival Guide”.

• Watch the welcome video
• look over this page for information you can use to start strong
• Check your TPS email (Outlook app) for a welcome email from your PACE Coach.

9AM – PACE Community Meeting

Your PACE coach will share some more details of our school year kick-off and schedule your student’s first PACE 1-to-1 meeting for the following week. They will also provide you with your Edgenuity login information and how to get to our short jumpstart course

For the remainder of the first two days of school, you’ll be able to check-in with your PACE Coach to get answers to your questions and you’ll be able to begin your classes in Edgenuity.

Tuesday, September 13 - School Pictures, ID Cards, Hearing & Vision Screening and School Supply pickup – drop in between 10AM-5PM

Drop by our site at the Tacoma Professional Development Center (PDC) at 6501 N. 23^rd Street to pick up some free school supplies, get your student ID Card, get your yearly school pictures, and for high school students, an ORCA transit card.

You can pre-order your school picture package online so you don’t have to bring anything! See this flyer for details.

It time for all 9^th graders to get a brand new laptop. If you’re a 9^th grader this year, please bring your old laptop and charger to this event and get a brand new one!

Thursday, September 15 – 6^th Grade Meet and Greet drop in between 4 and 7PM.

Drop by our site at the Tacoma Professional Development Center (PDC) at 6501 N. 23^rd Street to visit stations to meet staff, learn more about TOL, grab a snack, and enter to win a raffle!  * Please bring your student laptop. *
Join anytime between 4pm and 7pm. No registration required, but you may email smcgoog@tacoma.k12.wa.us with questions. 

PACE – What you need to know and do about PACE.

The PACE Program is the heart of Tacoma Online. PACE stands for Personalized, Accelerated, Connected, and Empowered. We work to create and view everything we do through these lenses.

• Pace Group Meetings – at Middle and High school, these meeting occur twice a week on MS TEAMS, usually Monday and Friday at 9AM for 30 minutes. Sometimes it’s hard to make friends and find community working from home. These meetings occur with your PACE Coach and all their PACE group students who are of a similar age. They’re fun and can be informative. Optional but highly encouraged – students who attend tend to be more successful in online school.
• Weekly PACE 1-to-1 Meetings – TOL is registered with the state as an ALE school (Alternative Learning Experiences) and as part of our anywhere, anytime model, we do not take daily attendance. Instead, as required by law, we conduct individual 1-to-1 meetings every week with every student and their PACE coach. These meetings are scheduled at mutually agreed upon times and last for 15 minutes. Their purpose is to help students succeed at TOL. The PACE Coach and student get to know each other and work together to develop plans and solutions to help each student accelerate their learning. Students will fill out a quick (3 minute) form prior to each meeting.
  
  It’s essential to understand that these meetings are how we take attendance, they’re required by law, and mandatory at TOL. Missing multiple meetings in a row will require TOL to exit you from our school.
   
• Monthly Personalized Learning Plan (PLP) Review – Once per month and held during the regularly scheduled weekly PACE 1-to-1 meeting, the PLP Review is a focused meeting to review the learning outcomes from the past month and plan for the next month. The plans developed in this required meeting become part of each students written learning plan.

Succeeding at Tacoma Online

While there are many ways to succeed, we have found that these two things are critical for all students at Tacoma Online:

• Checking your TPS Emails (Outlook app) at least daily
• Making a schedule and plan to engage in schoolwork for 30 hours per week

ASB

TOL ASB Advisors have been hard at work developing an ASB program from grades 3-12. At each of the Middle and High School levels, there will be a new ASB elective class this year. Students interested in developing leadership skills and taking charge of planning events, activities, and clubs at TOL should check out this poster with links to say you’re interested!

TOL’s New Office

Tacoma Online finally has its own home beginning September 6th. We’ve be moving downtown to the second floor of the historic Music Box building located at 302 South 9^th Street, Tacoma, WA 98402. It’s located between the Rialto and Pantages theatres, and easily accessible using the LINK light rail or the Commerce Street transit center a block away.

While our staff will be headquartered here, we will still use the PDC for some purposes like supply pickup and state testing.

Free Meals for TOL Students

All students get free breakfast and lunch in the 2022-23 school year, regardless of income status.  This is a result of a federal school meal funding option that allows school districts with high eligibility for free- and reduced-price meals to provide free meals to all students.  Tacoma Online will have meals for students to pick-up at our new location downtown – 302 S. 9^th Street.  Since we are still in transition to our new location, we do not have a start date for meals yet.  We should have an update in the next newsletter.  We are also hoping to add other distribution locations and will communicate these to you as soon as possible. If your student has food allergies that your school does not already know about, please contact the TOL nurse, Linda Snyder, even if you don’t plan to have your student take school meals. Schools can make some meal accommodations for students with food allergies; ask your child’s health care provider to complete this form and submit it to Nurse Linda.” 

State Testing

COVID sure impacted participation rates in state testing, but we’re back to a more normal school scenario now and with it comes the renewed expectation that all TOL students will participate in annual required state testing. These tests are in-person and will be conducted at either our PDC or Music Box locations. You’ll get lots of notice and much more information, but for now, we just wanted to share the expectation that your student participates in these tests this year.

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Contact Us

Contact Us

Website: https://tol.tacomaschools.org/
General Information: tpsonline@tacoma.k12.wa.us
Enrollment: tolenrollment@tacoma.k12.wa.us
Phone: 253-571-1545
Address: 302 S. 9^th Street, Tacoma WA 98402
TOL Secondary Assistant Principal – Paul Eliot – peliot@tacoma.k12.wa.us

 

Tacoma Online is a K-12 school that provides students an anywhere/anytime online school experience. Students engage in academic learning led by teachers, and in grades 3-12 through a platform called Edgenuity. While students generally participate in learning activities independently, they are provided multiple forms of support.

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