HARRIS MEMORIAL COLLEGE

G.K. Bunyi Street, Dolores, Taytay, Rizal

May 20, 2020

Dear Parents/Guardians:

Warm and joyous greetings to you from the Board of Trustees, administration, faculty, teachers
and staff of Harris Memorial College (Harris for brevity), your child/children’s school! I trust you
and your family are safe and well amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the midst of the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, “Education must continue.”
This was the strong declaration of the DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones.

Since last March, the Harris school administration has been thinking, discussing, reflecting and
praying on how best we could deliver quality, holistic, empowering and transforming education
to your child/children for the SY 2020-2021. Despite the debilitating effects of COVID-19 on the
total operations of Harris, we are resolute and challenged to respond to the many and difficult
challenges brought about by this pandemic.

There are two major factors that we have considered in choosing the desired delivery mode of
instruction to the students. First is the safety and security of our pupils/students. And second,
the financial requirements it will entail.

The Harris Administration has chosen distance/blended learning using a combination of

asynchronous (70%), synchronous (20%) and drop box (10%) as a learning delivery approach to
education for SY 2020-2021. (Please see descriptions/features of each below). Specifically,
Harris will have its customized flexile learning management system (FLMS) to facilitate
distance/blended learning. We thought it is the best and safest way to ensure the safety and
security of your child/children, which is of paramount importance to us. The students will not
come to Harris for face-to-face instruction. If extremely needed, we might request the parents
and students to come to Harris to address pressing concerns. Prescribed health protocols will
be strictly and consistently observed.

Harris Memorial College needs to put up necessary infrastructures and systems development to
be able to proceed with the chosen learning delivery modality. These include the following:

1. Automation of enrolment and payment of school fees

2. Infrastructure for strong internet connectivity needed for distance/blended learning
3. Development of flexible learning management system (FLMS), which includes e-library
 These tools and various media technology and applications will be used to facilitate
distance/blended learning
Another major consideration is the capacity and confidence building among the teachers,
faculty, staff and school administrators of Harris in doing distance/blended learning. As such,
several separate online trainings are lined up. We have done two on-line trainings on this topic
on May 13 and 19, 2020. These trainings are facilitated by qualified and experienced resource
persons. Also, our teachers, faculty, staff and school administrators have been joining various
free webinars on flexible learning approaches (FLA) to instruction. Likewise, we shall provide
separate similar online trainings for the students and parents of the Basic Education
department of Harris before classes start.

Our school is cognizant of the financial difficulty you have been experiencing due to the ill
effects of COVID-19 pandemic. We would like to assure you that there will be NO increase in
tuition and other school fees for SY 2020-2021. Also, we shall postpone the offering of Robotics.

Harris Memorial College needs millions of pesos to build the needed infrastructures mentioned
above and to equip our teachers to ensure the provision of quality education through the use of
blended/distance learning. One of the sources of funds to finance these infrastructures,
automation, FLMS and trainings is the school fees such as air-condition fee, energy fee,
computer fee, instructional materials fee and the like.

Harris Memorial College is ready to receive and process the registration of your child/children
for SY 2020-2021 anytime, using the Google Form by clicking the link Basic Education (for
Preschool to Grades 1-10) https://forms.gle/VJN7FZY7Z7AjbntU7, and for Senior High School
(SHS) https://forms.gle/qtfEpDYyAi4hFitCA. Enrolment and payment of school fees will be done
on-line by the second week of June 2020.

We would like to inform you that classes will start on August 17, 2020, and will end on May 7,
2021. As stated above, we shall use distance/blended learning as the delivery mode of
instruction using FLMS.

We are excited to face the new school year with the new normal learning environment. You are
our partners in the education of your child/children.

Together, let us pray for God’s guidance, wisdom, provisions and protection on all of us as we
continue our ministry of teaching and learning for the sake of the pupils/students that we love
and serve.

Thank you very much for your utmost cooperation and continuing prayers and support.

Sincerely,

CRISTINA N. MANABAT, Ph.D.

President
Harris Memorial College
 DESCRIPTIONS/FEATURES OF DISTANCE/BLENDED LEARNING USING A COMBINATION OF
ASYNCHRONOUS (70%), SYNCHRONOUS (20%) AND DROPBOX (10%)

(Flexible Learning Management System – FLMS)

ASYNCHRONOUS LEARNING (70%) will include the following features:

1. A virtual classroom where the student can access anytime the learning materials such as
modules, reading materials, audio and visual lectures, assignments, power point
presentations and links to virtual libraries and references across the internet.

2. The instructions are primarily communicated in a learning platform (e.g. Google

Classroom, Zoom, Edmodo, Schoology, Moodle, Canvas) being managed by the teacher
and where the students are enrolled. Discussions and exchange of ideas can also be
facilitated in this virtual classroom.

3. It allows students to study at their own pace, and at their own schedule. Since this
learning approach is self-guided, the guidance and monitoring of the parents is greatly
needed.

SYNCHRONOUS LEARNING (20%)

1. A virtual classroom where the teacher conducts lecture at a scheduled time, such as
videoconferencing via Google Meet and Zoom.

2. There is a real time interaction between the teacher and the students enrolled in the
class. Unlike asynchronous learning, immediate feedback on teacher and students’
questions are provided.

3. Just like in the traditional face-to-face classroom, there is an in-depth discussion of the
scheduled topics/lessons, where the students’ engagement in the teaching-learning
process is guaranteed.

DROPBOX (10%)

1. Dropbox is the scheduled physical pick-up and submission of learning materials and
academic requirements in occasions that on line learning is interrupted.