Pam Dudding
Contributing writer
For months, most students in Craig County and other communities have been hoping for school to “return to normal.” Though there will be a new normal, Craig County Public Schools are looking forward to having their students back in their classrooms where they believe most can have their better education opportunities served.
At the February School Board Meeting, Director of Instruction Samuel Foster gave a lengthy report on the necessity of in-person classrooms for students.
He mentioned that there had been an interest survey with students conducted and it will be discussed in the March meeting.
Foster recently expressed the following:
- Virtual Virginia (VV) is able to take part in a pilot program for students in K-5 where all 33 pupils in McCleary were 100 percent virtual were moved to Virtual Virginia. Students have to be on their computer with their teacher from about 8 am to 1 pm. Elementary teachers are no longer serving the virtual students
- Middle school is a year-long program and no way to bring them in mid-year, so unable to utilize VV
- High school is able to move 33 students who were 100 percent virtual to VV classes. The unfortunate part is that electives like accounting cannot be flipped to VV because they do not offer these classes. Therefore, some high school teachers still have virtual classes
Foster shared that Jobs for Virginia Graduates, JVG, (a subprogram from JAG), is a program they have been associated with for over 15 years.
“It is designed to help at-risk students,” he said. “We currently have a senior-only program. In that program, all our seniors participate and are learning how to write resumes, filling out applications, doing interviews, stuff like that. We are going to continue that program and maybe adding ways to apply to colleges.”
This year, JVG offered an additional grant. Typically, the grants are matching but for this semester, a 30,000 grant was received with no match.
“This is free money, so we were able to start a free program (7-11 to help at-risk students) for the middle and high schools,” Foster explained. “Renee Quesenberry is a Title III, fully licensed teacher will be running the program. What was the digital academy before COVID-19, will be rolled into this program. She is also working with students who are working towards their GED.”
Quesenberry will be mentoring at-risk students, those failing or at risk of dropping out and not graduating.
Foster reported that the career investigation portion helps to align the students with their interests as well as an interview process, one-on-one process, how to help students get their grades up and spike their interest in school.
Principal Whiting is assisting, and they have formed a list.
Their goal is to have a fully realized JVG handbook by the end of June.
Canvas is the current learning management system that serves all grade levels.
“The state just had a renewal of canvas contract,” Foster said. “The idea is so that we can always go 100 percent virtual. In the future, if we have bad weather, we can alleviate snow days that exceed the allotted days.”
Foster also explained that Fridays were originally designed for a day to work with virtual students with their homework and to tutor them. It was to be a learning day, not a workday.
“Currently, K-5 students are not virtual unless it is a virtual day. Grades 6 through 8 will not be working with their virtual students. Because we have electives, high school students will still need Friday to connect with their virtual students,” he added.
Statistics of students in crisis were given:
- Elementary – seven students have an F (one is Virtual)
- Middle school – 85 students have an F in a grade (14 are Virtual). Of the 135 students, over half failed at least one course in semester 1
- High School – 73 students have an F in a grade (25 are Virtual). With 165 students, half failed at least one course in semester 1
“We have a lot of students struggling. They need to be in school every day, not doing virtual work because what is happening, they are in school Monday through Thursday and trying to do virtual on Fridays, and they aren’t getting the work done,” Foster noted. “We need to change the focus and they need to be here all week.”
He stressed the fact that high school is different because if a student gets an F, they have to repeat the class.
“Our teachers are working hard, but the kids need to be in school in order for this to work, and we knew that before, however, we had to keep people safe, so we had to do what we did but now we need to make a change,” Foster reported. “These kids need to be in school and we can bring them back and do it safely.”
McCleary Elementary is already schooling five days a week and 100 percent of virtual students are on Virtual Virginia, which means they are exceeding expectations.
“The middle school needs to be back five days a week with normal educational plan with homework on campus,” Foster addressed to the Board. “The students that are virtual will be under the supervision of Assistant Principal Susan Stimeling, who is certified and will meet and work with them, including the grading of the papers.”
He said that this is “a perfect way to get the virtual students with someone who can concentrate on them where other teachers have to split their time between in-person and virtual.”
“There isn’t a universal certification for high school teachers because each one has to be certified to teach each the individual class they have,” Foster said. Therefore, the high school still has to have Virtual Friday due to classes.”
Foster proposed to have four days a week and conform to guidelines based on the American Academy of Pediatrics with masks.
“We will continue to be doing what we have been doing, but the requirement is to use masks, because we have to get these kids back in school,” he said. “We don’t want to take the chance of having all these kids having to repeat classes next year and many not graduating.”
He added that they will continue to work with the kids who have special needs.
“I want to leave you with this, ‘failure should not, cannot and will not be an option.’ If we do not move in this direction, then we as educational leaders have said failure is ok,” Foster said.
Said Superintendent Jeanette Warwick, “We are one of the few school divisions who have had our students in person since August. I want to recognize my administrators, the school board for the support of that, my teachers, bus drivers and aides, and everyone who has made sure that our kids have been in school. That is something to be proud of. Now that we can bring kids here more often, I think we owe it to our students. They need to be here at school. The Governor has given a March 15 deadline where the school divisions have to provide some type of in-person instruction, though we have been doing that already, where other divisions have not. We have something to be proud of here in Craig County.”
Board member Faye Powers asked Foster if students wanted to remain virtual if they could for the school year. Both Foster and Warwick said the parents have that option.
Warwick did add that virtual learning is still necessary, and the example she gave was for students who are under quarantine; they can still learn and be connected to school.
Principal VanDyke added, “McCleary is already five days a week and teachers are planning on Canvas. Therefore, at any time we need to be virtual or a student is to be quarantined, they can add anything to that lesson plan on Canvas. We have had several already where this worked for the teachers.”
“We were happy to hear that the state received a five-year contract on Canvas, because with all the work that our teachers have put into this program, they will have it in the future they can pull from the next year and years after,” Warwick continued.
Noted board member Donna Deplazes, “I eagerly await the return of my students on a more traditional platform. I understand that every day we wait is instruction time lost. And based on those numbers, it’s real. Our seniors have lost a lot between March and now. I am worried about timing, as it seems fast to have it take place next Tuesday. I’m concerned about logistics and cleaning desks in between classes, as elementary and middle school do not have these issues, whereas high school students more frequently change classes and desks and bathroom lines. Our high school students don’t have that bubble in a classroom all day. Teachers will have to rework pacing guides from a four to a five-day schedule, which took us weeks to complete. I’m worried that we can develop all these plans by Tuesday. We want it to be a conducive learning environment versus chaos.”
She also noted that several high school students have part-time jobs.
“Instead of sitting at home being lazy, they have taken on part-time jobs,” she noted. “I know they are supposed to be a student first, but they have been a productive member of our society for months now and their employers definitely didn’t see this coming, so can they actively staff their business within five days’ notice. Also, some stay at home with their younger siblings so will that give families time to find alternative childcare options? I assume these students will have an option to go back to virtual, but we need to know this deadline.”
Deplazes asked to change the timeline. She also noted to have a plan for the possibility of a teacher having to be quarantined and what the school will do with that class.
Chairman Susan Crenshaw read several letters from other teachers who were concerned about changing the timeline. Many shared their personal scheduling challenges, adding that they have to spend many evening and weekend hours already to complete Canvas planning.
The School Board honored the information and chose to change the date of the five-day school opening to February 22.
Shawn VanDyke spoke from the parent viewpoint. “Prior to COVID-19, my son was an A-B student and now he is struggling since we have done Virtual Friday,” he explained.
Shawn said he had been blessed to have a job where he can work from home at times and help his child. Still, he doesn’t speak Spanish, therefore unable to help his son in that capacity. “The calendar is in Spanish so I can’t even read it to help him in what he needs to do,” he said before adding, “My son needs that extra time in school to learn these subjects in middle school.”
However, his job now requires him to be back in the office, therefore, his option is to leave him at home by himself which they do not want to do.
There are a lot of kids being left home by themselves right now.
VanDyke noted that discussion that night included Foster sharing the difference of salaries in kids having a high school diploma versus those who do not. “Now, kids are working part-time and minimum wage to a high school kid is a lot of money for them, so they think, what do I need to go to school for?” he said. “They don’t have a vision for the future of when they are 30 years old. Also, with childcare, older kids are being left with their younger siblings to keep them and help them with their schoolwork.”
“I heard the teacher’s comments on the scheduling, and I honor that, but once upon a time in 2019, kids went to school five days a week and everyone survived it,” he said. “I had to figure out how to be a dad and teacher at home while keeping my job, I believe these teachers will figure it out as well.”
Bellassai asked if more clarification could be made for how some of the pressure would be taken off of the teachers.
In response, Foster said, “If students are here five days a week, there will be less tutoring. The students that are 100 percent virtual, Ms. Stimeling will be doing the tutoring and have access to the Canvas pages and work with the teachers to assist those students. She has essentially taught all these subjects in middle school and knows what our students need.”
With the new Canvas teaching, Foster added the ever-known statement many teachers have heard, “All my mentor teachers told me that Sunday afternoons were for planning and grading papers.”
It was noted that even if all students went back to school 100 percent, the schools in Virginia will still be using Canvas, which does take longer the first year to set up and get lesson plans on.
Warwick added that the teachers are already planning on Virtual Virginia to be ready for any student who would have to be quarantined.
Principal VanDyke stated that the teachers admit that it does take a lot longer to plan with this system, but that the teachers do want the kids back in school. The relief is that this will then already be in the system for next year, so much less planning will be required.
“I am very proud of my teachers as they do understand it is going to take more time the first year, and they are doing a great job,” she added.
Foster spoke as a former teacher, “When you plan for middle and high school, while they have difficult classes they have to plan for, it is one subject. However, the elementary teachers have to do at least four to five subjects and if they can do it, so can everybody else. I am not minimizing what anyone is doing. It’s hard. I support our teachers, but at the same time we have to get the kids back in school.”
Warwick added, “Right now, school is our student’s job. If we need to work with the students that do have jobs, we will. Yet, there are plenty others who do not have jobs that need to be in school.”
Crenshaw said she heard many say that they “just needed a little more time to prepare.”
Warwick noted that if they can have virtual days when there is an extended number of snow days, then the spring break won’t have to be affected.
“We have a number of students quarantined right now in the elementary school, so they are currently able to go online and do their work,” she said. “This is one of the benefits of having Canvas available in the world of today.”
Warwick brought to everyone’s attention that June is not far away and that “there is light at the end of the tunnel, but in knowing what we know, we need our kids here.”
Board member George Foster said as a parent his child had struggled on a subject and agreed that the students need to be back in school. “I know it’s hard,” he said. “I watch my wife bust herself, including working Saturday and Sundays. It is tough, but it’s needed.”
It was decided to set February 22 as the goal to open CCPS for five days a week, being a logical date as the 19th is the end of the semester, however, they would make sure that everyone was ready.
The Board declared February 15-19 as Virginia School Board Association School Board Clerk Appreciation Week. “We greatly appreciate the work of Sonja Switzer, our Clerk of the Board and Diana Bayne, Deputy Clerk of the Board, and want to openly thank you all for the work you do and for keeping us straight,” they expressed.
The next School Board meeting is set for Tuesday, March 9, in the high school auditorium at 5:30 p.m. The community is encouraged to attend.
