Administrators of Kosciusko’s public schools were called upon to report to the school board about how virtual education efforts are going as the first nine weeks grading period comes to a close.In many schools, some of the children who were enrolled as virtual students at the beginning of the year have already returned to in-person learning already, a trend officials say they expect to continue — especially once report cards for the first nine weeks are received by parents.At Kosciusko Lower Elementary, the initial 127 virtual enrollments have dwindled to 55, but Principal Michelle Nowell said that developing virtual capabilities can have a long-term benefit. Students who may be home sick for a period of time could continue to participate in school, not missing out on what they should be learning and getting behind on assignments.While many of the school principals initially focused on the positive aspects, Kosciusko Junior High School Principal Jackie McElwain expressed significant concern about the rate of students not completing work, some of them even failing because they have not necessarily regularly logged in for attendance purposes.“Several are not doing well,” she said, noting that the school has already logged a total of 212 absences. “I wonder where we’re going with this and I’m really concerned.”McElwain also reported that her staff have logged more than 41,000 phone calls and texts with parents, more than 60% of those with parents of virtual students.“We’ve also had to do 53 Chromebook repairs already when we usually only have maybe five per year,” she said.Board Vice Chairman Randy Fuller said that if everyone only talks about the positives, there is little opportunity for improvement.“Everyone is giving us the feel-good side of it, but how can we do better?” he asked.McElwain suggested a solution to having such a high rate of students failing due to absence or incomplete assignments.“If they’re not passing, we need to get them back into school,” she said. “These kids are not going to make it.”Board members asked about whether students struggling virtually might have the same issues even in the classroom and whether other districts are having the same struggles at the same rate.They were told that even schools that have been 1-to1 with technology for years are seeing students struggle when they try to learn in a remote environment.Remote learning seems to be going best at the high school level, according to Principal Henry Coats. Just over 200 of the school’s 628 students are now attending virtually, utilizing 180 new Chromebooks.“It works really well for parents and students who are willing to commit the time to do it,” he said, noting that still, it is not a perfect system. “I don’t know the right answer, but I know we are all doing everything we can.”Hybrid model option approvedSuperintendent Billy Ellzey put a hybrid education model before the board for discussion Monday night, suggesting it as another tool the district could have available in the case of a COVID-19 outbreak.Though the recent outbreak at the high school did not meet the threshold where a closure is recommended by state officials, the administration felt that the 14-day closure was the only option they had to thwart a larger outbreak.This hybrid option could be used in similar circumstances to stem the spread will keeping the education process intact.If implemented at any point, 50% of students would attend school on Mondays and Tuesdays, with the remainder attending on Thursdays and Fridays. Wednesday would be a virtual day for all students.Students would have the option of being fully virtual when the hybrid model is in effect, according to the description submitted by Ellzey for discussion.Board member Allison Schuler said she was reticent to endorse a set plan.“I’m not against it, but it really depends on the circumstances at the time,” she said.Fuller said that he felt such a plan should have been in place at the outset of the school year, but since it was not, the matter should have been discussed by the board before KHS was closed.In the end a suggestion by board member James Medders was unanimously adopted by the board:Should school administrators feel action is necessary to stem an outbreak of COVID-19 in any of the schools — one that does not rise to the need of closing the school entirely — the hybrid model can be employed, but only with the approval of the school board.
