‘Changing every day’: Fort Mill decides on virtual, in school options for this fall.
Fort Mill is the latest school district to announce a new virtual learning academy, as administrators await more answers on how school will operate.
Fort Mill Virtual Academy will be a fully remote school. It will operate the full year for elementary and middle school, by semester in high school. Parents will be able to choose between the virtual program and in-person school, unless COVID-19 cases force school buildings to close as it did this spring.
“Everything’s changing every day,” said Chuck Epps, district superintendent.
Parents of elementary and middle school students will need to choose virtual or in-person and stick with that choice for the year. Those choices will help steer district resources toward in-school or remote services.
“That’s how we’re going to allocate teachers,” Epps said. “It can’t be one of those things where you come in and out.”
For students who choose in-person, there could be a hybrid option or rotating class schedules to promote social distancing. The district has to keep social distancing in mind for bus routes too, which could impact school start times.
“If they can bring their children and not ride the bus,” Epps said of parents who choose in-person school, “that will help us.”
Many details simply aren’t available yet, he said. The ones that are could change in a moment.
“This situation we’re in, truly an unprecedented set of circumstances,” Epps said. “It’s such a challenge. I hope everybody is praying for us.”
The district put out a survey to gauge where families are with a return to school during coronavirus. It was only so helpful.
“On every question, it was like 50-50,” Epps said. “It didn’t give us a guiding way to go. We’ve got to figure that out ourselves.”
The virtual and in-school options will operate almost as separate schools. There will be something like a principal for virtual school. They would remain separate even if schools have to close again.
There will be options for families who want to have virtual school but lack technology or other resources. District leaders say the virtual academy won’t resemble the more emergency setup of remote learning that began in March and ran through the end of the year. As for options like sports and extra curriculars, the district doesn’t have many details.
“It could change on a moment’s notice,” Epps said.
SC school reopening
Molly Spearman, state education superintendent, joined other officials June 22 for a press conference to discuss final AccelerateED Task Force recommendations for the 2020-21 school year.
“Our focus from the state level down to each school and classroom must remain directed toward protecting the health, safety and wellness of students and staff while giving students the best possible learning experience that is as close to normal as health and safety will allow,” Spearman said at the event.
Spearman said in-person, full remote and hybrid options would be available statewide this fall as long as coronavirus positive tests weren’t “rampant” to the point where school buildings remain closed. Districts were given options to make many of their own decisions, with varied needs in a state where schools range from 150 to more than 4,000 students.
About 90% of the $216 million allocated to South Carolina education through the federal CARES Act will go to school districts, Spearman said. Districts have two years to spend funds on items from food service to technology upgrades. Spearman said during the press conference she intends to ask the state legislature for more school funding.
“We have already ordered cloth masks for all teachers in the state, for all custodians in the state, bus drivers, cafeteria workers,” she said.
Spearman said South Carolina will be better prepared this fall than it was in March when coronavirus abruptly ended in-person education. Some districts have their own virtual school options. There is a free state online program, and all-virtual charter schools.
Still, the most ideal scenario is to have schools statewide open for instruction this fall, Spearman said.
“There is no doubt that face to face instruction, particularly for young children learning how to read and do math, kindergarten through third-graders, is best,” she said.
Coronavirus may not, she said, allow for ideal scenarios.
“There are some places where it may not be possible,” Spearman said.
Rock Hill, Clover, York
School districts throughout York County have held surveys and developed task forces on school reopening, and planned various options. The Rock Hill School District announced June 29 it would offer a full virtual school option this fall that previously was available just for high school students. Now it is available K-12.
Students will follow schedules more resembling in-school instruction than the at-home learning this past spring. Initial parent survey results found 16% of parents indicated they would not send students back for in-person school this fall. Another 30% responded they weren’t sure.
In a video posted on the York School District website, superintendent Kelly Coxe acknowledged community frustration and anxiety with the uncertainty of an upcoming school year. She also spoke of opportunity.
“We are choosing to embrace this moment,” Coxe said. “We are viewing this as an opportunity to reevaluate our programming and our learning opportunities so that we can strengthen what we offer all of our students.”
The York district received more than 2,100 responses to its first survey, representing more than half the student body. More than half the responses wanted a return to face to face learning this fall.
“While that is encouraging,” Coxe said in the video, “it also means that there is a significant number who do have varying levels of reservation.”
Plans are underway there for a virtual academy. Virus spread through the summer will determine plans, but for now there are traditional and remote education options on the table along with a hybrid that would alternate students between the two.
The Clover School District also has a K-12 virtual academy model planned. A draft reopening plan for the district is complete. A final one will be released to parents July 13. A survey of 4,800 parents in that district found a quarter of families prefer virtual learning this fall. Another 45% want face to face, with 30% supporting either model.
“We know that there are families who feel a little uncertain about students coming back to school without a vaccine,” superintendent Sheila Quinn said in a video posted on the district site, “and we wanted to provide this option with Clover School District teachers in an online platform.”
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 7:12 PM.
