Not for a “snow day” and not because of disease will the academic school calendar for Ohio County Schools students be altered in the future because of the creation of successful online platforms.
That is why Superintendent Dr. Kim Miller insists that a plethora of positives have come from the COVID-19 pandemic that began in West Virginia in mid-March and continues today.
“There are a lot of great things that have come with this pandemic,” Miller insisted. “Our teachers are being creative with the way they are delivering instruction, and they have learned how to use new tools and they have become very proficient with doing that. The fact that a lot of our meetings are taking place online has allowed us to save a lot of time and energy, and I expect so many more positive things to come up because all of our minds open to them now.
“One of the best parts is that we will never have to go outside of our school calendar ever again,” she continued. “With everything we can now do online, we will be able to protect the integrity of that calendar and I believe parents and our employees will come to appreciate that fact very much.”
Canceled No More
Parents and students will still need to watch for weather alters during the winter months, but only to find out whether or not in-person instruction will be available. If Miller and her administration determine early in the morning that transportation would be too risky in Ohio County, educators will turn to remote learning as the alternative.
The superintendent realizes, though, that while some parents enjoy “snow days” with the children, many more mothers and fathers must go to work without the option of working from home.
“Our parents are now going to be able to plan accordingly knowing that the school calendar will not change for any reason,” Miller said. “Not for the weather and not because of the flu or anything else because now we have the skills and the ability to deliver education either in-person or remotely.
“I know some people like those snow days, and I am a mother who always has,” she said. “I have loved the snow days that my girls have had through the years because we’ve always had a lot of fun. But, as a parent, if we wanted to plan a spring break trip or something, we can now do that and not worry about days being taken away because of the missed days because of the weather. “
Miller is well aware that approximately 500 Ohio County Schools students do not have broadband access at home.
“That’s why we worked very hard over the summer months to address every issue we heard about from our staff and our parents, and that is why there are several Wifi hot spots in the county now, and we also have them at all of our schools,” Miller explained. “Our students now have the equipment so those students can be taken to one of those areas and can download the work the teacher has assigned.”
Level Zero?
For the past month Ohio County Schools have been educating according to the state-mandated Level 1, allowing for one day of remote learning and four days of in-person instruction. Miller believes that schedule will remain in place through December unless West Virginia public health officials assign a different level to the school system.
As of today, the Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department has recorded (((440))) positive COVID-19 cases and (((seven))) related deaths.
“As far as our students going to school 5 days a week, I think we should wait until the end of this semester to discuss that because right now I like the fact that our teachers are working hard and we’ve had a lot of success with the four-day weeks,” Miller said. “Plus, our teachers are using Wednesday each work to continue preparing and planning materials for our students.
“The best part what we are doing now is that we are teaching our students now instead of just engaging them online, and that is because our teachers spent their summers preparing for whatever this pandemic brought our way,” she said. “They deserve a ton of credit for their efforts.”
Another factor pertaining to the Level 1 plan for instruction is the fact that approximately 1,500 parents have decided to keep their children home as opposed to allowing them to travel to their respective schools.
“We do still have about 30 percent of our families who have chosen to remain in remote learning,” Miller reported. “If that number wasn’t so significant, it would be easier to move to a five-day model, but our teachers are ready to do what they need to do with the flip of a switch.
“That’s exactly what has taken place with West Liberty Elementary when we had to go 100 percent remote there,” she said. “All of our schools are capable of doing the exact same thing if they have to because of positives tests and the chance for exposures.”
