Ohio County once again has been designated “Orange,” and Marshall County remained in the “Red.” Brooke County, “Green” just a few weeks ago, turned “Red,” as well.
That means, by order of W.Va. Gov. Jim Justice, school students and their parents will continue to struggle with remote learning at least through Dec. 2.
But FINALLY, someone said IT. The virtual platforms have not sufficiently replaced in-person instruction, and it’s been the tears and the inner-family fights that have revealed the result. That is because not all children are the same, so they are reacting differently to the online forums, and not all parents are capable of providing the same assistance as teachers are trained to do.
And FINALLY, the state school superintendent, Clayton Burch, has recognized THE FACT.
The kids are far behind, and WVSSAC Executive Director Bernie Dolan told LEDE News yesterday he believes it will take years for them to recoup the education they missed last spring, all summer, and much of the last month in the Northern Panhandle. The probability the kids will remain home until after the New Year grows, it seems, with the release of each color-coded map from the WVDE.
The West Virginia Education Association, a union that represents teachers and service personnel, has suggested the governor issue the stay-at-home order to protect against further in-school infections as the pandemic continues, but data collected by medical experts on the federal level have led leaders to reject such an extreme decision. Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, referred to the classroom last week as “one of the safest places” for the children, teachers and administrators, and the federal official added that students who test positive for the coronavirus most likely contracted the illness at home and not in school.
Yes, teachers and administrators have worked very long hours to provide the kind of online education they have thus far, but despite those valiant efforts the parents and their children are suffering badly. So, how does that change?
A vaccine to counter COVID-19 is the easy answer and believing if more people wore masks and were more careful is a very popular notion right now, but maybe the real answer rests with the adopted system, the decisions it makes, and the development of a new metric that fairly evaluates a school system without including an entire county.
And fair would be different, for the kids anyway.
