Many of the area schools in Pottawatomie and Lincoln Counties are utilizing traditional, inperson learning, but some are providing parents the option of sending their kids or allowing them to attend virtually on a daily basis.
Chandler School Supt. Melody Toma stated on Monday, “We started back in-person today, going five days a week. In mid-November, we started an A and B alternating schedule,” she added.
Referring to Monday’s return to in-person, she commented, “We’re hoping that’s the way it gets to happen the rest of the year. Face-to-face is better, getting to answer questions, for both our students and staff,” Toma said.
Acting Dale School Supt. Ky Wilkins said Monday, “We’re in-person. We’ve only used a few days virtual. We’re coming to school and that’s better for the kids,” he said.
“They (the students) need to be in front of the teachers. We’ve been in school most of the year. We built into the calendar a few virtual days,” he said.
Wilkins said the only reason Dale would revert to virtual is if he didn’t have enough teachers to cover classes.
Stroud School Supt. Joe Van Tuyl explained on Monday, “Our students attend each day like they have since the beginning of the school year. They can be on site or at home,” he said
“We are completely blended every day. It’s a parental decision whether they attend in-person or not. The students are performing each day with a subject certified teacher teaching each day and that’s the way it’s been since the start of school.”
The superintendent pointed out that each student is equipped with a chrome book and has a computer. “Their work is submitted digitally wheth er they are on or off site,” he said.
“We’re a fully digital rollout district,” Van Tuyl stated.
Students have experienced different levels of quarantine during the school year. “But we haven’t had to close down,” he said.
VanTuyl mentioned, “We’ve gone all virtual where none of the students have been in attendance due to weather, but not because of the COVID.”
He believes, “There are no perfect worlds out there, but we’re learning and getting better at it.”
Blake Moody, superintendent at North Rock Creek, related that his students have the same option like those at Stroud.
“We’ve been in-person all year, but the parents have the option of sending their kids to school or having them attending viring tually,” he said.
He estimated, “About 10 percent of the students were attending virtually at the start of the year. Most of them have returned to in-person.”
“We use Google Classroom and our virtual kids stay on pace with those attending in person.”
Jeff Pruitt, Meeker School superintendent, said his district continues with traditional, in-person learning.
“We’ve been that way all year,” Pruitt noted, “except for a short period when we went virtual with the high school.
“Eighty percent of the parents who responded to our survey said they prefer traditional learning,” Pruitt said.
Alicia Ebers, superintendent at White Rock, said her district has been in-person all year.
“We’ve only had three cases of COVID and no spread,” she explained.