Tag: Public Education

Eight W.Va. Counties Will Be Remote, Virtual School This Week

The West Virginia Department of Education announced that eight counties will be remote-learning only for the week of Sept. 13. State officials rolled out updated data Saturday, Sept. 12 at 5 p.m.

Monongalia, Boone, Fayette, Kanawha, Logan, Mingo, Monroe and Putnam counties will not be open for in-person instruction this week.

The COVID-19 Data Review Panel has determined that Calhoun County will move from orange to yellow on the WVDE School Alert System Map. Calhoun County has had 13 cases which are linked and contained over the previous 14 days with no further evidence of community spread, according to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

Red (Substantial Community Transmission): Remote-only learning mode. No extracurricular competitions or practices are permitted. Staff may report to their schools, as determined by the county. Essential support services, including special education and meals, will continue. Counties in red include: Monongalia.

Orange (Heightened Community Transmission): Remote-only learning mode. Extracurricular practices may occur, however, competitions may not. Staff may report to their schools, as determined by the county. Essential support services, including special education and meals, will continue. Counties in orange include: Boone, Fayette, Kanawha, Logan, Mingo, Monroe and Putnam.

Yellow (Increased Community Transmission): School may be held for in-person instruction. Extracurricular practices and competitions may occur. Health and safety precautions include, at a minimum, face coverings at all times for grades six and above. Please refer to your county for specific face covering requirements. Counties in yellow include: Berkeley, Brooke, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge, Grant, Greenbrier, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Lincoln, McDowell, Mercer, Ohio, Pocahontas, Raleigh, Roane, Summers, Taylor, Tucker, Upshur, and Wayne.

Green (Minimal Community Transmission): School may be held for in-person instruction. Extracurricular practices and competitions may occur. Health and safety precautions include, at a minimum, face coverings in grades three and above when students are outside of core groups and in congregant settings and on school buses. Please refer to your county for specific face covering requirements. Counties in green include: Barbour, Braxton, Gilmer, Hardy, Hampshire, Lewis, Marion, Marshall, Mason, Mineral, Morgan, Nicholas, Pendleton, Pleasants, Preston, Randolph, Ritchie, Tyler, Webster, Wetzel, Wood, Wirt and Wyoming.

All schools, both public and private, are expected to adhere to the WVDE’s re-entry map to guide in-person instruction and extracurricular activities.

Updates to the map will be announced each Saturday at 5 p.m. and will be in effect until the following Saturday at the same time, according to the WVDE. The only exception would be if a county turns red during the week.

If this happens, the change would be made immediately to the map, according to the WVDE, and all in-person instruction and extracurricular and athletic activities would be suspended.

As of Saturday morning, the West Virginia DHHR reports 12,521 total cases of the virus and 265 deaths. 3,031 cases are considered active.

Retiring Jefferson County Principal Shares Wisdom, Advice After Decades On The Job

 

Debra Corbett always loved education. Coming from a family of educators, it was something she said she always wanted to do. Her mother, aunts and uncles were all teachers.

“I heard a lot about, when the family got together, about school, about kids,” Corbett said. “It made me want to be in education … to somehow support parents and make a difference in student lives.”

Corbett retired this year after 31 years as principal of Ranson Elementary School in Ranson, Jefferson County. Prior to that, she was an elementary school teacher. She said her biggest takeaways in her career are the importance of compassion, to be gentle, to show support to teachers and students and help them see they can succeed.

As Corbett leaves her long career in education, teachers, parents, staff and students across West Virginia begin a new school year in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic.

Nine West Virginia counties started the new school year off virtually this week. The other 46 counties are offering in-person, virtual and hybrid schooling for, at least, the first week of school. That could change next weekend.

Every Saturday night, state officials will update a color-coded map found on the West Virginia Department of Education’s website. The map indicates what schooling options will exist in each county week-by-week. This is how West Virginia is tackling school this year in the face of the coronavirus – taking it one week at a time.

Corbett’s advice to teachers during this turbulent time is to offer comfort to students and be kind to themselves. 

“Just take a deep breath,” she said. “We can’t get everything accomplished in one day. It’s just going to take some time to go through this pandemic time and do the best that we can.”

But another global event has rattled the world this year – a reckoning in racial justice in the United States. People across the country and the world have taken to the streets to protest the treatment of Black people by police. Marches and rallies have been held in recent months demanding change following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police.

Corbett, who is Black, completed kindergarten through sixth grade when schools were racially segregated. 

Ranson Elementary School, Corbett said, is a culturally diverse school with a diverse demographic of students. She said many of her students are Black or English Language Learners (ELL). She said she has tried hard to create a safe environment for students at school. 

“Well, being a Black administrator, it has just opened up my eyes even more,” she said. “With everything going on at this time, I do think of the kids and what they’re seeing on TV, and even what they’re hearing and what they’re experiencing in their family and in their homes, too … [I want] to make sure that they can come to [school] and that they know that they’re in a safe environment, and that they know that someone is there to just listen to them.”

She said it’s more important than ever for teachers to use education to help bridge the gap created by systemic racism.

“Systemic racism – those inherited biases and prejudices of different policies and practices, you know, that have just been handed down, generation to generation – it just doesn’t go away overnight,” she said. “That’s why it’s so important for the teachers to expose the students [to] all types of cultures in their lessons and their reading and in class. And I think that’s one way that we can come together.”

Credit Jefferson County Schools
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Debra Corbett helps students get their breakfast during a summer program in July 2018 called Rising Rockets at Ranson Elementary School.

 

Corbett grew up in Jefferson County and attended Jefferson County Schools, graduating with the last class from Charles Town High School in 1972. Corbett earned her bachelor’s degree from Fairmont State University and began her teaching career at South Jefferson Elementary School in 1976 before teaching overseas for several years.

Corbett earned her master’s degree from the University of Toledo before returning to West Virginia and teaching at Wright Denny Intermediate School. In 1989, Corbett left Wright Denny and was named principal of Ranson Elementary School.

“This experience has truly made me a better person,” she said. “And I will miss it after 39 years with Jefferson County Schools.”

Nine W.Va. Counties Will Go Virtual-Only In First Week Of School

The West Virginia Department of Education announced Saturday that nine counties will begin with only remote learning for the week of Sept. 6 through 12. State officials rolled out updated data Saturday at 9 p.m.

 

Monongalia, Fayette, Kanawha, Logan, Mercer, Mingo, Monroe, Putnam and Wayne counties will not initially open for in-person instruction. 

 

Monongalia is the only county in West Virginia as of Saturday night that is marked red on the state’s color-coded map that gauges whether schools are ready for in-class teaching, sports and other activities. Previously, Monroe County was also labeled red but was moved to orange on Saturday.

 

A level of red indicates “substantial community transmission.”

 

As of the Saturday update, orange level counties — which indicates “heightened community transmission — include Fayette, Kanawha, Logan, Mercer, Mingo, Monroe, Putnam and Wayne.

 

The remaining counties in the state fall into the yellow and green levels, which allows for in-person instruction to begin. Yellow counties indicate “increased community transmission,” while green translates to minimal spread of the virus.

 

The color-coded threat levels are based on an average of new daily cases — with counties of 16,000 or more on a 14-day rolling average. Those with populations of less than 16,000 are measured on a 7-day rolling average.

 

State officials announced last week they would create a data review panel to evaluate county coronavirus case data to determine its accuracy and reliability.

 

“Upon further review of the data by the Panel, it was determined that Monroe County should be moved to orange status,” said West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Cabinet Secretary Bill Crouch on Saturday. “This is because the county’s daily number of cases and the average seven-day incidence have declined sufficiently to meet the criteria for orange. From this analysis, the Panel concluded the level of COVID-19 transmission in Monroe County was improving.”

 

Monroe and the other counties in orange means school is remote only, but extracurriculars can still resume, however athletic competitions may not.

 

Updates to the map will be announced each Saturday at 9 p.m. and will be in effect until the following Saturday at the same time, according to the state Department of Education. The only exception would be if a county turns red during the week.

 

All schools, both public and private, are expected to adhere to the education department’s re-entry map to guide in-person instruction and extracurricular activities.

 

“We’re about ready to go back to school,” said Gov. Jim Justice in a virtual press conference Friday. “Unfortunately we’re going to have some that we just can’t turn loose right yet, which is in the best interest of the school.”

 

Justice announced Friday the state will devote an additional $50 million in federal pandemic relief funds for personal protective equipment and testing capacity at schools.

 

The 2020-2021 school year in West Virginia is set to start on Tuesday, Sept. 8.

As of Saturday morning, the state Department of Health and Human Resources reports 11,289 total cases of the virus and 243 deaths. 2,530 cases are considered active.

Union Leaders Allege Schools Not Safe To Reopen As State Defends Response

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ben Salango and union leaders in West Virginia education say Gov. Jim Justice and state officials are not doing enough for a safe reopening of schools next week. 

The West Virginia chapter of the American Federation of Teachers and gubernatorial candidate Salango held a press conference Wednesday in Charleston citing concerns that several schools across the state are not yet safe enough to open next week.

Fred Albert, president of AFT-West Virginia, said over a Facebook Live broadcast that the greatest concern is aging school buildings in West Virginia that do not have proper ventilation, which Albert said is “vital to mitigating the virus.”

“Our teachers and service personnel miss their students,” Albert said. “We want to return to teaching and to learning, but it must be safe. Our elected leaders have only a few days left to put the proper safety measures and resources in place.”

Albert argued that many teachers have reached out to him and AFT-West Virginia claiming they still do not have personal protective equipment available.

In a https://youtu.be/BELroCe8hY8″>virtual press briefing Wednesday with Justice and other state leaders, the governor said there is money available through the CARES Act for any resources still needed at West Virginia’s more than 600 public schools.

West Virginia Superintendent of Schools Clayton Burch echoed the governor and said he and his staff are “triple checking” to make sure schools have what they need. He said he communicates frequently with county superintendents.

“The governor’s assured us that at no point in time should I be shy coming to him to ask for any dollars that I need,” Burch said in the press briefing. “I’ve got Gen. Hoyer, Secretary Crouch completely backing us up. We’ve got over 2 million face coverings stockpiled, ready to be used.”

Burch did not directly mention the AFT press conference that occurred Wednesday morning, but he did mention Albert and said he feels frustrated “when we continue to hear folks go on and publicly continue to say that our teachers and our schools aren’t ready, and that happened [Wednesday].”

“My door has been open, since day one, March 13, I’ve never closed my door,” Burch said. “My door has been open to anybody who wants to discuss return to school, and I’ve appreciated all the voices who have assisted. Whether you’re a parent advocacy group, whether you are folks representing special needs, whether you’re folks representing foster children, or whether you’re one of our teachers’ unions, or service personnel, my door has been continuously open.”

Still, Albert argued during the AFT press conference for more leadership from the governor with clear, consistent procedures on “how staff, parents and students will be notified of potential cases or exposure in schools.”

Salango said in the Facebook Live broadcast there should be more coronavirus testing and more nurses staffed at schools. Salango also claimed that with $6 million, every school in the state could be equipped with temperature scanners.

“We don’t have thermal scanners, temperature scanners, hands free devices in all of our schools,” Salango argued. “That’s something that’s easy to do, easily installed, easily executed.”

Albert is also asking Justice to allow more time for families to sort out childcare needs should a county change color on the re-entry map. He said being notified on a Saturday night does not give families enough time to prepare.

“If we stay in the orange or move to red by Saturday night at 9 p.m., then our parents will be scrambling over the weekend to provide care for their child.”

Albert said families should at least be notified by Fridays at 5 p.m.

West Virginia’s school re-entry is guided by metrics developed by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. It’s based on a four-color system – green, yellow, orange and red. Each county is assigned a color based on the prevalence of COVID-19 within their borders, according to the West Virginia Department of Education.

Both the governor and Burch say school re-opening remains a “fluid” situation, and they are prepared to respond to any scenario.

Schools in West Virginia are set to begin Sept. 8.

From WiFi Hotspots To Video Classrooms: Tackling Virtual School In A Pandemic

Across West Virginia, families have been promised the option of virtual schooling in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. And many families are considering it for fall 2020. About 50,000 children so far in West Virginia have already signed up for virtual school, according to the West Virginia Department of Education.

All 55 of West Virginia’s counties must offer at least one virtual school option, as mandated by Gov. Jim Justice.

Counties can choose to offer West Virginia Virtual School from the West Virginia Department of Education, or a local option structured by that county, or some combination. And in some counties, students will have to stick with their virtual program for a set amount of time.

“Google Classroom allowed for us to be successful during the springtime, at least to get everybody on the same platform. So, we are going to use that for this coming school year,” said Jennifer Rowan, director of technology for Jefferson County Schools, in a Zoom meeting with about 500 student family members last week.

Rowan showed parents in Jefferson County how to use Google Classroom – one of the programs Jefferson County Schools uses for its virtual school called Jefferson Virtual Academy. The public meeting, held by the Jefferson County Board of Education, was aimed to help families, curious about virtual schooling, understand what it would be like.

Jefferson County uses Google Classroom to organize and deliver classes and assignments. Students can type out questions and comments with teachers and classmates in real time. It’s also where they submit work for teachers to grade.

The county also uses an online program called Microsoft Teams, which allows for video conference calls during virtual class. These will also be recorded and available to students if they aren’t able to join when class meets.

Rowan noted that in Jefferson County, lessons will be synced up as close as possible in both virtual and in-person classes. This is in the event school must go entirely virtual because of virus outbreaks.

“It has never been more important than now to adhere to those pacing guides,” Rowan said. “So that if we have to go into a quarantine period, [in-person students] are now at the same type of pace as the Virtual Academy students.”

The county is also committed to providing personal electronic devices, such as iPads, to every student who needs one.

But families in Jefferson County must choose now if they want to go virtual or attend in-person scenarios. The deadline to choose the virtual option is Aug. 19.

If a student in Jefferson County who signed up for in-person schooling decides they want to change to virtual school, they’ll have the option to switch at the end of the fall semester.

Jefferson County’s Virtual Academy is just one example of what virtual schooling might look like this fall in West Virginia. Each county will vary.

Regardless, if parents want their child in virtual school, they have that choice.

“We will have total optionality,” said Justice in a recent virtual press conference. “If you feel like your child should not be in the school, then we’re going to make that child’s education, along with all the children’s education that choose not to come to the schools, virtual, and we will absolutely deliver a quality education to them for the time period that they’ve decided not to come to the school.”

One way Justice is hoping to make virtual school easier for families who choose it is through a broadband expansion initiative called Kids Connect, which is expected to go live by Sept. 8.

According to the governor’s office, 40 percent of West Virginians have access to broadband, so the hotspots will be crucial if virtual school is to be successful.

Justice has committed $6 million to Kids Connect. It creates just a little more than 1,000 WiFi hotspots, spread out across the state in all 55 counties. The project was a collaboration of the governor’s office, the West Virginia Department of Education and the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission.

These hotspots will be available in parking lots of all K-12 schools, which totals to 688 sites. 32 higher education institutions will offer hotspots, 255 libraries, and 31 of West Virginia’s state parks.

Students will also have access to school buses that will drive them to these hotspots so they can complete their work.

Sarah Armstrong Tucker, who serves as chancellor of both the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission and the Community and Technical College System, recently spoke about the initiative at an informal, informational meeting with the House Education Committee in Charleston.

“I think it’s going to make a significant difference,” Tucker said. “If we have to go to a virtual environment, or even a partially virtual environment, our students will know where they can go so that they can connect to the internet.”

The hotspots will also be available to higher education students.

West Virginia’s Superintendent of Schools Clayton Burch echoed Tucker at the education meeting but said it’s only the first step into a much larger broadband issue in West Virginia.

“I appreciate the 1,000 points of WiFi that we’re targeting,” Burch said. “I think it’s a great project, but it is a Band-Aid.”

Virtual school this fall will be available to all students in West Virginia, from kindergarten to 12th grade.

School is set to begin in West Virginia on Sept. 8.

W.Va. Teachers' Union Wants Public Schools To Start Online

A West Virginia teachers’ union is urging public schools to avoid face-to-face instruction when students return next month due to the coronavirus.

The West Virginia Education Association suggested the online-only start Thursday based on a survey of the union’s membership.

WVEA President Dale Lee said most of the respondents felt uncomfortable returning to classrooms under their individual county’s reopening plans. In addition, nearly all members were skeptical that students could effectively maintain social distancing and wear masks.

“Full distance learning will give time for counties to get a handle on the situation and to further iron out the details on how the next steps of the school re-entry will be handled in each location,” Lee said.

Gov. Jim Justice has pushed back the start of the school year to Sept. 8. He said recently that a final decision on the reopening would have to be made by Sept. 1.

Last month American Federation of Teachers’ state chapter president Fred Albert expressed doubt that face-to-face instruction could occur safely based on health trends.

The number of virus-related deaths in West Virginia has jumped 23% since last Friday, pushing the total for the pandemic to at least 153. Confirmed cases in West Virginia have tripled in the past seven weeks to more than 8,150.

Lee said two-thirds of WVEA educators consider themselves at risk due to health, age or caregiver concerns.

“We understood that every county and their individual schools are unique in each circumstance,” he said. ”But safety for the employees and the students should be foremost everywhere. One outbreak of the virus is one outbreak too many. And starting before we are truly prepared will simply force shutdowns and create additional anxiety and uncertainty.”

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up within weeks. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause severe symptoms and be fatal. The vast majority of people recover.

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