Wake posts online lessons that students can use while schools are closed by coronavirus
The Wake County school system has a plan to help keep students learning while schools are closed as it works on getting computers into the hands of students who don’t have them.
The Wake County school system contacted parents Friday to tell them they’ve created a Remote Learning Resources website (https://sites.google.com/wcpss.net/instructional-continuity-wcpss) that has lessons and activities designed to help keep students engaged in learning.
The items on the website will not be graded and are only review and practice materials for now.
“This is a a new way of life for many families, so we tried at this point to recognize that not everybody may be ready to start learning new material in this new normal,” Marlo Gaddis, Wake’s chief technology officer, said in an interview Friday.
New content will be added over time to the website. But the district will not be in a position to teach new course material online starting March 30, according to Tim Simmons, a district spokesman.
The district said teachers may contact parents with more information on keeping kids engaged. But Wake asked families to recognize that some teachers are balancing working from home and taking care of their own families.
“Many have children or older family members of their own who depend on them,” Wake said. “We ask that you please be considerate of your teacher’s personal situation. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted everyone’s life.”
Equity issues with remote learning
School districts across the state are phasing into distance learning for their students because K-12 public schools are closed through at least March 30. But Gov. Roy Cooper said Thursday that the public must now prepare for schools to be out “for quite awhile.” to try to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
One of the challenges school districts are facing with using online learning is that not all families have access to the internet at home. Options such as libraries are out because they’ve been ordered to close as well.
Spectrum has agreed to provide free service for the next 60 days to families who don’t already have internet access through the company. Wake is urging families to contact Spectrum by calling 844-488-8395 to get broadband access.
Gaddis said Wake is working on a plan to let families who don’t have computers check out devices from the district.
“Equity is a big concern for me to make sure all students have access to learning materials,” Gaddis said.
Some smaller North Carolina districts already have programs where they give laptop computers to students to take home. But Wake, which is North Carolina’s largest district with 161,907 students, doesn’t have that kind of a program.
An online petition calling on Wake to teach students new material remotely during the closures had more than 250 signatures as of Friday morning.
“Your mission is to educate our children,” the petition says. “During this Coronavirus pandemic, remote learning on *new* material for our high schoolers must start immediately for our students to continue to be engaged, for them to be educated for the future, and for them to continue on their current academic track.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 4:33 PM.
