Whitley County School District Experiences in Returning to

Whitley County School District Experiences in Returning to School During COVID 19 Pandemic

Successes Proactive • Chromebooks: ordered early at onset of COVID 19 Pandemic • 1 to 1 for all students K - 12 • All K - 12 teachers were purchased touchscreen Chromebooks • Chromebooks were set up and ready when school started • Training: • All teachers were trained on the use of Chromebooks • Chromebook orientation was provided for parents/guardians/students • Professional Development focused on various modes of delivery for virtual learning: Screencastify, Bitmoji Classrooms, Flipgrid, Edgenuity, Into Reading online, Learning Management System, Cyber Security, Book. Widgits, Google Suite, Ed Puzzle, Epic • All teachers received training on the district chosen platforms: Zoom and Google Classroom • We have PLC and Curriculum Team Leaders in every school to build capacity in teacher leadership

Successes (continued) • Equity: • We offer three approaches to learning: • Virtual learning • In-person learning • Paper packet/flash drive with instruction and lessons that are created at the district level for our elementary students. This allows for consistency across the district. • All students are provided with a Chromebook • All students have access to hotspots located at every school • All students have access to delivery of school lunch and breakfast

• Substitute Data: • We had 69 sub teachers in 19 -20. • We have 56 sub teachers for 20 -21. Of those, 11 will be full time subs so that takes them out of the rotation for other sub duties. • Substitute Data Reasons it is difficult to get subs: • A lot of subs are retired teachers or retired people in general. They do not wish to be in the schools and potentially exposed to COVID due to their age and existing health issues they may have. • People who depend on substitute work as income or to supplement income are not doing it this year because the income cannot be depended upon. They know that if we do in person school it could end at any time and we could be home online for weeks. The unreliability of income from subbing makes it not a good option. • Some people who would have normally worked as subs intend to stay home with their children or grandchildren to do online learning this year. • Because of COVID, we had a larger than normal number of retirees in 2019 -2020. We have hired several of our subs to replace these retirees and have not been able to find replacements for the subs.

Grade Level In-Person Virtual Packet/ Flash Drive K-6 68. 6% 15. 3% 16. 1% 7 -8 66. 8% 22. 4% 10. 8% 9 -12 71. 9% 23. 6% 4. 5% Percentage of Students In-School and Staying Virtual

Challenges Technology Survey Based on Principal Data Homes Without Reliable Internet Students in Homes Total Students 243 1 to 2 333 38 3 114 21 4 84 3 5 15 1 6 6 • The validity of the various assessment results may be skewed. 1 7 7 • Balancing in-person instruction along with virtual learning. • Mobile hotspots for homes without reliable internet access • Extend wireless infrastructure by providing our students with solid, secure, and reliable internet through expanded wireless access points that will be located throughout the county at each of our elementary schools and central campus which is composed of two elementary schools, middle school, high school, and alternative school. • Students do not have reliable internet access at home; therefore, they can not participate in virtual learning. • Some students live in locations where internet service is simply not accessible. • Students, faculty, staff, and community social emotional well being. 307 total homes Possible Solutions: 559 total students

Whitley County: Where KIDS and COMMUNITY come first! • Teacher Work Ethic • Willing to work with parents to schedule children in for small group/intervention • Willing to learn new concepts (Zoom, Google Classroom, etc. ) • Zooming with students after school hours • Participating in professional learning in order to better serve their virtual students