In a coronavirus world, here’s how Whatcom school districts plan to resume teaching
Nearly two weeks after Gov. Jay Inslee ordered Washington state’s school systems to close in an effort to slow the COVID-19 outbreak, State Superintendent Chris Reykdal said he wanted districts to begin teaching again.
“Our expectation is by Monday they have plans in place,” Reykdal said in a media conference Thursday.
Starting April 6, Reykdal’s office will start gathering data from districts on what those plans are and how they’ll be implemented.
Reykdal largely left the details up to individual school districts. Not all will be able to move their entire learning systems online, he said.
But he did make one thing clear: “Doing nothing is not an option.”
Though Whatcom County’s seven public school districts had already begun preparations, and some had already begun offering their students resources to maintain what had already been taught before the schools officially closed last week for coronavirus, Reykdal’s statement Thursday focused those efforts on moving forward.
“Every district in our state is re-inventing the education delivery model,” Ferndale School District spokesperson Erin Vincent told The Bellingham Herald in an email. “That takes enormous creativity and flexibility.
“When you consider that we have turned the model inside out and upside down AND have done it in just about two weeks — we think the result is really something to be proud of. Our teachers and staff have gone above-and-beyond to help us imagine a new way of reaching students.”
In addition to basically re-inventing the wheel to teaching processes with a looming deadline, each district reported it also has had to contend with opportunity differences in their districts. While some families have full internet access and reliable computer systems, many in each district do not.
“Equity is difficult in an online learning environment,” Vincent wrote. “While all of our secondary students have been assigned 1:1 devices (district-provided laptop, netbook, tablet or other mobile computing device), we know that not all of our elementary students have access to computers. We also know that those devices are only useful for online learning if there is an internet connection available.”
Bellingham Public School Superintendent Greg Baker and Meridian School District James Everett both credited in emails to The Herald the passage of recent technology levies with getting their districts and students the tools they needed to help answer this unprecedented challenge.
Each district also credited its educators for not only reworking lesson plans on the fly, but finding new, innovative ways to contact and teach students, often learning new technologies to allow them to do so on the fly.
“Bigger picture — remote learning simply cannot replicate what we are able to provide systemically within our schools. ... That said, we are going to do our absolute best to serve our students and families,” Baker wrote.
Here’s a district-by-district look at the first steps the districts are taking:
Bellingham Public Schools
Many district teachers and students already engaged in remote learning last week, Baker reported in a March 25 letter, as elementary teachers have been sending messages and videos through the SeeSaw app. Middle and high school students are encouraged to check their school email for messages from teachers on where learning activities can be found.
“Building new routines will take time, especially in a time of stress,” Baker wrote. “Our amazing teachers and other learning leaders are taking innovation to new levels and learning themselves as we go.”
The district also has created a learning resource page for families on its website, spokesperson Dana Smith told The Herald in an email.
“In an ideal world, we want our students to maintain their level of learning, and as we move forward, continue to learn and grow toward meeting their class or grade-level standards,” Smith wrote.
Blaine School District
The district shared some enrichment activities with students last week, Superintendent Christopher Granger reported in a March 25 letter.
In response to the new expectations from the state, Granger said the district is preparing to add “a more robust instructional delivery program” by April 12.
Ferndale School District
The district released learning plans to families through its website on March 25.
“Our current plans are a bridge and provide optional resources and support for families while we work to re-establish contact with every student and family in the district,” Vincent wrote. “Our teachers and staff are in the process of doing this and plan to make contact with every student by the end of the week.”
The district plans to deliver new content and instruction beginning April 13 — the week after students would have returned from spring break. Vincent reported the district’s priorities will be to reinforce concepts that have already been taught and support continued growth with new material.
Lynden School District
The district reported that elementary packets were mailed March 25, according to a March 24 letter from Director of Teaching Elizabeth Hamming. A middle school “menu of learning” went live on the website Thursday morning and paper packets were mailed to families without internet service. High school students also were scheduled to receive learning opportunities on Thursday.
“There are many factors to take into consideration, among them, continued coursework for students that does not require them to sit at a computer for eight hours every day,” Hamming wrote.
Hamming reported that teachers will be refreshing and refining materials for students in the coming weeks and teachers will be communicating with students through email, phone, Skyward and the school websites.
Meridian School District
The district successfully delivered 80% of the 1,500 printed educational activity packets for all its students, Everett reported in letter March 25.
“We learned quite a bit in our first development, collection, printing, and delivery of those educational activity packets,” Everett wrote. “There were some issues along the way and we now know more than we did.”
Everett said the newest guidelines from the state is forcing the district to make some adjustments, which the district will refine by the end of next week.
Meridian’s athletic coaches also have started developing weekly district-wide challenges posted to the district’s Facebook page, in an effort to make sure student’s bodies and minds are staying sharp.
Mount Baker School District
The district has provided multiple links to resources for elementary and secondary students, complete with recommended schedules to keep kids engaged at home, Superintendent Mary Sewright wrote in an email to The Herald. Music and physical educational schedules were included among the resources.
Now the district is ready to increase learning opportunities and connect students with teachers, Sewright reported, as last week teachers contacted families to determine needs, such as internet access. The district is making sure it can deliver flexible services to all students, even those that don’t have internet access.
“Our goal is to increase learning opportunities and narrow the focus of our goals for each subject area,” Sewright wrote. “Students need to complete credits with some modifications, and they need to be prepared for the next grade level or their after-high school plans. The Mount Baker School District staff are committed to supporting students’ academic, social, and emotional needs even in this time of remote contact.”
Nooksack Valley School District
The district launched at-home learning opportunities for all students last week, Superintendent Mark Johnson told The Bellingham Herald in an email, as teachers made contact with their students and families and developed weekly learning plans and schedules. Students will receive a new plan, along with additional material and resources, each week.
Learning packets — including paper, pencil and opportunities to engage in online learning in a variety of subjects — were distributed for all grade levels, Johnson reported, and computers and support to get internet access were supported to families that needed them.
Nooksack physical education teachers also began posting workout routines to the district Facebook page to keep kids active during the school closure, while other teachers used technology to reconnect with their classes.
“We have literally reinvented how we do what we do in just a few short weeks,” Johnson wrote. “We are constantly looking for the sweet spot between a) the needs of our children and families, b) the expectations of our essential services, and c) the safety of our great staff. Our theme has been let’s ‘launch, learn and adjust.’”
This story was originally published March 30, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
