In the Saginaw School District, some old-fashioned telephone calls will help students and their parents become familiar and comfortable with the newfangled techniques involved in online virtual learning.
The back-to-school calls are inviting families to take part in personal training for at-home use of tablets (kindergarten through second grade) and Google Classroom personal computers (third grade and upward) when classes begin on Sept. 8, the day after Labor Day.
Superintendent Ramont Roberts and a unanimous Board of Education, the same as most educators in Saginaw County and across Michigan, have opted to delay in-school group classes until the relentless covid19 virus at least begins to recede, which has not happened this summer.
In the past, some parents or guardians kept their children home for opening school days from embarrassed feelings over lack of new clothes. Nowadays, in a similar way, the personal tech tutorials in advance are intended to cope with any inadequate fears over lack of experience with computers.
Social-distanced spaces will be reserved in gymnasiums and cafeterias for families that lack home internet hook-ups or who still require special guidance, Roberts notes, and all-hours WiFi driveups will be in place at the 13 buildings.
“We will continue to get better at what we are doing,” he says, “but, of course, there will be a learning curve.”
Families of more than half of the district’s 5,700 pupils had indicated that during covid times, they would not be willing to participate with interaction in traditional school settings, even with precautions
At the same time, says Roberts, parents still desire college-trained educators to take the lead, and there has not been a move toward outright home schooling, at least not within the city, as some analysts were forecasting at the onset of the corona outbreaks.
“It’s the exact opposite,” he notes. “Their experiences after the school closures last March provided an appreciation for professional teachers and school staff members.”
Still, he adds, parent involvement remains of vital importance in a youngster’s success.
Some students will receive direct online classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, some on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with Fridays alternating. Homework-type assignments with available school support staff will occur on the off days.
Teachers will monitor individuals’ participation on the computer days, similar to taking classroom attendance during the old days, and if children and their families use the Chromebooks for off-hours activities such as games, movies, email or Facebook, so be it.
The district purchased the Chromebooks wholesale in bulk for about $300 apiece, with funds coming from the federal CARES Act, Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security. CARES is best known for supporting hospitals, nursing homes and other health care providers, as well as the infamous (and now expired) extended unemployment $600 supplements, but the legislation also has offered limited funds to schools.
Roberts and his team announced last spring, pre-covid, that the formerly in-debt city schools had recovered to achieve a healthy and solvent budget status. He says he expects solid finances to continue even during pandemic times, although probably with some erosion of the uncommonly strong 36 percent rainy day fund. State takeover threats are in the past.
Regarding school meal delivery, the superintendent says most families will be asked to visit neighborhood pickup sites, with a few home visits to households of youngsters with major disability challenges.
