Many Whitfield County Schools students have returned to face-to-face instruction

Published 6:12 pm Thursday, December 10, 2020

Only 10% of Whitfield County Schools students are currently enrolled in full-time virtual learning, as many who started the year in that fashion have transitioned to face-to-face instruction.

Roughly 30% of Whitfield County Schools’ approximately 13,000 students opted for virtual learning to open this academic year, but now only 6% of elementary learners are doing school from home, while 8% of middle school students are continuing distance learning, said Karey Williams, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning. “Students who are more independent are more willing to go (and stay) virtual,” as 17% of high school students remain complete distance learners.

Edgenuity is the digital platform for virtual high school and middle school students, while students in grades three to five are enrolled in the online program Odysseyware, and students in kindergarten, first grade and second grade are in Google Classroom but also receive instruction through the online program Pathblazers. Virtual students have a teacher monitoring their progress.

At the high school level, some students have been “successful,” while others have “fallen behind first semester,” so “high schools are working hard to set up first-semester credit recovery classes,” Williams said. “We’re doing everything we can to get them caught up by the end of May.”

Currently, the Georgia Milestones End-of-Course test counts for 20% of a student’s final grade in courses requiring such tests. On Oct. 1, State School Superintendent Richard Woods “recommended the initiation of rulemaking procedures to change the weight of the End-of-Course test from 20% to .01% for the 2020-21 school year,” since schools switched to total virtual learning in mid-March of the last school year because of COVID-19 and this academic year has seen many students spend limited or no amount of time in classrooms due to the pandemic, according to the state Department of Education. The state Board of Education denied the request, instead proposing to change the figure from 20% to 10%.

Whether an end-of-course test counts for 20% of a final grade in a class or virtually nothing could have a dramatic impact on that grade, so students and staff are waiting for a final decision from the state Board of Education, which was expected this week, Williams said.

Students who have returned to conventional school this year have seen an uptick in performance from where they stood with virtual learning, Williams said during this week’s meeting of the Whitfield County Board of Education. “Some got off to a great start, some to a rocky start, but bringing them back face to face has been a big help.”

With a number of students learning virtually this year, and the school system dramatically scaling back travel due to the pandemic, buses are traveling less and carrying fewer students, said Mike Ewton, assistant superintendent for operations and student services. Typically, “we drive 9,000 students daily, but we’re down to 5,600 this year.”

The buses are using an average of 1,000 gallons of fuel per day, Ewton said. By comparison, in 2018-19, that number was 1,233 gallons per day.

Though field trips have been minimized this year because of COVID-19, Williams is eager for middle school students to experience the new Junior Achievement Discovery Center of Greater Dalton, which is slated to open in March 2021 on the campus of Dalton Public Schools’ new Hammond Creek Middle School.

The center will feature more than a dozen classrooms, a 140-seat commons area with a stage, meeting space, a training room and a general purpose room. It will host multiple Junior Achievement programs. Though it will be on Dalton Public Schools’ property and will be a draw for that system’s students, children in school systems throughout Northwest Georgia will be able to visit the center and benefit from its enrichment opportunities.

Whitfield County Schools students in grades six and eight will each have a full day at the Junior Achievement center this spring, as the former engage in a BizTown unit, while the latter experience Finance Park, Williams said. BizTown is more about “learning the soft skills to earn a paycheck,” while Finance Park is “about how to make that paycheck work in real-life situations.”

Students engage in role playing, and “we are very excited about this opportunity,” Williams said. Whitfield County Schools middle school teachers will have their training in mid-January, and “they get the Junior Achievement materials free.”

Whitfield County Schools officials have already started preparing schedules for the 2021-22 academic year, Williams told the school board members. High school students will begin picking their classes in February, while eighth-graders will choose their freshman year courses in March.