By Carrie Moritz,
Garretson Gazette
Despite a drier winter so far, Garretson School District students will join other districts in South Dakota when it comes to e-learning during snow days, according to a plan passed by the Garretson School Board on Monday.
While two days are currently built into the schedule for any snow events, a plan was developed to begin e-learning should the district need more than that.
"We looked at a number of plans from other schools, and we tried to kind of pull what we thought were the best ideas from each of them," said Superintendent Guy Johnson. The "we" was a committee formed of teachers from all grade levels, including special education teachers.
While the board was accepting of the e-learning program for middle school and high school, they had several questions regarding K-5 student learning.
The 1-to-1 iPad program allows all students in middle school and high school to be online and actively "in class" during the school day.
It is a different story for those in kindergarten through 5th grade. Expecting the younger students to attend online school is difficult, as many of them may have to be in daycare or have parents that are working during snow days, and only 3rd-5th grades have 1-to-1 iPads that are left at school.
For those students, the committee proposed packets that contain "choice boards," or options for students to complete with 1-2 hours of work. It would include options that reinforce what the students are currently learning, along with options from music, PE, and art.
Special education students were another consideration, as "it depends on what their situation is," said Superintendent Johnson. Likely, some students would be meeting more with special education teachers after the snow event was done in order to make up any learning that was missed.
And those students in K-5 who didn't complete their choice packets wouldn't necessarily have any consequences. Middle School and High School students would attend ICU as long as needed to make certain their work was made up.
Despite these potential drawbacks, GSD teachers opted to have the district move forward with the plan regardless.
"Our staff, after we put the plan up there...what we heard from our staff was, let's try it, and then if, after we got our first day done and we need to revise it, we will," Supt. Johnson said.
The two pieces that were the most important for this plan to move forward, and the board clarified with Johnson, was that it would not start until after the second snow day, and that the plan could only be implemented if there was a known likelihood of the snow day by 2:00 p.m. the day before.
That way, parents could be alerted to the potential of an e-learning day well in advance, and teachers could spend time preparing for the e-learning option.
If the weather does not end up turning bad enough for a snow day to be called, or if only a 2-hour late start is needed, the e-learning day would be canceled and students would be expected to head in to school as usual.
Supt. Johnson hopes that this plan will help the school meet its educational obligations during the school year, instead of having to stretch out a school year past Memorial Day.
The board passed the plan, and it will go into effect immediately. So far, Garretson hasn't had to call off any school yet this year. However, after the first two snow days are called, the e-learning plan will take effect.
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