On Monday, September 18, students in Marietta’s public schools will be in school, but not physically present at school.
Into this year’s school calendar, which was released last spring, are scheduled four virtual days. During virtual days, students aren’t in classes, but are still learning, usually via internet contact with their teachers and classmates.
Virtual days can be used anytime students can’t be in the classroom, whether it be because of weather conditions, problems with utilities, or health-related issues. And since virtual days count as days taught, they prevent schools from being forced to make calendar changes later in the year, something that in a district the size of Marietta’s can result in chaos.
Monday’s plan for students is to meet with their teachers via Zoom throughout the morning, where they’ll be given the day’s lessons and assignments.
“Each site will share directions for how students will need to login,” said Superintendent Brandi Naylor, “and any questions or concerns parents may have can be directed to their child’s site office or emailed to the teacher.”
Teachers and staff will be available by email and phone all day on Monday.
Although all the state’s public schools were forced into virtual learning during the COVID pandemic, it’s a process that, if not used, is quickly forgotten.
“The pandemic taught us that virtual learning isn’t always easy,” reminded Naylor, “but it’s something we may have to do, so we need to be ready just in case. We wanted to make sure students and families stay familiar with how to conduct school virtually.”
Although the virtual days were scheduled months ago, parents need only watch the news to see that a recent resurgence in the number of COVID cases might be reason enough for a refresher course in virtual learning.
“Issues with internet access, device health, and general logging-in difficulties are all what we hope to solve through this first virtual day,” Naylor remarked.
Three more virtual days have been scheduled during the school year in order to maintain readiness in case the district needs intermittent or long-term virtual learning during the school year. Parents are asked to plan ahead now for the other days, which are December 11, February 19, and May 11.
Virtual days, which saw their inception in Oklahoma schools during the 2018-19 school year, have become the norm in most schools across the state, particularly those with four-day weeks. And while they may be somewhat inconvenient for parents, they are a necessary evil – for the time being, at least.