Chesterfield County School District issued the following announcement on January 19.
We are again watching the weather closely as we approach Friday. I want to take a minute and give you an update on eLearning and Chesterfield County School District’s status as an eLearning district.In 2019, our district began the readiness process to become an eLearning district. Many people think the process was COVID related, but in fact we entered a readiness cohort prior to COVID being on the horizon.
Our district had to complete several readiness activities and assurances over a two-year period in order to be considered eLearning approved. Chesterfield County received our eLearning approval early this school year.
eLearning is meant to address the make-up of school days missed due to short-term disruptions of in-person learning (e.g., weather events, power outages, water main breaks). eLearning days are designed to offer more flexibility to avoid loss of instruction due to school closings or to manage necessary make-up days. We are allowed up to 5 eLearning days per year.
It is worth noting that closure of a district due to COVID is NOT CONSIDERED an eLearning closure and has separate requirements.
When defining an eLearning day, there are a few points to keep in mind:
eLearning days are asynchronous. There will not be a teacher sitting online with a group of students during the day. Teachers will have office hours but that is set aside for students or parents to ask questions about activities.
Students can complete the work at their own pace.
eLearning is not meant to take away the “fun of a snow day.” Students have a window of time to complete school work.
Since there is a window of time to complete work, students without power or internet are not penalized.
Students have 5 school days after they return from the school closure to complete eLearning assignments.
We encourage teachers to have “emergency” eLearning plans pre-prepared in case the decision to move to an eLearning day is made at the last minute.
If decisions are made regarding school closures as we monitor Friday’s weather conditions, notifications will be sent out through the normal channels.
J. Harrison Goodwin, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Chesterfield County School District
Original source can be found here.
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