Hopes of returning to class have evaporated.
Gov. Brian Kemp’s April 1 executive order closed all K-12 public schools for the remainder of the 2019-2020 academic year to limit the spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus).
Gilmer Schools have been closed since Monday, March 16. Kemp’s original order closed schools for two weeks. Closures were later extended through April 24 before last week’s edict.
In an April 2 press release, State School Superintendent Richard Woods said, “This is a hard reality, and a real loss — for teachers who miss their students, students who miss their teachers and for our graduating seniors.
“I fully support the Governor’s decision. I deeply appreciate his deliberate decision making during these uncertain times, as well as the partnership he’s had with me, the Georgia Department of Education and superintendents across the state during this unprecedented crisis.”
The Gilmer School System will continue to operate and educate remotely. Lessons and assignments have been doled out online to students. Virtual classes and remote instruction will continue through May 22, which is the final day of the school system’s 2019-2020 academic calender.
ilmer Schools Superintendent Dr. Shanna Downs discussed the current situation Monday. She noted “the chatter of the day” among some local superintendents she spoke to, but did not agree with their stance as it pertained to the remainder of the school year.
“There were some people talking about closing schools early (ceasing all remote instruction) around May 1,” she said. “To me, I don’t understand that because who does that serve? Right now, we’re trying our best to get instruction to our students and our teachers are on payroll through July. So, we’ve got the staff to do it. What benefit does that serve to close early?”
Ending instruction prematurely would also require students to play “catch up” next fall. Lessons missed would have to be made up before resuming scheduled curriculum next school year.
“I want to continue to do the best we possibly can for our students,” Downs said. “It won’t be equal to a teacher in a classroom and never will be, but I don’t want to call it early on May 1 and say ‘Hey, we’re just gonna close everything and stop all instruction.’”
Through three weeks of remote learning, Downs said she has received good reports from parents as teachers cope with new challenges.
“Everything I have gotten has been very positive about the dedication level of our teachers,” she said. “I think everyone is working toward acclimating. The response we have gotten back from parents has been very positive. (The response) from teachers has been pretty sad because everyone misses their students.”
Final grades and promotion
The school system received guidelines from the state last Friday allowing for grades K through eight to use a pass/fail system. Under pass/fail grading, students simply receive a “pass” or “fail” designation for each subject rather than a letter grade.
However, with the constantly evolving situation, no definitive decisions have been made about final grades or grade promotion.
“A lot of what we do isn’t within our realm to make the decision because of the way state reporting works,” Downs said. “We’re a little bit at their mercy. For high schools, they didn’t want anything from March 13 forward to hurt a student’s average. We’re exploring that only work past March 13 can help an average. We’re kind of headed down that road, but haven’t made any final decisions yet.”
Students are on spring break this week. Downs plans to see what further guidance the state provides while monitoring surrounding counties.
What about prom and graduation?
Prom and Gilmer High’s graduation were set to take place in the coming weeks. Current social distancing guidelines have put those plans on hold. As of Tuesday’s press deadline, neither event had been canceled as Downs wants to avoid “jumping the gun.”
“We want to see where this is going and when the social distancing ends,” she said. “I don’t want to cheat the students out of their traditions and rites of passage.
“For now, our stance is we know we won’t be able to have the graduation ceremony planned for May 22. But maybe we can have that ceremony in July or explore some of the virtual options that are out there. People are exploring different options, and I don’t want to say ‘no’ to anything. I want to make sure whatever option we have is the best we can do for our students and families.
Downs added, “One advantage we have in relation to the prom, is many schools have to rent somewhere and schedule it a year out. We don’t have to do that because we own the building (Gilmer County Agriculture Education Center) where we have prom. If the social distancing were to end, and we wanted to do it, we could do it in July because we own the building.”
As with final grades and promotion, Downs plans to use the week of spring break to gather more information.
“This is all unchartered territory, and I don’t want to make decisions in isolation and then there be better options out there we didn’t consider,” she said.
Meals continue
The Seamless Meal Program has been used through the first three weeks of school closures. It will not be in place this week because of the program’s stipulations. However, the county’s youth will continue to be fed during spring break with the help of emergency services.
“In order to get funding from the state for the meal program, we would have had to have canceled spring break,” Downs said. “When the announcement (of school closures) was first made, we were only two weeks out from spring break. They told us we would be back to school already, so we did not officially cancel spring break, which means we could not run it through our state and federally funded program.
“We had some local organizations step in with our Emergency Management Team and they’re doing it this week. They got some volunteers and got with the food pantry and they are providing lunches during spring break.”
Regular meal distribution will resume Monday, April 13. Meals will be available to youth ages 18 and younger from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Tower Road, Mulberry Street Apartments, Ellijay United Methodist Church and Civic Center. Additionally, meals will be distributed throughout the county on buses.
“We had been doing lunch and a snack,” Downs said. “When we start up on Monday, we’re going to do lunch and then a breakfast for the next day. So it will be a little more hearty and a more substantial amount of food.”
Downs assessed the response to the pandemic and praised all involved.
“In these unchartered waters, I feel like our staff has gone above and beyond in all aspects to try to make sure our students and community at large is taken care of,” she said.
“Most of the staff are putting in more hours than they did during a traditional work week to try and connect with students. I’m proud of our community coming together to do what’s right for our students.”