For Oklahoma students, April usually means the ping of metal baseball and softball bats, a soft shutter click as prom photos are taken and frantic cramming sessions for state and Advanced Placement tests.
This April though, public schools across Oklahoma are quiet thanks to the need for social distancing.
The baseball and softball bats are in storage. Prom plans are on standby or canceled outright. The cramming sessions for AP tests are being done remotely or individually, while the state tests are not even happening.
“It’s all difficult,” Fletcher Superintendent Shane Gilbreath said. “Not being able to meet and talk to people and doing everything on the phone or online is rough. I am a face-to-face guy and this is hitting me hard.”
In an effort to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, the Oklahoma Board of Education voted unanimously on March 25 to shutter school buildings and move instruction for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year to a distance learning format starting April 6.
What those exact plans look like vary from district to district though, with a quarter of school districts across Oklahoma at least partially relying on hard copies of assignments due to internet accessibility issues. Citing the extenuating circumstances many families are facing due to the pandemic, the state Department of Education has asked districts not to dock students’ grades while relying on distance education. However, they are still required to offer instruction in some form.
Fletcher Public Schools is among the districts relying primarily on hard copies to keep its students engaged during the fourth quarter of the school year. Packets were handed out to students on Monday during meal distribution and teachers are checking in with parents digitally.
Gilbreath acknowledged that with the request from the state Department of Education to not lower grades, it makes it difficult to make students complete the assignments unless they are attempting improve their grade point average or avoid failing a class altogether.
“It’s like sending something home with kids to have their parents sign,” he said. “There’s no guarantee it’ll get to Mom and Dad.”
Pencil and paper assignments are also showing up around Lawton Public Schools as well.
Speaking at his district’s special school board meeting April 1, Lawton Public Schools’ interim superintendent Tom Thomas reiterated that LPS will not be solely relying on web-based instruction for the remainder of the school year. In addition to offering distance learning plans through Google Classroom, LPS will have paper packets of classwork and homework for all grades available via curbside pickup at students’ schools.
“Parents, I strongly encourage you to encourage your student to participate,” he said. “When school resumes in our normal fashion, we want all students to be ready to learn and progress.”
Lawton’s last day of school has been moved up to May 8. In accordance with a previous announcement from district and municipal officials, Altus Public Schools did not actually start distance learning until Wednesday and, pending school board approval, will move up its last day of school by one day to May 14. However, it will be offering additional optional enrichment services and opportunities for families in late May, June and July.
“This may end up being a special thing for our students where they can continue those learning opportunities with their parents,” Superintendent Roe Worbes said in a video address. “That’s up to parents, though. It’s up to them to decide how much or how little they want to do. We’re not judging in any way – we’re just providing as much as we can.”
Except for students signed up to take Advanced Placement exams in May and June, the district will not be checking out laptops or iPads to students and will instead make paper packets available for families without internet access at home.
Along with parents and administrators, faculty members are also having to make changes on the fly.
Derrick Miller is a journalism and yearbook teacher at Duncan Middle School. After setting out his instructional objectives for the year back in August, he’s now having to shift those lesson plans to Google Classroom. Instead of teaching his seventh graders in person how to shoot and edit videos, he is figuring out how to get that information across digitally and asked that everyone be patient.
“It’s brand new to us,” he said. “We’re having to make adjustments too. It is not going to be perfect...but we want to make sure we’re keeping touch with our kids and we are going to keep pushing learning.”