The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District will allow parents and students to choose their preferred method of education for the upcoming school year due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, Superintendent Eddie Peasant announced Tuesday on the district’s website.
Depending on grade level, students will have the options of a traditional in-person learning environment, an entirely online environment or a “hybrid” of the two. The hybrid plan is only available for grades 10-12.
Parents have until 5 p.m. today to complete the district’s online form but can change their request between Thursday and 8 a.m. July 23. Students for whom surveys are not returned by the deadline will be assigned a traditional environment.
In a hybrid schedule, students will attend in-person classes for two days of the week and learn online for the remaining three days, with no more than half the student population in the buildings at once.
Students in grades K-5 will be able to switch from online to in-person or vice-versa halfway through the semester, while students in grades 6-12 will stay in the same learning environment all semester and can only change their plans during winter break.
The initial purpose of the online survey, released in late June, was to determine how comfortable parents are with sending their children into the school buildings or if they would prefer an online or hybrid learning schedule. The surveys will now serve as each family’s choice of what learning environment they feel is best for their individual child.
The results of the surveys will determine whether teachers will have to prepare both online and in-person lesson plans, SOCSD spokeswoman Nicole Thomas said.
“The district is focused on minimizing any additional teacher preparation for instruction,” she said.
The surveys also ask parents if their children will need meal service if they do not attend school in person and if they will need to ride buses to and from school if they do choose to attend.
School will start Aug. 10 instead of Aug. 6 as initially planned “to allow teachers additional time in their schools and classrooms to become familiar with new procedures and protocols,” and the starting and ending times for a full school day are yet to be determined, according to the website.
The district will release its full guidebook of safety protocols, from protective face masks and social distancing to sanitization and a transportation plan, on July 21 after the board of trustees’ regular meeting.
The district might implement an entirely virtual learning environment after Thanksgiving break if the pandemic worsens by then, Peasant said in Tuesday’s announcement.
“I am concerned our teachers, students and families will need a break this fall, and if the virus outbreak is relatively low at Thanksgiving, I am hopeful we can finish the semester as planned,” Peasant said.
Tess Vrbin was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.