Nearly 80 students in the Litchfield School District started the new school year as online learners.
Those students represent less than a half-percent of the district’s total enrollment of 1,467, according to a report from Superintendent Beckie Simenson during the Litchfield School Board meeting Sept. 14.
The meeting took place in the Wagner Education Building gymnasium, the first time the school board has met in person since pandemic precautions were taken in mid-March.
“The first two weeks have gone nicely,” Simenson told the board, with 98 percent of families with children at Lake Ripley Elementary School participating in “welcome conferences” in the days before the school year officially began.
The academic year began with the district using the “in-school” model, with the plan to have all students who were comfortable with it attending class in the district’s three buildings.
And for the most part, that’s what has happened. The district saw parents of 24 Lake Ripley Elementary students opt to have their children attend school remotely or online, while 514 students started the year in the building.
Similarly, 469 middle school students started in the classroom, with 31 opting for online learning, and 484 high school students in class with 23.5 online.
Litchfield School District also has 50 students who are home-schooled – 40 of them at the elementary school level.
Principals from all three buildings have been calling parents and students on the online learning track in the first couple of weeks to check in, and while it’s gone OK for some, some at Litchfield Middle School have said “it’s not working,” Simenson said.
During a meeting earlier this year, board member Dave Huhner recalled, the possibility of grouping online learners with one teacher was discussed. He asked if that was still under consideration.
Simenson said the district’s administrative team has discussed an online coordinator, but not a teacher. The coordinator would ensure online learners were able to get online with their computers and could help parents understand Google Meet and SeeSaw, two online programs commonly employed by the district for online learning.
However, grouping students from multiple grade levels under one teacher is not something administration wants, Simenson said. Rather, the hope is that students learning online with their grade-level teacher will at some point be able to join the classroom in person again.
If the district sees more families opting for online learning, Huhner said, he thought it important “that parent better understand that is not the same thing as (being in) the classroom.”
Board member Greg Mathews did not disagree, however, he said that his granddaughter, a student at Lake Ripley, she reported that her teacher, Janell Green, was “really trying to make those kids (online learners) feel a part of the class.”
Simenson said the district has used federal grants to purchase additional equipment, such as computer tablets and stands, to aid teachers and enhance learning for online students.
