Putnam School System Exploring Long-Term Virtual Learning

The Putnam County School system is exploring options to expand long-term virtual learning to lower grades.

Personalized Learning Supervisor Sam Brooks said the plan would extend the virtual learning from the current 7-12, to begin at grade 3.

“We would like to use the curriculum that we’re already using in the Putnam County School System,” Brooks said. “For my team at the VITAL Office, that’s transitioning that material from basically a traditional push out into a learning management system. That can be led and controlled for our students by their teacher.”

Brooks said the system wants to give parents a long-term virtual option. Brooks said some parents have seen benefits to the option during COVID.

However, he said the system needs the option to determine who is the best fit for virtual learning.

“If we run into some students in this remote learning situation that have not been successful,” Brooks said. “Then what we’re talking about here will not be a good option for them. So, we need to have the ability to say no when we know it’s not going to be the right option.”

Brooks said a survey about virtual learning in the Fall is expected to go out to Putnam County Parents later this month or early-March. However, Brooks said there are still decisions being made about distribution.

“The question we have to figure out, do we want to send this out to every student in Putnam county?” Brooks said. “Do we want to look at the subgroups and figure out how we want to send it out? Do we want to identify the very successful remote learners that we have right now and start with them?”

Brooks said that keeping kindergarten through second grade students in-person is key to development. He said reading on grade level and developing social skills sets students up for success in higher grades.