Clay Schools Gauging Interest In Fall Virtual Options

Clay County Schools held five meetings with less than 100 families to gauge their interest in Fall virtual learning.

Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction Misty Strong said the system wanted to show parents how virtual learning through a third-party would work. Strong said virtual instructors answered questions and meetings were recorded so students could watch.

“The points of contact for teachers, all the accessibility options for communicating with the virtual teacher,” Strong said. “But also the live virtual help sessions and chat sessions that are available within the platform for learning.”

Strong said the tentative plan is for 4-12 students who opt-in for virtual to learn through the Edgenuity platform. She said students in quarantine would still learn from Clay County teachers.

“They appreciated the information to make an informed decision,” Strong said. “We stress the importance that with all the information available we wanted them to see the student experience, as well as the parent experience.”

Strong said they met with three groups of families. She said that included families previously enrolled in virtual, currently enrolled in virtual, considering virtual and home school.

“It is the plan at this time, we took the information to the parents to poll their plans,” Strong said. “Because it was a change from this school year to something different. So we wanted them to have time to review it and give us feedback and then follow through with a plan for later this Spring.”

Strong said the next steps are to answer follow up questions and collect feedback. She said the goal is to have choices made for the Fall during the first two weeks of April.