News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Overton County schools are continuing to reach out to students and families about participating in online learning.
Overton County Schools Director Mark Winningham said the system expected participation to be higher for middle and high school students. However, Winningham said he thinks the Spring semester affected students expectations.
“Maybe there was some expectation from some students or parents or whatever, that it might be like it was in the Spring when we were caught off guard,” Winningham said. “Obviously, it’s not that way.”
Winningham said grasping the concepts being taught at home has been the issue with lower grades. While also acknowledging parents hesitation in sending their child to school in person.
“It just lends itself better in those grades for students to be in person,” Winningham said.
Similar to other counties, some students who started the year remote, have gone back to in person. Winningham said the return started at beginning of the year, and has happened again since the latest changes. Such as Monday’s change to having online only teachers for each grade.
“We made a change the beginning of this week with how we were providing those services,” Winningham said. “We had an opportunity for them to come back in person if they wished to do so.”
Overton students and parents had until Wednesday to decide on their learning model. Grades K-4th will have one instructor per grade. Fifth and Sixth grades will have two. Seventh and Eighth grades will have three. Winningham said the higher grades have more teachers due to more specific classes.
