News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Putnam County Schools will continue online instruction and packet distribution until May 15.
“We know education is important in Putnam County, we know it’s valued in our community,” Director Of Schools Corby King said. “We’re going to continue to provide an education and educational services.”
On Wednesday, Governor Bill Lee urged all schools to keep their buildings closed for the remainder of the school year because of COVID-19. Lee said he worries as much about students’ emotional needs right now as their educational progress.
King agreed.
“They form a relationship with their teachers or an assistant, a bus driver,” King said. “They form relationships because they’re such contact and maybe their home situation is just not safe. It’s not ideal in any way. And they’re able to disclose things to the teachers about what’s going on at home. And we could make the referrals to the Department of Children Services or other things. And we don’t have the contact right now.”
“And we also know that in times of stress, families who are facing a loss of income, they’re spending more time together than they normally would be. Often times, the kids take the brunt of some of those frustrations and some of that stress, even if it’s not necessarily attended by the parents and kids don’t have that respite of going to school for seven, eight hours a day and get away from the stress at home.”
Instruction will end a little earlier than normal so that the system can collect instructional aids and computers. The Grab and Go Meal program will continue through May 20. King said he understands that parents have dozens of other questions about the year-end process. He asks parents to be patient.
“We’re not going to send all of this information at one time because it really, truly is overwhelming,” King said. “So we’re going to ask families, ask parents, ask others to be patient with this will send the information in chunks, the important information first. What we want to send today is just that your school is continuing.”
