News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Warren County Parents have until 3:00 PM Thursday to enroll their kids in full-time virtual learning for the spring.
Director of Schools Grant Swallows said this deadline is necessary so that staffing decisions can be made for the Spring Semester. Swallows said there are 740 students currently learning virtually, and offering this option in the Spring was necessary.
“In reality, I felt like with where we are as a community, as a region, as a state and really as country at this point with the growing concerns about cases rising,” Swallows said. “We wanted to give our families the option again, to choose headed into next semester, what works best for them.”
Parents need to contact their zoned school to either enroll in the Virtual Instruction Program, or return to in-person learning by 3:00 PM on December 10. Swallows said planning for the next semester is more challenging with the number of schools in the county.
“If we had one school that was just VIP, to where we had teachers ready and available… Then that would be one thing,” Swallows said. “For us, we have 11 schools and because we are opening it to most every student, we have to decide after we have this registration window, who’s gonna be responsible for the students in VIP. As well as a teacher that might be teaching in a classroom and VIP.”
Swallows said students who have failing grades or have been taken out of virtual learning will not be eligible. However, he said he understands the challenges that come with learning remotely.
“If they get so far behind in their remote environment, it’s really tough to catch them up in-person, but almost impossible in the remote environment,” Swallows said. “We’ve had to make those decisions and most of the time when that happens, we can get them back into in-person learning and our teachers are able to help them with that.”
Swallows said that Warren County Schools will continue the four-day learning model in-person. Fridays will still be fully virtual, so schools can be cleaned and ready for Monday.
