News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Overton County Director Of Schools Mark Winningham said parents will play a critical role in making the next month work academically for students.
“We can’t be there with their child and so we have to encourage students to continue to make the progress that they need to in their academic endeavours,” Winningham said.
Governor Bill Lee announced Tuesday schools statewide will be closed until April 24. Winningham said the delay in reopening schools was not unexpected.
“Maybe the length of the closure might have been a little unexpected,” Winningham said.
With instruction starting again this week, Winningham said the system’s teachers will be ready to build on the strategy put into place after the first school closure.
“We think we’ve got a good plan to address the educational needs of our kids and the nutritional needs of our kids,” Winningham said. “We may have to adjust a little bit as we go.”
The school system will be delivering academics online for those students with internet at home. Winningham said his system is lucky compared to some because the system has just about a one-to-one ratio, students to electronic devices.
“Many teachers have already been doing these things digitally because they do it in their classrooms,” Winningham said.
Teachers have developed packets of information for students without internet. Those packets will be available each Monday along with meals for students at schools and ten alternate sites around the county.
