L’Anse Creuse to allow virtual students to return

Students who want to make a change have the option to do so in January

L’Anse Creuse Public Schools elementary students in the virtual academy will have an opportunity to switch to in-person learning in January 2021.

During the district’s Dec. 14 Board of Education meeting, held virtually, L’Anse Creuse Public Schools (LCPS) Superintendent Erik Edoff discussed the window of opportunity for elementary virtual academy students who may want to make a change.

He said updates and improvements to the virtual academy program began on Dec. 14, and parents were given until the end of that week to make a choice. About 30 percent of the overall student population in the district participates in the virtual academy.

“We have put out to parents that Jan. 11 is the date we are looking at for that. That is currently the week after we come back from our break and we are surveying parents as to what their selection is,” Edoff said.

Edoff added that of responses received thus far from virtual student families at the elementary level, the range and percent of families interested in returning to in-person learning are at four percent in one building up through about 24 percent in another building. The Jan. 11 date was set to allow buildings to reorganize classrooms and prepare related items, and in some cases a building may be ready ahead of this date or after this date depending on the number of students that will need to be accommodated, Edoff said.

He also discussed the possibility of secondary level virtual academy students having the option to make a change to in-person learning the end of January as the semester changes.

“We are working with a large group of teachers and administrators on their suggestions for improvements to the virtual program at the secondary level. I will say that, it has not been without problems but the problems have not been, I would say there have not been as many problems as we have experienced at the elementary level with the virtual program,” Edoff said.

This is due in part to the district’s having more experience with virtual education at that level, and in part to students being more self- paced and self- directed at that level.

“We have not started the process of asking those parents yet. We are still in the process of discussing changes and enhancements to the virtual program, which I will share those with the board when those are ready. So we are just exploring that now and we will be prepared to present a package to the board for the secondary students to return at the Jan. 19 committee of the whole meeting,” Edoff said.

The board also reconfirmed the extended COVID-19 learning plan, as is required by statute monthly during the 202021 school year.

“Obviously there has been one change in the last 30 days. And that is that we did have a period of a virtual live synchronous time…So this was not something we had done in the past before,” Edoff said. “For the previous 30 days, as everyone knows, we took a pause of our in-person instruction through board action on K-8 instruction for the two days before Thanksgiving break and the week following Thanksgiving break, where we did have virtual live synchronous teaching.”

On Dec. 15, Edoff confirmed students utilizing in-person learning for grades pre-K through middle school moved to remote learning Nov. 23 to Dec. 7, but are now back in classrooms. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services issued orders to suspend in-person instruction at all Michigan high schools Nov. 18 to Dec. 8, with the timeline having since been extended to Dec. 20.

“We are still offering and continue to offer the other types of instruction that we have been offering since the beginning of the year, in-person and a virtual asynchronous learning, learning at your own pace, which is the main virtual program we have been running from the beginning, since the beginning of the year,” Edoff said.

He also discussed how the week of full remote learning for all students was beneficial, allowing the district to operationalize programs K-8 effectively the weeks of Dec. 7 and Dec. 14.

“We had a, I believe a successful remote week and I think the reasons for doing the remote period were sound. I think the data, although it could be explained in a variety of ways, we did achieve by last week a much greater level of control over our quarantine and staffing situations that were a problem for us a month ago post Halloween,” Edoff said.

Edoff added he intended to meet with the Macomb County Health Department on Dec. 16, but that case counts have plateaued or are declining steadily but slowly.

The health department continues to prioritize contact tracing for schools that are in session, according to Edoff.

Parent reactions via a survey regarding the remote learning period was also discussed. Edoff reported the survey found parents believed remote learning was improved over what was offered in the spring and that they appreciated the consistency of teaching Zoom presentations.

“They still in general prefer in person instruction, want in person instruction, but feel like that it was done in a sort of responsible way and they appreciated it being done in a limited fashion as well, but thought it went well for the period of time in which it occurred,” Edoff said.

The board also approved its participation in a workshop the first Saturday in February, during which a retired Michigan Association of School Boards consultant will teach board members basic board information and updates.

Cost would be about $2,600. The motion for the workshop was approved 4-2, with Trustee Don Hubler absent from this vote. Board members who voted against the measure expressed concerns about the cost, and concerns that the course was meant to single out a new board member that will join the board in January.