Nome Public Schools deliver distance education

A recent surge in COVID-19 cases in Nome led to a number of closures last week, including Nome Public Schools. After remaining open for the majority of the fall, Nome Public Schools Superintendent Jamie Burgess announced that schools would transition into the “red” zone on Monday, November 23, and would remain closed to students through the remainder of the semester.

Nome administrators, teachers and students had a trial run with remote learning last spring, so this time around all are a bit better prepared for online learning. However, delivering distanced education is particularly challenging in rural Alaska, where internet capabilities are limited. Nome’s students come from extremely diverse home lives and socioeconomic statuses, where both a stable learning environment and access to technology cannot be assumed. A constant concern for the district is equity and how educators can give all students an equal opportunity to learn.

Due to the lack of universal internet among students, Nome Public Schools cannot create an online curriculum. As a result, learning takes place through a mixture of paper packets with worksheets and supplies and the online platform Google Classroom. Teachers post short instructional videos on Google Classroom and these lessons are also available on flash drives for students without internet access. Burgess said that families have a variety of ways to return materials, including dropping off papers, scanning and emailing documents or, alternatively, taking pictures and texting or emailing assignments.

Nome-Beltz Highschool Principal Jay Thomas said that the school is “spring boarding” off of what they learned last spring. Because going into the red zone was always a possibility, teachers had the opportunity to prepare for distance learning over the course of the semester. For the most part, this means that they have already been doing as much digitally as possible, so that students are familiar with Google Classroom. Principal Thomas said that high school students are competent with the platform, while junior high students are still learning the program and will receive coaching over the next few weeks.

According to Thomas, 60 percent of students have access to both the technology and internet that they need for Google Classroom. This means that 90 percent of their work can be done without packets or additional material such as flash drives. This is beneficial because it limits inperson contact. “The less paper shuffle the better,” Thomas said. For students who do not have access to computers, Thomas said the high school sends laptops home with them. If students do have internet access, they can access Google Classroom; if not they receive flash drives containing the same video lessons. For those students with no other way of completing the assignment, the high school drops off paper packets on Wednesday afternoons. The packet includes the same assignments as those on Google Classroom.

Students in urban environments can attend live classes through platforms such as Zoom, but the most “live” that Nome schools can be, Thomas said, is once or twice a week meetings over Google Meet. Teachers will hold meetings at least once a week and students can either join on Google Meet or call in.

While many logistical aspects of remote learning were smoothed out last spring, concerns about distance learning remain. One of the biggest factors in student success is also one of the biggest challenges of remote learning: communication. “As a school system, we’re doing everything we can to communicate with kids and parents,” Thomas said. He emphasized that an important factor in student success during this time is the home-school interaction. It is important not only for students to keep in touch with their teachers, but also for parents to be in the loop, particularly with younger students. Parents, Thomas said, play a big role in keeping students from falling behind. “We want to close that gap between home and school.” According to Burgess, teachers will maintain frequent communication with students through a “variety of avenues,” including phone calls, emails and socially distanced home visits, which she said should keep most students on track.

However, there are those students who Burgess said are “extremely difficult to get a hold of and withdraw from regular school work.” She said that many of these students had been identified during the last shutdown in March and certain staff members are tasked with working directly with these students. Teachers are expected to regularly check in on all their students, which includes gauging student wellbeing.

Similarly, both Burgess and Thomas said there are concerns about students falling behind. Burgess explained that special attention is paid to “struggling readers at the elementary school, seniors and juniors at NBHS who need to pass courses to stay on track for graduation, and students in special education who need services or support to meet their educational goals and make needed academic progress.” Burgess said they have scheduled times for these students to come into the school while it is closed.

Last spring, Thomas said, about 25 percent of students made progress in their classes and only one or two students never missed a class. However, he said students already appear more engaged with and prepared for distance learning this time around. This is a step in the right direction, but even though students and teachers know what to expect, remote learning can damper morale. This is particularly true

when even synchronous classes are virtually impossible. The studentteacher relationship undoubtedly suffers without the face-to-face relationship, Thomas explained. He added that students were extremely excited to return to school this fall, and most were very upset about going back into the red. Similarly, Thomas said a continuing challenge for administrators is keeping teachers positive without the interaction with kids—the reason why many chose the profession in the first place. “The challenge for all is to stay upbeat,” said Thomas.

The first week of the spring semester—January 4 through 8, 2021—was already scheduled to be a remote week. The current plan is to bring students back into the classroom on January 11, but this depends upon the COVID-19 situation in Nome.