Tennessee schools can’t offer both in-person, virtual classes in fall
Tennessee schools will not be able to teach students both in-person and remotely next school year under a new rule approved by the State Board of Education earlier this month.
Students who want to keep learning remotely or virtually from home will have to enroll in virtual schools instead of enrolling in their zoned school or school of choice.
Though all Tennessee school districts were offering in-person instruction by March, nearly 1 in 4 students
started the school year learning remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
About 45% of Metro Nashville Public Schools students opted to continue learning at home when schools reopened, as did 67% of Shelby County Schools students when classrooms reopened in March.
But both Gov. Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn have emphasized the importance of in-person learning, even putting pressure on districts to reopen in-person last July.
During a special-called meeting on April 12, the State Board of Education approved a new policy not to allow schools to operate on a hybrid system — with some students learning in-person and others remotely — instead, requiring students to enroll in distinct virtual schools.
“Students who want full-time virtual education will therefore need to enroll in virtual school,” Amy Owen, director of policy and research for the state board, said during its April 12 meeting. “I know the department has provided guidance for how to establish virtual schools for LEAS (school districts) that don’t already have one and for parameters for virtual school in general.”
This hybrid model of instruction was allowed under districts’ “continuous learning plans” that the state Department of Education required districts to create last summer in the face of the pandemic. Those plans will expire with the state of emergency also issued due to the pandemic.
Districts applied hybrid instruction differently. Some schools had students in classrooms on alternate days, with some requiring educators to teach students in class and at home simultaneously and others assigning asynchronous, or independent, assignments for the students at home. Other schools assigned some teachers to only virtual students and others to only inperson students.
‘We want in-person options available at every school’
During a visit to Hanley Elementary School in Memphis with the governor last week, Schwinn said that choice is important for students, families and school districts and the department is working to provide guidance for how districts can meet student needs.
“While we are saying that we want in-person options available at every school, so every family has that choice, we also know a number of our districts will take advantage of starting virtual schools,” she said. “That is one avenue that provides a very structural and clear set of expectations for, ‘This is how students need to learn in a virtual environment.’ But we think that districts have that choice now, they should exercise that if that’s what their local communities and families want.”
Schwinn said the decision to require virtual students to enroll in separate, established virtual schools within their districts is also meant to relieve the burden that hybrid learning has put on educators.
In some schools, teachers switch from teaching inperson to online throughout the day and others are teaching students both ways simultaneously.
“It’s really difficulty to teach students who are in front of you and students who are on a computer, and that is what has been asked of our educators,” Schwinn said Friday.
Virtual schools in Tennessee
Ten Tennessee districts have virtual schools, state data shows, although a USA Today Network review found at least two of the schools did not recently enroll any students.
The district that already had established virtual schools before the onset of the pandemic are Metro Nashville Public Schools, Bradley, Hamilton, Marion, Mcnairy, Perry, Robertson, Union and Washington counties and Shelby County Schools in Memphis.
Virtual schools are required to have their own state school number and operate separately from any other school in the district. Local districts are allowed to decide if and how students enrolled in virtual schools can participate in extracurriculars throughout the district.
Metro Nashville Public Schools was the first district to open a virtual school in the state in 2011. Over the past five years, only about 95 students on average have been enrolled in the MNPS Virtual School each year.
Now the district is proposing to spend $2 million to add grades 4 and 5 to the school’s offerings as well as expand the courses offered for middle and high school students. MNPS Virtual School uses the Florida Virtual School platform and curriculum that many districts turned to during the pandemic.
In Memphis, SCS’ Memphis Virtual School saw a spike in enrollment in 2019, with nearly 1,500 students, but had much fewer students enrolled — closer to 100 — in 2018 and 2020, per state data.
During a presentation to Shelby County commissioners last week, Shelby County Schools officials said they planned to expand the district’s virtual school, but did not attach a dollar amount. The expansion would be part of a $41.4 million spend that would also increase district course offerings to include more honors and dual enrollment courses, as well as augment attendance and behavioral supports.
“Our priority is to ensure a safe learning environment for in-person learning,” SCS spokesperson Jerica Phillips said Friday. “The district will follow the guidance of the TDOE regarding instruction next fall.”
District leders did not elaborate on what its expansion plans for the virtual school entail.
Districts plan for 2021-22 school year
Other school districts have also begun planning their virtual offerings for next year.
Knox County Schools anticipates as many as 6,500 students will participate in its remote QUEST program in the fall, with district officials saying the next school year will be a “transition period” for the virtual school to grow into a long-term program, according to Knox News.
Rutherford County Schools plans to add grades 3-5 to its own virtual school offerings and also will seek approval from the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association to offer several sports in partnership with a district magnet school.
Districts including Hamilton County Schools and Williamson County Schools have also already told parents that students attending virtual schools next year will not be able to participate in sports or extracurricular programs at their zoned schools.
Districts have until June 1 to apply to create a new virtual school ahead of the 2021-22 school year, according to the Tennessee Department of Education.
Laura Testino covers education and children’s issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com or 901-512-3763. Find her on Twitter @Ldtestino.
Meghan Mangrum covers education for the USA TODAY Network — Tennessee. Contact her at mmangrum@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter @memangrum.