Distance learning begins for Jackson School District

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    Angie Daniel at Riverside Elementary made sure her students were well prepared with their Jr. Ranger packets for the beginning of their distance learning

    The 2020 seniors will have stories to tell their kids and grandkids. They missed three weeks of school in 2018 due to Hurricane Michael and as of today will not return to school before May 01 due to the coronavirus scare. They were dismissed from school the week of March 16-20 before their scheduled Spring Break March 23-27.
    Today, began unchartered territory for the Jackson County School District. The schools are officially back from spring break and transitioning to remote learning. The district began its Instructional Continuity Plan on Monday.
    “Ours is a blended plan, we plan to utilize both online and virtual instruction as well as paper and pencil,” said Larry Moore, Superintendent for Jackson County Schools.
    Moore says students will be contacted by their teachers within the next two days. The paper and pencil packets will be sent home along with meals.
    “On Wednesday, our buses will run and deliver 7 days of meals,” Moore said.
    The buses will deliver meals and coursework again on April 8th. The district is looking to do the deliveries every 7 days to minimize the amount of face-to-face contact their staff is having with the community.
    Moore says children do not have to be current students to receive the meals. Any child ages 1 to 18 in the county is eligible.
    “They do have to be 18 years old or less, but if they are an ESE student, they can be 21 years of age or younger,” Moore said.
    Parents can also pick up their student’s materials at the district’s designated grab-and-go sites.
    Moore says his biggest concern is the lack of internet access across the county. Some solutions include the use of Wi-Fi hot spots, “We’ve thought about putting some of those in school parking lots.”
    The district is also requesting students participate in a survey available online that evaluates their access to the internet. The surveys are posted on the district’s Facebook page.
    “We have received good responses with those surveys but we still have a lot of people that we have not heard from,” Moore said.
    Moore also encourages parents to access their child’s FOCUS app in order to stay up to date with the district’s plans.
    To learn more about the district’s remote learning plan as well as how to go about getting the free meals, visit https://www.jcsb.org/

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