School is challenging, say Warren County administrators, students

The first month of learning has challenged students, teachers, administrators, staff, and parents of Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) as a new era in education gets fully underway during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Reports from the top down — from the superintendent to principals and students — all had that theme in common during the Wednesday, October 7 Warren County School Board meeting, where details were provided on issues around technology, student engagement, COVID-19 protocols, hybrid, and virtual teaching and learning, discipline, and attendance, among others.

“The rocky start is beginning to level out” a month into the school year, said Warren County High School Principal Ernestine Jordan. “The panic is finally beginning to ease. We are adjusting.”

Jordan told School Board members that almost everyone in the building feels like it’s their first year all over again, while students also are faced with learning new skills and tasks.

For instance, time management skills have become crucial for students to learn how to master, and while some students have improved, “more so than in the past, many are finding it difficult to be successful in this environment,” Jordan said.

The high school is offering on-site assistance for technology help and course review, the principal added, as well as arranging individual Google meets while also continuing general and individual contacts to meet parent and student needs.

Emily Johnson, a Warren County High School senior, called the school year thus far “very challenging, but teachers have been very patient.” And while her last year of high school isn’t ideal, Johnson said that she and her classmates are “making it work.”

“What I’ve learned already this year is that school really does have to come first and it’s really more important than anything else,” she said.

Dr. Michael Smith, principal at Skyline High School, noted that teachers have been presented with an unbelievable task: to teach in person, online, and sometimes at the same time. “They are trying to learn how to take what they would normally cover in a 90-minute class into a 50-minute period,” he told School Board members. “Teaching six classes at once instead of four. Pacing and mapping have been replaced with flexibility and patience.”

Smith called the dedication of teachers “unimaginable,” and said the school has worked to boost morale by holding theme days, such as the recent ‘Back to the 80s’ dress-up day. “We’re trying to bring a little life into the building,” he said. “Teacher stress is beyond belief,” even regarding tasks such as taking attendance, which has become much more difficult.

Skyline High School senior Will Wolf agreed and expressed concerns about students who may have day jobs and who decide against attending virtual classes on time, resulting in reduced student engagement. “We are all in this together,” said Wolf. “We’re doing the best we can under the circumstances given.”

Skyline High School senior Will Wolf speaks to the WCSB.

Even more important, Smith said, are the social and emotional issues, which “are more concerning to me than course content.” But he said that the skills and knowledge students are “unknowingly learning” will help them adjust to a world that is ever-changing, one he said could be termed “fluid” rather than “flexible.”

But “no matter what the future holds for our students,” Smith said, “I believe this experience will result in learning experiences not yet known.”

Warren County Middle School Principal Amy Gubler brought an 8th grader, Melissa, with her to the School Board meeting. They showed a few slides with pictures of students getting daily temperature checks before entering the building, sitting at their desks spaced for social distancing, and wearing a variety of colorful face coverings.

Melissa outlined several “complications and challenges,” including how difficult it is to learn Spanish when she’s not physically in the school building all the time; how some teachers aren’t always enforcing mask requirements; and how the online learning system doesn’t consistently load information correctly. On the bright side, Melissa said each desk is spaced plenty far apart and during lunchtime, carts are brought to each classroom, and meals are delivered to each desk without contamination.

Bobby Johnston, Skyline Middle School principal, said that after planning this summer, “it was really good to get students back into the school building,” where they are happy to interact in person with their classmates and teachers.

Generally, Johnston said the school year has started out positively, although teachers have been told that success looks a little different this year. Toward that goal, they are to focus on four areas in a particular order, he said, which are to ask themselves: Are my students getting better every day? Are students becoming independent learners? Are students engaged? Are students learning new material? “If they don’t follow this order, then students aren’t going to learn,” said Johnston.

In addition to challenges related to technology, hybrid teaching, and wearing masks, Johnston said there have been “disciplinary issues that are new to us” — though he didn’t elaborate — and he said everyone is relearning their routines. And while there are also student engagement concerns, he said “we’re working on coming up with different ways to improve it.”

For instance, veteran teachers are stepping up with training videos, and being creative about reimagining how a classroom works and sharing that information with their colleagues, Johnston said, adding that teachers and staff also are working hard to develop relationships with the parents during this stressful time, “because they are key.”

“We have faced many challenges so far this year,” Ballenger said. “We are constantly addressing those challenges, and we will make sure we continue to focus on the health and safety of our entire community.”

Superintendent Christopher Ballenger told School Board members that during their October 21 meeting, elementary school principals will provide their own updates, while the Blue Ridge Technology Center will provide its update at the School Board’s November 4 meeting.

“It’s very heartfelt to hear what the students said,” said School Board Chairman Arnold Williams Jr. “I can’t imagine being in their shoes. But you can tell they truly do like their administrators and teachers. School is about relationships, as we know, and we learn better from teachers we respect. It’s been tough. We’ll keep pushing ahead.”

Ballenger also reported that WCPS has had its first positive COVID-19 case. “But there was no exposure in the school,” he told School Board members.

Ballenger said that the new COVID-19 Dashboard (https://www.wcps.k12.va.us/index.php/covid-19-dashboard) has been published to the main WCPS website where it is updated daily to notify the public of active and contact cases for both students and staff. The COVID-19 Dashboard also notifies residents of whether a school is open or closed due to the pandemic.

He thanked the community and staff for continuing to monitor and notifying the district of any suspected exposure. “Parents and staff members are doing an excellent job with monitoring and doing the self-check,” Ballenger said. “Through their efforts, we’re able to keep our doors open.”

Secondary schools will have a Reboot Week starting on October 12, Ballenger said, noting this remediation week will allow teachers to review, evaluate and modify their current practices and to address any related concerns from parents and students.

In turn, Ballenger said WCPS will hold off on adding more school calendar days at the secondary level. “Parents, students, and teachers need to be comfortable with our current processes before we phase in any additional days to the schedule,” he said.

Elementary schools will have reboot week “within a couple of weeks” once all the laptop computers have been received, Ballenger added.

In other news, Ballenger said that WCPS has been awarded $266,946 from the Virginia Emergency Education Relief Funding program and plans to disburse funds across eight different programs within the school district. Funds will be available October 16 and will close on November 4, he said.

The WCPS award is its share of a $66.8 million set-aside announced in June 2020 by Gov. Ralph Northam. Virginia schools are receiving the funds through the federal Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund to expand distance learning opportunities, fund services for students disproportionately impacted by a loss of class time, and provide financial assistance to higher education students and institutions impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The GEER Fund, which was authorized under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Recovery, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, gives states the flexibility to determine how best to allocate the emergency assistance to meet their educational needs.

To watch the entire Warren County School Board meeting, watch the Royal Examiner video.