School from home during severe weather? District must wait to test ‘eLearning’
By Bobby Bryant, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
The drill for hurricanes and winter storms is going to remain the same for Darlington County public-school students – time off now, make-up days later.
The Darlington County School District didn’t make the state’s list of districts being allowed to join a pilot program to test “eLearning,” which lets students do lessons from home, by computer, even when a weather emergency shuts down their schools. This would let schools shed the burden of make-up days.
Darlington County was one of 23 school districts that had applied to join the five districts already testing the program — Anderson 5, Kershaw, Pickens, Spartanburg 1 and Spartanburg 7. But only 10 more districts were allowed to join in for this year, and Darlington County was among those passed over.
Officials from the original five districts reviewed and scored applications from the schools seeking to join the program. They didn’t know who they were evaluating; the schools’ names were withheld. The 10 new districts joining the test program will be Florence 1, Anderson 1, Anderson 2, Anderson 3, Berkeley, Georgetown, Lexington 2, Lexington 3, York 2 and York 3.
At their Aug. 12 monthly meeting, Darlington County school board members and county Education Superintendent Tim Newman expressed disappointment that the district was not on the state’s list this time.
“It is what it is,” said board member Jamie Morphis. But he noted that the district was considered superior to 95 percent of comparable districts in the use of computer technology, and said the district had even helped other districts learn to use technology more effectively.
The county school district had already prepared an “eLearning” handbook outlining how “school from home” during a weather emergency would work. The handbook says that before leaving the school building, “students will receive the necessary resources to complete their work at home. … If students do not have the Internet, they can still complete the eLesson(s), and upload/sync their work when they return to school.”
Teachers would be available throughout the day through “virtual office hours,” the handbook says.
In other business during last week’s meeting, school board members quickly approved a resolution for this year’s general-obligation bond issue – an $8 million plan for capital improvements.
The biggest single item targeted for bond money is “technology” district-wide. Other items are district-wide heating/ventilation/air conditioning replacements, new or better restrooms at several schools and, in at least one version of the plan, a $400,000 plan to repair and repave the track used for Darlington High School athletics.
Also last week, the school board recognized three of its members for taking part in the S.C. School Boards Association’s Boardmanship Institute, a training program for school-district trustees. New board members Richard Brewer and Leigh Anne Kelly achieved Level 1 in the program; longtime board member Thelma Dawson achieved Level 2.
