KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Several school districts in Kansas started their continuous learning plans this week, but for districts like North Kansas City Schools, they're now starting on week two of online learning.
Deputy Superintendent of Academics, Chad Sutton said with them being a 'virtual' school district now, it's been an everyday process of learning.
He said there were no major issues from last week.
With high engagement from students, throughout the course of the week, he said learning has been running smoothly so far.
One of the biggest challenges they've run into is seeing how much time it takes to complete work assignments.
"In a virtual setting, it's very different," Sutton said. "Sometimes assignments don’t take as long, sometimes assignments take a little longer. So we sent a survey back to our parents to see how much time our kids were spending on virtual learning. So we’re going to use that to start making some adjustments."
On top of the basic needs, such as educational learning and food deliveries, the district is now working on how students can still develop those friendships and socialization aspects that they normally would do in a face-to-face environment.
"A feeling of a sense of belonging and love and caring from their classroom teachers, and so that's the charge to our teams this week is to really think about how we can do those things, this week," he said.
In an effort to have families and teachers work together on the new adjustment for their students, Sutton did offer a few tips:
- Establish a daily schedule, and put in lunch and physical activity breaks.
- Create a quiet space for online learning.
- Stay on routine with your schedule.
- Talk with your child about the school day.
"Whether that’s the beginning of the day or the end of the day, to just talk to them about what did you learn today, what were the assignments that were given, we’re you able to get them complete? Is there anything I can help you with as a parent ? Or let’s get online and email your teacher to ask your teacher any questions you might have," Sutton explained.
Depending on when students are able to go back, it could be several weeks until they will be in that face-to-face environment.
Sutton asked that everyone give one another grace during this time, including themselves, as this is an adjustment to everyone.
Counselors are working with seniors on FAFSA information and other resources to help them prepare for the transition after high school.
The district is currently developing a program to address "Summer Melt."
"It's this idea and this reality that we have a very large number of students every year that tell us they're going to go to a two or four year university but that number dramatically reduces over the summer, for all kinds of different reasons," Sutton said. "So this is the first summer that we're putting in a summer melt strategy to help our parents and our seniors to help them get to that next level."
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