MADISON, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) — Kids in the Madison Metropolitan School District will attend classes virtually to start next school year.
MMSD officials announced Friday virtual learning will continue through at least the first semester, which ends October 30. Still, there will be lots of changes coming to virtual learning this fall.
“We call it virtual learning 2.0,” said MMSD Superintendent of Teaching & Learning Lisa Kvistad.
Letter-grading will be back. Attendance will likely be taken daily instead of just once a week. The course load will be more focused on accelerating learning.
Some instruction will be done live online at a set time for everyone, instead of families creating their own schedules.
“We need that. We need that when we’re talking about the acceleration of learning,” said TJ McCray, MMSD Director of Instructional Technology & Library Media Services. “We need that just to ensure our students and families are doing well. Because that’s what we would get in our traditional education setting.”
There are a lot of things still up in the air. Officials said there’s a team of 150 people working through the summer to create plans for the next school year. They could change the overall structure, programs used, and course rigor.
Administrators said they’re determined to improve virtual learning to help make up for lost time, and get kids on the right track.
“We are well aware that we have a lot of work to do to make sure that families and students can stay engaged virtually,” said MMSD Interim Superintendent Jane Belmore.
When it comes to budget issues, Belmore said they’re facing a $1.5 million loss because they don’t have food sales. District officials said layoffs aren’t completely off the table, but right now, they’re planning to keep all teachers.
Karyn Chacon has been a teacher at MMSD schools for more than 15 years. This year, she’s headed to West, back to teaching high-schoolers. She’s disappointed not to be going back to class for the first quarter, but trusts district officials are doing what’s in the best interest of all teachers and students.
“I feel fortunate to have a job. I get it. This is really really hard for a lot of people,” said Chacon. “I’m thankful that the district is still able to keep us employed and keep us running.”
As coronavirus cases spike in Dane County, district leaders said virtual learning is what many parents now want.
“The emails that we’ve received, they’ve changed even up to the past couple weeks,” said MMSD School Board President Gloria Reyes. “I think that we did see a fair amount of emails from parents that were wanting to send their kids to school. But I think now […] the increased numbers have our families really concerned now.”
For now, administrators and teachers can all agree on one thing: they’d rather have kids in school, in person.
“We all want to get back in the buildings as soon as we can,” said Chacon.
School officials said every family that requested a Chromebook or wifi hotspot in the spring got one, and most kept theirs all summer. They’ll get to keep them for the fall as well.