Teachers throughout Calhoun County have put together education packets filled with assignments with hopes of keeping the county’s children from losing too many skills during the absence of school as the COVID-19 pandemic persists.
“It is inevitable there will be some skill loss, but we want to do all we can to minimize it as much as possible,” Supt. Dr. Lisa Langford said.
Dr. Lisa Langford
The school district began issuing “enrichment packets” a couple weeks ago to give students work they could do at home to keep up with the academic curriculum.
Dr. Langford explained that the bulk of the teaching of new skills was complete at the time school was suspended. The remainder of school would have been focused on review of the academic year and preparing for state testing, which has now been canceled for this school year.
“Our intent is to reduce skill loss,” Dr. Langford said. “The first few weeks of every school year always consists of a lot of review. If we don’t go back (until the fall), losing our end of year review will be big.”
The enrichment packets are being disseminated through a variety of means such as with the schools’ lunch program at each school campus each day and electronically for those with internet access.
“We are in sync with what other districts that mirror us are doing,” Dr. Langford said. “We’re trying to give as much as possible – a lot of pencil and paper work for those with no internet. We’re going to continue to provide these packets for as long as we can. The more the (students) can do the better off we will be when we get back in school.”
There has been a strong response to the packets thus far, Dr. Langford said. Lunch program participation increased significantly when the packets were included.
Dr. Langford encouraged parents to reach out to their children’s teachers for any assistance as well as requests for additional work.
“Our parents are primary educators and we’re trying to give them all the materials possible under these challenging circumstances,” Dr. Langford said. “So many have reached out to teachers already through phone, email and other means and our teachers have done a great job offering support.”
Next packet pick-up is Tuesday, Apr. 14 from 1-4 pm.