Students in the Quesnel School District are now learning in a new way as they wait out the COVID-19 pandemic.
Superintendent Sue-Ellen Miller says teachers have now reached out to all of their students are sending home learning activities, although she says how they are doing that varies…
“It’s working with their teachers through a variety of ways, so some classes may be using GOOGLE classroom, and using that as a way of communicating back and fourth or posting documents, other people are having assignments e-mailed to them, other students will get those very same assignments within a work package and doing the work that way.”
Miller says they will know next week what technology each of the almost three thousand students have access to…
“Part of the dilemma is many kids will have a phone or parents will have access to one computer at home when they have multiple children, and depending on how dependable your Wi-Fi is, you know even people that have access to that technology probably can’t sustain an online class, that’s the struggle around technology. We have people on our own staff that live in rural areas with spotty Wi-Fi or not good cell connections.”
Miller says there will be a plan in place for every class in the District by next week.
Regardless, she says learning won’t be continuing in the classic sense no matter what they do, as they are trying to keep things manageable for students and parents…
“We know they can’t do everything at home that they would have done at school, and we also know it’s not fair to ask their parents to try to implement all of that same work at home. Even two parents that are working and you have three kids, to try to do that work at home. So over the next week there will be information that will go home to parents about the amount of work throughout the week, there will be certain amounts per grade level, and just trying to make it very manageable for children. We’re also very concerned about, you know, the stress level that that can put on a family.”
Miller says if parents haven’t been contacted yet, they should phone their child’s school.
She says parents should have also by now picked up their child’s belongings from their school.