The Knox Community School Corporation will continue using eLearning days, if regular classes are cancelled due to weather. Last week, the school board voted to allow eLearning days to be used at the discretion of Superintendent Dr. William Reichhart.
He said that removes the limit of two consecutive eLearning days that was in place last year. “We just didn’t know how they were going to go over, so we stuck with two consecutive, but it was a great year to try it and it worked out,” Reichhart said. “As I tell parents, it’s not like coming to school, but it’s better than making up days at the end of the year. They’re more meaningful.”
Director of Curriculum and Instruction Peggy Shidaker told the school board that seven eLearning days have been called, since the school corporation began using the system at the start of last school year. “One, we practiced on September 1, and then we had to use six days: I believe, three for actual snow/ice, one for fog, and two for flooding,” she said. “So it was really trial by fire, almost, this year, to have six days for those reasons.”
Shidaker presented the results of a year-end survey on eLearning, sent out to teachers, parents, and students. She said that 80 percent of those who responded gave the experience an overall rating of good, very good, or excellent. Most were supportive of having more than two eLearning days in a row.
Shidaker said most parents and students were satisfied with the assigned activities, but only 40 percent of teachers said most of their students completed them. She added that parents and students still reported spending more time on the assignments than teachers thought they did, a trend seen by many schools with eLearning. Still, most parents and students felt the amount of time was appropriate.
