Manatee schools unveil an online learning system. How will students access it?

The School District of Manatee County said it was doing everything possible to launch online learning on March 30, but challenges remained on Friday.

Schoology, an online service, will allow teachers to assign tasks, grade assignments and communicate with students while schools are closed through April 15, a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Superintendent Cynthia Saunders and other district administrators presented the system to reporters on Friday morning.

“A teacher is able to tape and video her entire lesson and present it to the entire class, as well as to individuals,” Saunders said. “The great thing about that is, at the end of the day, a parent with a child could review that lesson over and over again.”

Some teachers are familiar with Schoology, which launched in the district about three years ago, while others will need in-person training. Manatee will hold the training sessions at individual schools throughout the next week.

Each school was sanitized during spring break, and Manatee will follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, limiting each session to groups of 10 people or less, Saunders said.

And while school is closed, teachers can still access their classrooms and use the space to write or videotape new lessons.

“It would be a single person in a classroom setting, so they definitely would be adhering to CDC guidelines,” Saunders said.

District scrambling to get technology to students

Saunders was confident in the system and the teachers’ abilities, but students would need the proper technology to access their virtual classroom. Manatee was scrambling for a solution.

School administrators will identify students who need a computer or internet hotspot, said Scott Hansen, the district’s chief technology officer.

Manatee has 12,000 Chromebook laptops, but the hotspots were expected to arrive between April 3 an April 10, after the start of classes on March 30. Anyone without reliable internet could lose valuable class time in the interim.

Hansen said the district would refer most students to Spectrum, which is taking part in the “Keep Americans Connected Pledge” and opening its WiFi network to the public for 60 days. While it waits for the internet devices to arrive, the district will try to connect other students with a public hotspot, Hansen said.

According to the superintendent, approximately 90 percent of students live within Spectrum’s coverage zone.

Manatee also has to comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act. For that reason, Hansen said, the district partnered with a company to provide “content filtering” on its laptops.

“Obviously there’s going to be some logistical challenges that we’re all dealing with across the U.S.,” he said.

According to the Department of Education, the state chose to close schools until April 15 because the CDC provides updates every 15 days. As the date approached, Florida’s education department would provide “additional guidance on distance learning plans.”

In its recent guidance, the state DOE said districts could extend their academic calendar if needed. In Manatee, the goal is to take advantage of online learning and meet the required number of instructional hours, finishing school at the end of May, as originally planned.

“It’s not just us, it’s a national situation, and I do believe Manatee County is in a better spot than many,” Saunders said.

This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 2:02 PM with the headline "Manatee schools unveil an online learning system. How will students access it?."