Thousands of Manatee County students missed the first week of online learning

The majority of Manatee County students took part in the first week of online learning, but thousands more have yet to log on.

Out of 44,378 public school students in pre-K through high school, about 89 percent logged on to Schoology, the digital learning platform, throughout last week, according to district spokesman Mike Barber.

A total of 4,901 students never logged on, missing the entire first week of online classes.

“Those numbers reflect district-run sites, meaning they don’t include charter schools, contracted schools, home school, etc.,” Barber wrote.

The School District of Manatee County began online classes on March 30, two weeks after spring break began, and shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic forced a statewide shutdown of school campuses.

In a prepared statement, Superintendent Cynthia Saunders said that local schools overcame a short deadline and shifted all of their lessons into the online system.

“With that being said, we are pleased that the percentage was high for week one,” she said. “However, we do not want any student to fall behind due to a lack of device and/or internet.”

As of Friday, the school district had provided about 9,000 laptops and “computer devices” to families in need, but internet access remained a challenge.

Manatee had 400 WiFi hotspots on order, with an expected arrival date between April 3 and April 10, and it was still awaiting those devices on Monday. The order would fill less than half of the requests for hotspots, which totaled more than 880 as of last week.

To fill the gap in coverage, Manatee installed WiFi devices on more than two dozen school buses, creating mobile hotspots in the community. The district also installed internet devices at about 30 schools, offering internet access at parking lots and bus loops.

For bus and school locations, visit manateeschools.net, click on “eLearning,” navigate to the “Parent Technology Resources” link and then click on “Free Wi-Fi Hotspots” in the sidebar. To request a computer, parents should contact their child’s school.

The district expanded internet access in Manatee County, adding to the public hotspots offered by Spectrum. However, public WiFi requires transportation or safe walking conditions, and the internet was still out of reach for some families.

Manatee County schools are now reaching out to families and addressing unmet needs, the superintendent said. She also confirmed that public schools would consider the obstacles when reviewing student absences.

“Our update yesterday to school administrators stated that students would be held harmless for the first week if they did not have the tools needed to complete or attempt school assignments,” Saunders said.

“Our truancy procedures would only apply if a student had all tools needed, and just chose not to attempt work or continue with the learning process,” she continued. “We have social workers as well as other resources to assist our students in finishing the year.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 4:08 PM.