What are the options for Manatee students struggling with online learning? We have answers

Questions have followed a series of letters sent to the parents of struggling online students in Manatee County. Mainly, what were their options?

The Bradenton Herald questioned officials from the Florida Department of Education and the School District of Manatee County since the start of the new semester. While state leaders want struggling online students to return to campus, they placed ultimate control in families’ hands.

However, according to a handful of letters sent from Manatee County schools to local families, their options were limited. After receiving two documents from a reporter, state leaders instructed the district to “clarify their communications,” according to Taryn Fenske, director of the DOE’s media relations.

One letter offered parents a list of alternatives to in-person learning: Florida Virtual School Flex, K-12 Academy or Manatee County Home School.

“Failure to select any of the above options is considered non-compliant with the State of Florida Compulsory Education Statutes, thus having your child withdrawn from his/her school of enrollment,” the letter warned.

The district later updated its letter and added a fourth option: Manatee Virtual School, a local franchise of Florida Virtual School.

But none of the letters included Schoology, the district’s “innovative learning” option for virtual students. In an interview last week, Deputy Superintendent Genelle Yost said students who fell behind in Schoology would no longer have the platform as an option, and that Manatee schools would help them find an alternative.

Yost clarified her statement on Tuesday morning. Manatee felt Schoology was not a viable option for online students who failed to log on, submit assignments or understand the material last semester. Still, parents and guardians can make the final decision after consulting with their school, she said.

“Perhaps we were not singing that song loud enough because we really would like to discuss with them additional options,” Yost said, noting that Schoology has been a continued option despite the early confusion.

“If they insisted then we will listen to them and, yes, they get the final word on that,” she continued.

Micaela Bartee was among the parents who insisted that Schoology remain an option during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has two sons, including a middle-school student who has asthma.

“I would rather see him with an F than on a ventilator, so I’m going to keep him home,” Bartee said.

Bartee was frantic when a district employee visited their home and urged the younger son to either return to school or pick an alternate option, such as Florida Virtual School.

In turn, the mother contacted her son’s campus and asked questions until she arrived at an answer: Schoology was a continued option. That was not immediately clear when the school tried to steer her son in other directions.

“Any other parent would be like, ‘Well, these are my only options so I guess we can’t continue Schoology.’ I uncovered the option because that information was not volunteered to me,” Bartee said.

CONFUSION IN MANATEE

Florida leaders touted family choice in the push to bring struggling online students back to campus.

“Parents must be notified if a student is struggling with virtual learning, still providing the parent the option to do virtual learning if they want,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a Nov. 30 press conference.

DeSantis was previewing an emergency order by Richard Corcoran, the state’s education commissioner. The order requires schools to move struggling online students back to campus or to a new learning format.

However, the order also provides a way for students “to remain in the innovative learning modality.” In Manatee County, the “innovative learning” option is called Schoology, a platform that connects students with the same local teachers and lessons that in-person students receive.

According to the order, school districts and charter schools must do two things if a family hopes to remain online:

• Provide written notice to the parent or guardian that the child is not making adequate progress and any associated education risks.

• Obtain written acknowledgment from the parent or guardian verifying the receipt of this information and the intent to remain in the “innovative learning modality.”

The Manatee County school district echoed the order in its own plan for semester two, which began Jan. 4. Families of struggling online students are “strongly encouraged to send their children” back to campus. Parents can then provide written consent if they wish to remain online, the plan states.

The state education department approved Manatee’s plan, along with a parental consent form that allows students to remain online. The original consent form seemed to offer Schoology as a continued option for Manatee County parents.

“Despite such recommendations to return your child to a traditional brick and mortar school, it has and remains your intent as a parent and legal guardian of your child to have your child remain in the innovative learning modality,” the letter read.

“It is expressly understood that your child will remain in the innovative learning modality, and that further innovative learning modality options will be presented that will best serve your child to make adequate academic progress and learning gains,” it continued.

That letter was changed over the recent holiday break, discouraging families who wanted to remain in Schoology despite their schools’ recommendations.

“It is expressly understood that your child should no longer remain in the innovative learning modality, and that all options will be presented that will best serve your child to make adequate academic progress and learning gains,” the new letter states.

Yost said the letter was changed with feedback from Jared Ochs, the assistant deputy chancellor for the Division of Public Schools. In response, a DOE spokeswoman said the state worked with all districts to finalize their plans, and that any feedback was reflected in the approved documents, not the updated letter.

“We also made contact with the district and they need to clarify their communications in alignment with their plan,” Fenske said in an email to the Bradenton Herald.

In a follow-up interview, deputy superintendent Yost said Manatee provided new documents to the DOE for review and approval. Manatee was still awaiting the response on Tuesday morning.

“We do want to comply with all of the requirements of the state,” Yost said.

THE PUSH FOR IN-PERSON LEARNING

The hope, Yost said, was that most online students would return to campus if they were struggling. In-person classes offer the kind of face-to-face instruction that can benefit young minds.

She also emphasized that struggling online students received help throughout the previous semester, to no avail. Those students needed a different approach in the second semester, Yost said.

“We don’t continue to permit our students to fail,” she concluded. “We must find options.”

Local schools will present those options to families in the new quarter, urging families to try in-person learning or a different online platform, whether it be Manatee Virtual School or something else.

While parents can override the alternatives and keep their child in Schoology, the district will continue advising against that path, Yost said.

“If they’re not successful and meeting academic progress in eLearning, we certainly want them to return to school,” she said. “That is our focus. But we are working with families case by case, listening to their concerns, trying to make modifications that may enhance the program for their child.”

“It is a fact that we would like them to select a different option if we can achieve more academic success,” she continued. “And we’ve been successful with some parents, but others — bottom line — they want to remain in eLearning.”

Parents’ options are now coming into focus, though the number of affected families was still unknown in Manatee County. In South Florida, the parents of about 76,000 online students were expected to receive a letter from their districts, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

When asked how many local families received a letter, Yost said she was unsure last week. And on Tuesday morning, district spokesman Mike Barber said the number was still unknown, citing the ongoing process.

“I could not tell you,” Yost said. “We’d have to survey each and every one of our schools.”

This story was originally published January 13, 2021 at 5:00 AM.