More time, more training needed for learning platform
Featured Stories November 8, 2020
Photo by Susan Kirkland
Aaron Holland, the newly appointed BOE member listens to presentations from staff.
More time and more training on the online learning platform was a consistent mantra at a Pickens County Board of Education special called meeting today. Teachers and staff have been busy learning to use the new platform for virtual learning. ItsLearning, the new learning management system for schools to use when schools close unexpectantly, was put to quick use when Pickens County made the decision to close all of their schools on Oct.26 after a jump in positive COVID-19 cases and quarantines.
The new system, not to be confused with the Pickens Virtual Academy where students are enrolled specifically for virtual learning, provides teachers a way to continue teaching their normally face-t0-face classes.
Most of the comments were good and most were satisfied with the system, but all agreed they needed more time to get use to the platform and more training to make learning and teaching more efficient.
“We’ve had to teach ourselves some things,” said Anita Walker. “But our teachers have been wonderful to share what they know.”
While the teachers said they would benefit from more training, some expressed concern over parents. In a survey about teachers’ perception of the program in regards to teaching, their students, and parents, they rated parents as mostly uncomfortable with the system. Rated on a 1-10 scale 48 out of 57 or 84-percent of teachers at Pickens High School, 34 out of 44, or 77-percent of teachers at Pickens Junior High School, 23 out of 31, or 74-percent of the teachers at Jasper Middle School, and 52 out of 82, or 63-percent of the combined elementary school teachers scored their parents at five or less on being comfortable with the program.
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For special education, the concern was greater.
All the teachers said they could see an improvement over when they first started using ItsLearning, emails and calls have decreased as students, and parents, became more comfortable.
“We can certainly accommodate that,” Townsend told the staff. “The teachers are the backbone of our system-we don’t want to break their backs.”
COVID-19 outbreak and returning to school
Schools will reopen on Monday barring a significant change, Steve Townsend, superintendent said.
Hill City Elementary was the first to close with four, students and staff, were in isolation and 52 were in quarantine, but the rest of the schools quickly followed as the numbers of those who had symptoms increased.
When schools closed, 584 were in quarantine and 27 in isolation.
Projected numbers, based on latest data, indicate the school district as a whole will have two in isolation and seven in quarantined.
Breakdown by school of quarantine and isolation cases related to COVID-19 from Oct. 26 until school resumes on Nov. 9.
Pickens Virtual Academy
The Pickens Virtual Academy, which gives students a chance to do a fully online school, is separate from the online platform that face-to-face students use during unscheduled breaks, has 906 students enrolled in November. This is down 294 students from the 1,200 students who enrolled in August.
Of those, about one-percent or three students moved to another district, four-percent, or about 12 students switched to homeschooling. The remainder, 279 returned to traditional school.
They expect 450 students to attend the virtual academy when the second semester starts in January. Most of those will be returning students for some will be new.
Photo by Susan Kirkland
Principals give updates on distance learning as the system prepares to reopen on Monday.
For those continuing in the virtual academy for the second semester, academy staff plan a more proactive approach.
Kelly Flatt, PVA coordinator, said they are asking families for their opinion and they have created a fake student profile so parents can preview the platform. She said as the semester goes on, they are seeing fewer problems and parents are even assisting other parents via social media.
Misti Moore, the contact for kindergarten through fourth grade, said they have started face-to-face tutoring for grades kindergarten through sixth grade. Although each grade has a day specifically for it, they do not turn away anyone who needs help.
“Some come to not get help, but to just see their teachers and other students,” she said.
Fetching Features: Pickens’ longest serving teacher calls Tate a tradition
Fetching Featured July 26, 2020
Lisa Barnett and her father, Gerald Allen. Both her father and mother, Martha, were teachers in Pickens County and she followed them into the profession. She and her mom both taught at Tate Elementary at the same time.
Lisa Barnett has called Tate Elementary home since her fourth year of teaching and she has seen it all, even an engagement in her classroom.
“It is a wonderful school,” she said. “Everyone cares.”
Barnett lives in Pickens County with her husband, Dwight, their son Presley, who she taught in fourth grade, and their three dogs. She has a son, Tanis, from her first marriage, and two “bonus” daughters, Ashley and Mattie.
All in the family
Barnett’s parents were both teachers and she credits them with instilling the love of teaching in her. Although she was born in Tate, her family moved soon after to Valdosta, where her father, Gerald Allen taught business.
When she was four, he was called and asked if he’d consider coming back to Tate to teach and he said he would if my mom could teach, too,” she said.
Her mom, Martha, began teaching at Tate Elementary. Barnett said her father wanted to teach elementary school, but during the 1960s, men didn’t teach in the elementary schools.
Barnett started her teaching career in Cherokee County and taught there the first three years. Shortly before her fourth year started, she received a phone call asking if she’d be interested in teaching at Tate.
She readily agreed.
“I ended up teaching in the classroom across the hall from my mother,” she recalled.
Tate Elementary School
And Tate has become home. The school is almost 100 years old, built in 1928 and still has all wooden floors lining the halls of the iconic marble school.
From left: sons Presley and Tanis and husband, Dwight. Barnett said she hopes she and Dwight can travel after Presley graduates at the end of the 2020-2021 school year.
“I’ve been roaming these halls for 40 years,” she said.
During the 1970s, a mural was painted in the library of students who used to go the school. It’s a mainstay and Barnett is routinely asked if it is still there by former students.
“Several years ago, we had a principal who wanted to paint over it. I told (the principal) it wasn’t a good idea,” said Barnett, who then called some of her friends to tell them the situation. Enough people leaned on the principal that the mural stayed.
She has taught math, science, and social studies. But she hasn’t simply stayed in the classroom. Barnett has taught hospital and home-bound students off and on for 20 years.
Dwight Barnett, her husband, retired from Delta Airlines. Her first husband, Duane, passed away when Tanis was a toddler.
“I enjoyed it, it’s been one of the most rewarding,” she said. “I enjoyed getting to know the families.”
For the many years, Barnett has been the yearbook adviser, helping students create the keepsake. She tries to incorporate the history of the school into the book. Although she enjoys it, now that her time at Tate is winding down, she says she needs to pass the torch to someone else.
READ PICKENS PLANS FOR THE 2020-2021 SCHOOL YEAR HERE.
She has also coached the swimming team for the last two years and although she enjoys coaching, the travelling involved gets hard.
When asked how she started coaching the swim team, Barnett laughed. “I saw the opening and thought it would be fun. Coaching was on my bucket list,” she said.
Engagement and Gifts
“I had a student who met his future wife when they were in my third grade class. He asked if he could propose to her in there, so I had to get the room cleaned up,” she laughs. “He had lunch for them and proposed in the class room.”
One of her students has missed her so much that he had his mom bring Barnett gifts for Teacher Appreciation Week, Mother’s Day, and her birthday, which all fell during the same week.
“We talk everyday,” she said.
Future plans
Presley and Tanis. Barnett said she hopes to present Presley his diploma when he graduates this school year before she retires.
Barnett said she plans to retire after her youngest son graduates from high school. Teachers are allowed to present their children with their diplomas so she is waiting in order to present Presley with his.
This will give her a chance to indulge in traveling. She and her husband of 18 years, Dwight, want to travel. She said they’ve recently considered a trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania.
She is also considering applying for a position with Pickens Virtual Academy, where she will assist the students in the program with their classes.
“I’m not sure how it works, but it looked interesting,” she said.
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Pickens Virtual Academy registration extended
Fetching Featured, Lifestyle July 26, 2020
PICKENS COUNTY, Ga – Pickens Virtual Academy registration has been re-opened until midnight Monday, July 20th due to internet issues across the county. The contract deadline has been extended until Wednesday, July 22nd at 5:00 pm. If a contract is not received on time, the student will attend traditional school.
Link to Google form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdgUlPmPCZkQgCkP_Ud6W9ci4Nxsb3RRpRi4n0E4Ox6fsOzIQ/viewform?usp=sf_link
From an earlier article:
Virtual vs. Distance
Anita Walker, Director of Curriculum, said there will be a difference between the virtual academy and distance learning and it’s a difference parents need to understand.
“In the spring, we did distance learning. What we are doing here is the Pickens Virtual School. There will be one teacher working with several students across different grades,” she said.
Should the school district experience a second wave and becomes labeled as significant, then students attending as traditional students-those in a physical classroom–will revert to Distance Learning.
“With distance learning, they will be with their regular teacher and that teacher will be the one assigning lesson,” said Walker. “Those in the virtual academy won’t be affected, they will just continue to do what they are doing.”
Time in class
Several parents asked about how many hours an elementary student would spend online doing school work.
Audrey Harrell, with Pearson Connexus, said it’s a question she doesn’t like to answer.
“It really depends on the student,” she said. “The program isn’t just click, click, click, there is engaging material. Still, some students will fly through it and others will need more support,” she said.
Pearson is flexible so while students should sign in and work everyday, when they sign in is up to the student and parents.
Townsend said they are working to determine the best way to track attendance.
As far as the amount of on-line school work versus off-line school work, elementary students will have about 40-50-percent of their school work online. The remainder will be consist of physical activity or hands-on learning using easily available materials.
Middle school students can expect about 60-percent of their classwork to be online and high school, about 90-percent online.
School calendar
The school will set up the calendar for the students based on the traditional school calendar, so there would not be classes when the schools are on break, but students can work ahead, said Harrell.
Feature image courtesy of U.S. Army.
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