Peninsula schools will cut back remote learning in fall. Here’s what to know
Citing a lack of enthusiasm from parents, the Peninsula School District said this week it will cut back options for online learning for students in elementary and middle school this fall.
In an email to parents on Wednesday, district leadership said they were changing plans for elementary and middle school virtual learning options, pointing to the low levels of interest.
However, high school students will still be offered a “full menu” of remote options, the district said.
“Due to a low level of interest at the elementary level for virtual learning, we will not be able to run a separate virtual academy with teachers for each grade level. We will offer elementary students a virtual option through Discovery Elementary School,” the unsigned email said. “There was not enough interest from families to staff a virtual school for grades 6-8.”
From the start of the coronavirus pandemic last March, the Peninsula School District moved quickly to online learning for most students before switching to a hybrid model that allowed many students to return to school in February.
In response to a request from The Gateway, the district shared the full survey results, which showed the overall vote totals as well as a breakdown by school. Fully 59.1 percent of parents said they wanted full in-person learning, 38.4 percent did not complete the survey, and 2.5 percent wanted remote learning.
Small group sessions
In the elementary school, the district said that students desiring remote learning “will be placed in small, multi-grade groupings for grades 1-5” that will “engage in synchronous and asynchronous lessons and have the opportunity to engage in some in-person enrichment programming if desired.”
There was very little interest in kindergarten, the district said, “but we will still provide an option that will be mostly independent with an assigned teacher if there is interest. “
Those wanting to be a part of the limited virtual learning program will need to “register with their neighborhood school and complete a Within District Transfer Request” if they do not already live in the Discovery Elementary attendance area. This will need to be completed prior to enrollment.
For the middle school, if a remote option is desired, the district has said it will “work with them to find other programs that can meet their needs outside of the district.”
High school students, however, will still be able to choose remote learning if they wish.
“PSD will continue to offer high-quality, asynchronous learning for grades 9-12. We will offer a full menu of regular and AP courses, using our district teachers and our district Schoology platform,” the district said. “In addition, we will expand our offerings by contracting with PEAK/K12 when specific courses are needed to meet student needs and desires. Students have the opportunity of enrolling full or part-time.”
PEAK is an online learning platform run by a district contractor, Fuel Education (FuelEd) It offers a library of online courses from which students can choose.
‘A wide-open door’
In an interview with the Gateway on June 11, incoming superintendent Krestin Bahr expressed an openness to the idea of continuing some remote learning.
“We will meet families where they are and create opportunities that are the best for their children,” Bahr said. “So whether or not they have discovered that perhaps remote is a better option for them, and maybe they just want partial school, it’s a wide-open door right now.”
Bahr was out of town Thursday, but assistant superintendent John Hellwich said that educators knew that students, “in general, even before the pandemic, learned better virtually as they got older.”
“Its hard to learn to read on a computer,” he added. “There is a lot of advantages in those early grades of having those hands on, in-person experiences and then as you become more independent, they might become more successful virtually.”
Some thrive online
Some teachers have shared anecdotes about students who seemed to blossom in online learning. Hellwich said that is a real thing he has heard from students.
“There are students that we believe, and who have shared with us, they’ve been thriving in that,” Hellwich said. “It creates more interest in the high school level in this type of option than we’ve seen in previous years.”
Hellwich said he is prepared to direct parents to alternatives if they really insist on remote learning.
“We want people to stay in our district and we welcome them in-person if that’s what they’re comfortable with, but if they really want a virtual option, there about 25 different approved online course providers through OSPI that we can direct them to to find a program that will work for them,” Hellwich said.
Even if some middle-school students have to leave the district, Hellwich said, they could return later.
“If they wanted to come back to us in eighth grade, we’d be prepared and we’d welcome them back.”
Hellwich said there is no deadline for middle-school students to change to remote learning though that they should contact their principal if they want to do so.
The district said that high school students interested in full-time virtual learning will need to sign up online at https://www.psd401.net/schools/peninsula-internet-academy-pia and will need to contact a school counselor for part-time options.
This story was originally published June 24, 2021 at 12:47 PM.
