School districts in Alabama come up with new alternative methods to finish school year

LAMAR COUNTY, Ala. (WCBI) – The academic school year is set to resume in Alabama on April 6th.

But when the bells ring, the desks will still be empty.

Due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus, Governor Kay Ivy issued an order closing all public and private school buildings, and advised school districts to come up with an alternative method for finishing the year.

The Lamar County School District has now come up with two new measures to finish out the school year.

“Our plan that we have in place is to do some online classes for those who have the internet capabilities,” said Lisa Wright, South Lamar High School Principal. “Our other students who do not have internet capabilities will do what we call correspondents courses where they will pick up packets from the school on Monday to complete. This is just to make sure there’s not a slide in proficiency to what the students have already learned.”

School leaders are they’re relying on parents during this time to help ensure the students are staying on top of their work.

“We’re not saying that they need to do five hours a day, but if you’ll just touch on it a little bit during the day, it’ll help prevent that slide in proficiency that we are trying to prevent from happening since the students will be out for so long,” Wright explained.

All of the assessments and assignments will be turned in by May 6th, but not all of the material will be graded.

Seniors who are on track to graduate won’t have to complete any of the work.

However, for those who may be struggling in their classes, there’s still time to make improvements.

“Those students who, at the end of the third nine weeks had a failing grade, are being given opportunities to bring that grade up,” the principal said.

Wright said teachers will communicate with students regularly either by email or phone.

Though this was a quick transition, district leaders believe this is the best plan to help keep students on the right track.

“Our kids are not going to miss a beat in their academic career from this,” Wright expressed. “We have next year to look at what standards may need to be hit on and reviewed, and so we’ll take it from there.”

The packets can be picked up on April 6 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The district will send a message to all parents letting them know where they can picked up.

If anyone is unable to pickup the packets during those times, contact the school your child attends for more information.