Program approved to help up to about 400 students with medical needs cope with virus, attend school virtually

ELIZABETHTOWN — Bladen County Schools on Thursday evening gave unanimous approval to a plan that allows a portion of the student population to go into planned virtual learning.

The Board of Education met in special session at the district office for the purpose of “discussing and taking action on a planned virtual instruction program, and to go into closed session for the purpose of discussing personnel.”

In the discussion before the vote, following a public comment period, the school board and Atkinson talked about the implementation of protocols. There was an indiciation some had not been followed, resulting in more students than necessary sent home.

The board met in closed session for two hours, four minutes. There was no personnel action before adjournment two hours, 38 minutes after being gaveled into session.

“We’ve been trying to work with families that have presented medical conditions,” Supertintendent Dr. Jason Atkinson said.

The plan helps the district do that, and is selective.

“This isn’t the entire district moving to virtual learning,” Atkinson said.

The plan is capped at 10 percent of the entire district average daily membership, or about 400 students.

Planned virtual learning is defined differently than remote learning. Remote refers to what took place last year, in the COVID-19 emergency or for weather events; planned virtual is different in that is addresses situations where there are medical issues for either the students or people with which they live.

It is also different in that it is synchronous. Synchronous means, in part, students are in session with their class, using webcam; whereas asynchronous — in remote learning —means students can do work at their pace. High-speed broadband internet is among the requirements of the program approved by the nine-member panel.

To do planned virtual learning, families have to make an application by Oct. 8 and get approval. Included in the application, in part, are a medical evaluation, a principal’s recommendation, and a review of the student’s academic standing. Students who do not fare well may be returned to the classroom. There is no plan for another application period; evaluation of the program’s success comes every nine weeks.

There are slight differences in the guidelines for elementary and middle schools, and for high schools.

Details on the plan can be found through the district website and its board meeting documents. Some of the details on general information include:

• Parents may complete a request for virtual learning for their child(ren). There must be a separate application for each child. The request will be reviewed by the BCS Virtual Learning Committee, and families will be notified of the status of the request via mail, phone call or email.

• Students will be considered based on medical need. This includes a student that has an underlying condition that increases the risk for severe illness from COVID-19, or the student resides with someone, or a student’s caregiver, who is at an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 due to an underlying medical condition.

• A medical evaluation form, completed by a physician, will be required. This evaluation must be a scheduled office visit with a medical provider.

• An attendance report and a copy of the student’s report card from the 2020-21 school year must be submitted to the physician at the time of the medical evaluation visit.

Some of the details for the elementary, middle and high school planned virtual learning program include each student following their class schedule and attending virtually in a synchronous (at the same time) learning format. The teacher will provide feedback on completed assignments in the same manner as the face to face classroom. Students will attend virtually the entire school day with their webcam enabled, and in their school uniform. A parent, guardian or responsible adult (age 21 or older) must be present the whole school day to facilitate the students’ learning while they are virtual. Students must have a conducive environment to participate in virtual learning that is free of distractions.

In addition for the high school program, courses through Bladen Community College are not a virtual learning option unless designated by the college.

In recent weeks, the number of deaths and positive tests for the coronavirus have surged in Bladen County. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the county is a high transmission area and the number of people vaccinated is low compared to other areas of the state.

Bladen County has had more deaths since late June than it had in all the time of the 14-plus months prior.

Two more facilities under the school system’s umbrella were added this week to the cluster report from the state Department of Health and Human Services. West Bladen High School had already been on the report, and Bladenboro Primary and Bladneboro Middle were each added.

The county has one other institution, Emereau: Bladen Charter School, on the list. Emereau is a public school, a charter; it is not within the Bladen County Schools.