70% of parents favor in-class learning, 23% prefer distance
It’s going to be blended-learning.
Some 70% of Monongalia County parents have said they want to continue sending their children to school in the above format this year.
And 23% favor distance learning using Mon County educators to teach their kids.
That’s according to the rough numbers from fall registration for Monongalia County Schools, which ended at noon Tuesday.
The first day of school in Mon and across West Virginia is two weeks away on Sept. 8 — and the district had already committed to that format for the first nine weeks of the term.
That’s given the unpredictability of the pandemic, Deputy Schools Superintendent Donna Talerico told Board of Education members during their meeting Tuesday night.
Families had decisions to make, she said, and the county wanted to offer options.
A total of 9,831 households responded, Talerico told the board.
Rounding out registration were the 5% who favored West Virginia Virtual Learning through the state Department of Education, and the 2% who basically wanted to go solo with homeschooling.
Talerico said those numbers are delivering a clear, resounding message to the district.
“It shows us that people are putting their confidence in Mon County Schools,” she said.
But not everyone.
A citizen group calling itself Mon County Parents presented a petition digitally to board members that called for total remote learning for that nine-week term ending Nov. 2.
That group members couldn’t attend in person proves their point, they said.
With COVID-19 just as present as ever, the safety of students, teachers and other employees just can’t be assured, the group said.
The petition contained 750 signatures — including active and retired teachers in the county system — and also included testimonials from educators and others simply worried about going back into buildings carrying the taint of COVID-19, no matter what measures are taken.
Nancy Walker, BOE president, read the petition and the group’s accompanying letter. She didn’t read the 750 signatures, though — for brevity, she said.
Same for any letters or testimonials that weren’t signed, given board policy.
“If anyone wants to re-submit with a signature, they certainly can,” she said.
Walker said she respected the process behind the group and its petition.
“Some feel that there’s no collaboration,” she said. “Some are questioning our leadership.”
Every opinion offered, she said, will be officially entered into the board’s minutes.
Superintendent Eddie Campbell Jr. will be part of the official process Friday, when he joins a roundtable of school superintendents with Gov. Jim Justice at 2 p.m.
The governor is looking for thoughts and insights, Campbell said, since the district is in the same neighborhood with WVU.
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