The Delaware City School District reported Friday it is pleased with how students and staff handled the first week of remote learning.
The DCS Board of Education voted in November to move all learning to virtual instruction on Nov. 30 after seeing rising COVID-19 cases and hearing from the Delaware Public Health District that cases would likely continue to increase over Thanksgiving.
Assistant Superintendent Craig Heath said in an email Friday that the first week of remote learning went well.
“We have been very pleased with the transition to the remote learning plan this week,” Heath said. “Our teachers have been incredible with the flexibility and ability to shift their classrooms to the virtual environment. Our student attendance has been excellent, and they are engaged in their synchronous lessons throughout the school day.”
Heath added the district will be working to improve the remote learning plan by getting feedback throughout the district.
“Our principals will be collecting feedback next week to determine areas of the remote learning plan that might need to be tweaked to create a strong learning environment for our students,” Heath said. “That feedback will be shared with our curriculum team so we can identify additional supports for our teachers and families during our time in remote learning.”
Heath said the district has also cancelled plans for first semester exams for DCS Online Academy students and students that were on the blended learning model but are now learning remotely.
“This (cnacellation) will allow our teachers to have additional instructional days at the end of the second quarter rather than taking time to complete a large semester exam,” Heath said. “We will have additional conversations with our Dempsey and Hayes teams to decide if we will have final exams at the end of the second semester.”
Heath added the district is thankful for the community and its support during the transition to remote learning.
“We are so thankful for all of the work and support our families have been providing our students in the remote learning environment,” Heath said. “In times like these, it truly takes a village to educate our children, and we are grateful that we have such a strong community here in Delaware.”
Students in both the DCS Online Academy and remote learning models will attend school for two more weeks before winter break.
The district said in November it hopes to return to blended learning after winter break, but whether or not that happens depends entirely on the number of cases in the community.
