CLEVELAND, Ohio — Students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District will not be in the classroom for the first nine weeks this fall. The district decided that they will go online and teach virtually. The school district is home to 103 elementary, middle, and high schools throughout the city of Cleveland.
East Technical High School co-principal, Tiffany James said that the right decision was made in going online for the first nine weeks. She believes that with the number of students and the limited amount of space in their buildings, it would not have been safe. She is still nervous in how effective the online learning will be for the students.
“I’m a little apprehensive that we are going to be able to provide our students the type of quality education that they will receive face to face,” she said. “We don’t have a standard virtual platform and now the district is trying to implement one.”
She said that this lack of clarity has her worried as time is not on their side.
“We don’t have a lot right have a lot, which is kind of scary because our teachers come back on the 12th,” she said. “At the moment, we don’t have a concrete plan in place. We’re at August the 2nd. None of our teachers have been trained on it, nor half the students. I think that’s going to be a little difficult.”
James said that a major challenge that faces the school district is that many kids do not have reliable internet or devices at home to take classes from home. To combat this issue, she says that the district has provided every student with a free laptop and every family with a free hotspot device. Even with the resources provided, she is anxious in how the students will react to learning online.
“I think our teachers will grasp it,” she said. “How it’s rolled out is going to be a huge factor into how well our students grasp it.”
She said that this is form of learning will be brand new to many students in the district. She said that some buildings were fully integrated with one on one technology while other buildings were not afforded this opportunity at all.
“I think that’s going to be very difficult with a lot our students have not been involved with one on one technology in a lot of our buildings. Then also, the parents not being able to assist them as they’re trying to navigate through the platform.”
Classes will begin virtually in Cleveland Metropolitan School District starting September 8th.
