Columbia Public Schools students receiving home learning packets
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Columbia Public Schools students and parents were learning Tuesday what will be asked of them while buildings are closed down to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
CPS on Monday announced the closing of schools from Wednesday until April 13 to help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus March 16th.
CPS stated that district elementary school students will have packets of work and regular communication with their teachers, while students in grades 5-12 will be able to submit work through an online system.
CPS sent their kindergarten through fourth-grade students home with learning packets.
If students are not in school to receive these packets teachers are putting the packets in their mailboxes at the school’s office for parents to retrieve.
CPS fifth grade students will be sent home with laptops to complete online learning.
Tonya Henry, Derby Ridge Elementary Assistant Principal said its teachers will offer students office hours.
“Each day that we’re out we’ve asked our teachers to have office hours, " said Henry. "So parents can contact them during the office hours and we’ve created a contact list with office hours listed that we’ve sent out to all parents."
Henry said they expect students to bring the assigned work packets back and the teachers will use that as a resource to show what the students learned during this time at home.
CPS high schools like Hickman are taking what classes would usually be in-person to online learning resources.
Samantha Hayes, a Hickman teacher said it's just the matter of how teachers will deliver the education in a virtual learning environment that best supports learning for the students when the teacher may not always be available for questioning.
“The high school curriculum really isn't going to look a whole lot different than what it looks like here," said Hayes. "The only difference is the motive of delivery. So the motive of delivery is going to be online resources."
Mary Korth-Lloyd, Derby Ridge Elementary Principal said she thinks the school and district has prepared the students, teachers and parents for what is to come for homeschooling.
“No one’s ever gone through this before," said Korth-Lloyd. "So I think we’ve done a really good job of communicating and a really good job of preparing them.”
Jefferson City Schools also announced Monday that the district would close its schools between Wednesday and April 3. Harrisburg and Marshall Public Schools announced over the weekend that Monday classes were canceled.
A full list of school closures is available here.
No cases of COVID-19 had been identified in Mid-Missouri, but Gov. Mike Parson announced eight confirmed Missouri cases Monday night. Health authorities in Cass County in southwest Missouri also said Monday that a resident was positive for the virus on a preliminary test.
Local governments have also declared states of emergency, with some limiting crowd sizes. The city of Columbia on Monday limited events to those with no more than 50 people. The White House on Monday suggested people not gather in groups of more than 10.
Check back for more on this developing story or watch ABC 17 News at 5 and 6.
