AKRON, Ohio — During a zoom meeting Monday night, Akron Public Schools, the second-largest school system in Northeast Ohio, officially decided to go remote for the first nine weeks of the 2020-2021 academic year.
Akron Public Schools Superintendent David James says students will go back to school in phases.
“We’ll be staggering different grade levels just so we have time to be able to orient all of those students you know, periodically during that phase-in period so they’re ready to go by the 14th of September.,” says James.
Even though students will be learning online at home, some teachers may still be in class occasionally.
“Some teachers who will want to work from the buildings because they have, for instance, they may want to do a virtual lesson using their smartboard. We certainly will have our buildings open for teachers who may want to come and do that,” says James.
As the school system works to make sure all kids have the equipment and internet connectivity, they’re also staffing up to offer support services.
“In the evenings, having some technical support and educational support in the form of tutors who can help students and their families address questions that they may have in their off-hours,” says James.
Akron City School leaders say the entire first quarter, they’ll be meeting regularly and working to figure out what form of learning will take place during the second quarter.
“During this time we’ll constantly be evaluating the situation in Summit County with Summit County Public Health to look at the relative community spread numbers and the risk,” says James.
He adds, if it’s safe, a hybrid of in-person learning and remote learning is an option, but that’s only if Covid-19 numbers make a significant drop.