This Twitter image shows Bonner Elementary students taking part in a video chat facilitated by their teacher, Mrs. Rios.
Monday, March 23, 2020 | 2:07 p.m.
The Nevada Department of Education has approved remote learning plans for every school district in the state, except one: The Clark County School District.
That’s because the district — the largest in the state and fifth largest in the nation — cannot guarantee that all students will be educated while schools are closed to help contain the spread of coronavirus, Superintendent Jesus Jara said Monday at an emergency meeting of the Clark County School District Board of Trustees. The district can only promise to comply with the state’s guidance on distance learning education to the best of its ability and to try to educate as many students as possible, Jara said.
The Board of Trustees therefore declined to approve a request from the state asking the district to “provide distance education to each pupil enrolled” by Monday. “For me to sign off and say each pupil will have distance learning, that’s not something we can guarantee,” Jara said.
Instead, board members voted unanimously to modify some of the language in that request to reflect the fact that students in the district have unequal access to technology at home and that the district will do its best to educate all students remotely. Jara and Trustee President Lola Brooks signed the modified version of the state’s request after the meeting and are submitting it to the state Monday, Jara said.
On March 15, Gov. Steve Sisolak mandated that all schools in Nevada close until at least April 16 in an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus, which has infected at least 245 people statewide as of Monday afternoon, according to the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services.
Since then, CCSD has been providing student learning extension opportunities on its website as well as daily educational materials at 28 food distribution sites across the valley. These materials are “recommended” rather than required of students in recognition that some might not be able to complete them.
However, the district must get its remote learning plan approved by the state to continue receiving money from Nevada’s Distributive School Account and to avoid adjusting its school calendar to make up for missed time, according to a message from Sisolak.
On March 20, Nevada State Superintendent Jhone Ebert asked Jara and Brooks to sign the state’s request for the development of an emergency distance learning plan. Requirements for the plan included that teachers contact “each pupil” at least once a week through online tools, paper documents or other means and that the district provide distance education services to students on Individual Education Plans (IEPs).
But CCSD maintains that it cannot guarantee that every student will be contacted by teachers and educated during the school closures. In addition to the fact that not every student owns a computer and public libraries with computers are closed, some families have fewer computers or tablets than the number of school-aged children in their household, Brooks said.
“So even though they have Wifi, they have three kids and (one) central computer they use, and they’re getting instructions from different schools and none of them are the same,” she said.
There are also families without reliable internet connections. CCSD is trying to work with Cox Communications and other internet providers to see if they can provide free hotspots for all families in the district.
“This is an unprecedented situation, and if anything, this situation has shined a light on the deep inequities in communities across the country, not just ours,” Brooks said.
In addition, the district needs more time to determine how to educate students on IEPs and ensure that seniors in particular, who might not yet have enough credits to graduate, can obtain necessary credits. Unlike some school districts that had already developed distance learning education, CCSD initiated those discussions “in the last week,” Jara said.
“It behooves us to slow down and find ways we can look at and provide the best opportunity and options for our kids,” he said.
To make learning accessible for as many students as possible, the district is considering mailing materials home to students, setting up a homework helpline and working with the local PBS station to broadcast educational materials, Jara said. A helpline should be up and running this week, he said.
In the meantime, schools across the valley have developed various tools for online learning. While some teachers have reported that they feel well prepared for remote education, others have acknowledged challenges when it comes to teaching students at home, including technological gaps, lack of guidance from administrators and an inability to translate hands-on activities to worksheets or computer programs.
“All we’ve heard is, ‘My principal hasn’t said anything to me, my principal doesn’t know anything, my principal hasn’t given out any information,’” Trustee Deanna Wright said.
The district will continue to provide updates to families and schools about the status of its remote learning plan and resources to reduce inequities in education during this time, Jara emphasized. But families and educators should recognize that the status of the coronavirus pandemic changes daily, as have directives from the state and the U.S. Department of Education, he said.
The district will provide updates at ccsd.net as new information becomes available.
