Fairfield school district opts for voluntary enrichment activities during pandemic

FAIRFIELD – The Fairfield Community School District has begun 'voluntary enrichment activities” this week after receiving approval from the state of Iowa.

The district's board of directors made the announcement Thursday, April 9, that the district would begin the voluntary coursework on Monday, April 13.

The state gave school districts three options after it asked schools to shut down starting March 16 to stop the spread of coronavirus: 1) Do nothing; 2) Offer voluntary courses; 3) Offer mandatory courses. The vast majority of school districts, nearly 90 percent, have opted for voluntary courses.

For those districts that chose to do nothing, their school days are not forgiven, meaning they'll need to be made up at a later date. For the districts choosing voluntary enrichment, days spent educating students can count as school days and would not have to be made up. For those select few districts opting for mandatory instruction – just under 2 percent – they can conduct their semester as normal, giving credit and grades just like a truly online school.

Early confusion

When the state asked schools to close their doors a month ago, there was much confusion right away about whether school districts could continue with some form of distance education, or if that would not be allowed.

'On the first day, we were in ZOOM meetings with the Department of Education,” Fairfield Community School District Superintendent Laurie Noll said. 'Our initial concern was that if we did [distance] services right away, but were not meeting equitable standards, that could cause some issues.”

Eventually, the federal government gave the schools guidance essentially saying they could do distance education even if it didn't reach all students. The districts were encouraged to reach as many as they could.

School from home

High school students in the district all have laptops that they could use for online learning, if they have a connection to the internet at home. Students in the younger grades are not provided with computers.

Noll said that, through a survey, the district learned that 138 families do not have devices they can do school work on at home, and another set of families who do not have internet.

'For some families, the only way to get internet is through their smartphone,” Noll said. 'Some families don't have smartphones. For others, even if they have a device, the parent needs it for their work. When we did our original survey, we didn't realize where we'd be today.”

The basics of Fairfield's voluntary enrichment program are that all teachers, in every grade and no matter their subject, are expected to produce coursework their students can complete. The students are not obligated to complete it, which is why it's called 'voluntary.” Noll understands that some of them may have other things going on in their life right now.

'A high school student might need to work full time to help the family. Those are immediate needs to help their whole household,” she said. 'And not all of our teachers have good access to the internet from where they live. We are rural Iowa after all, and not everyone has good access to the internet.”

Many teachers are opting for online classes. The high school already has an online portal called Canvas its students are familiar with, so the transition to online education has been smoother for them. For the other grades, teachers are mailing materials to the students or even dropping them off at their doorstep.

Equitable service

Fairfield school district curriculum director Chuck Benge said finding ways to serve all students has been at the forefront of all educators' minds.

'We have met with several companies to discuss the possibilities of getting ‘hot spots' throughout our community and what that costing would be,” Benge said, referring to wi-fi internet access. 'Teachers have an abundant supply of resources for the students, they just need to get them to the students. This is what teachers do best, teach creatively and FCSD teachers have stepped up to serve and educate their students.”

Benge said teachers are doing everything from providing online resources to printing paper packets to calling the students' parents. Some are holding classes over ZOOM, too.

'The teachers in FCSD care and want to educate their students,” Benge said. 'They are truly remarkable in this difficult time.”

Graduation

The district is still planning to hold graduation on the same day, at 2 p.m. on May 24. Noll said she and the high school administration have been in talks about how the district will hold graduation if it can't follow the traditional format, that is, if large gatherings will still be banned by the end of May.