Mt. Pleasant hires firm to provide remote learning

MT. PLEASANT - The Mt. Pleasant Community School District will be purchasing seats with online curriculum provider Edgenuity for students who will remain in the remote learning model for the spring semester.

The district will be restricting the option of remote learning to students with fragile health and other students already learning remotely and who are currently passing their classes in the first semester.

In a special session Monday evening, the district school board approved the provider and which students will be able to sign up for the remote learning option.

Superintendent John Henriksen said after a semester of discussions, the district felt it would be best to have students in the district who have chosen the remote learning option to do so through Edgenuity. Currently, in-district teachers across the elementary grade levels are creating online curriculum and providing instruction to remote students. At the secondary level, students receive instruction through subject teachers and have a technology coach as a point of contact.

The contract with Edgenuity would relieve the teachers of having to provide instruction to remote students. Agriculture teacher Matthew Jones and culinary arts teacher Marjorie Beckman, who attended the meeting, relayed their experiences working with remote students to the board. Both said unresponsive students have been a challenge. Beckman said it has been 'disheartening,” especially in cases when students have not responded to any correspondence throughout the semester. Taking away the responsibility of having to juggle both in-person classes, remote learners as well as students coming in and out of quarantine would take away a major stress for teachers.

Director of Instruction Katie Gavin added truancy letters are being sent to parents and students who will be receiving failing grades for not completing work since the instruction is required. Gavin noted data shows 75 to 80 percent of high school level remote learners in the district have at least one failing grade.

The program would cost $1,500 for kindergarten through fifth grade, which would provide content, workbooks and a teacher provided by Edgenuity and $200 per student, per semester course for sixth- through 12th-grade students.

The district has been serving approximately 130 remote students. Gavin said about 60 students are in the model due to documented fragile health or living with someone whose health is a concern. Since Aug. 24, the cutoff for students to opt into the remote learning option, Gavin said the district saw 95 students return to face-to-face and 80 students opt for the remote learning option.

Gavin noted she gets phone calls almost daily from students and families who want to opt into the remote learning option and are inquiring whether the option will be available to them in the following semester.

Andrew noted with the number of students learning remotely in the first semester, the program would cost the district approximately $171,000; if only provided to students with fragile health, it would cost the district $71,000. Henriksen explained the cost would come out of the district's general fund. Gavin added once a license is purchased for a student, Edgenuity provides two weeks to make a change before the student is locked into the license and a refund is not available.

'It's pricey. It's not an inexpensive venture. We could easily spend from $100,000 to $200,000 on this curriculum,” he said.

However, the superintendent reminded the board the program would be a 'one-time cost” and that 'based on our conversations, this is something that we need to do.”

Andrew said he was bothered with spending a large amount of money on students 'who should be in school face-to-face as opposed to kiddos that are true fragile health and shouldn't be.” The board member went on to say he felt the board needed to 'draw a line” and restrict the online option to students the district is required to offer the option to, such as students with fragile health.

Board member Angie Blint made the motion for the district to approve Edgenuity as the online curriculum provider and to restrict the option to be available to students already in remote learning and those passing or have been successful in their classes. Students would be required to stay in the program for the entire semester and no further Mt. Pleasant curricular classes would be open to remote students; however, students could opt into two co-curricular classes in the district, which would be in line with guidelines for home-school and dual-enrolled students. Blint added the district would determine what would be considered 'passing” for students.

Board member Josh Maher said he felt the restriction on who could access the option is unfair to those who did not make the initial decision in August. Maher pointed to changing circumstances and rising cases in the county as well as the upcoming holidays and another anticipated spike as reasons for why more parents and families may now want to explore an online option.

Blint noted the district would potentially be spending a considerable amount of money for first-time remote students to not be successful if remote learning does not work out for the student.

The motion passed in a 4-2 vote with Maher and Andrew voting against the approval.