With Alabama’s K-12 schools closed through at least April 5, school officials across the state are scrambling for ways to keep students learning.

For Alabama’s public schools, the state education department’s instructions said keeping learning going would be optional. “Consider this situation similar to assisting with the prevention of the ‘Summer Slide’,” state guidance read.

With schools closed, that means learning at home.

Preventing summer slide means anything from distributing worksheets to offering online resources. But not all schools across the state have the capability to do online learning, and even in those that do, the evolving crisis at the end of last week proved challenging to districts trying to do school while also preparing for the unknown.

In Decatur City Schools, Deputy Superintendent Dwight Satterfield and his colleagues started preparing their 9,000-student district weeks ago, when higher education officials were discussing whether students on their campuses could return after spring break. "It wasn't a matter of if the coronavirus would disrupt school," Satterfield said, "it was when."

"We had to consider what a pandemic would look like in terms of the school," he said.

They knew if buildings were closed, learning needed to continue. Not knowing how long a school closure would last, the district had to do all it could to prevent learning loss similar to what's known as the summer slide.

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"Everything in education is foundation-based," he said. Material builds one on the other in a progression. They surveyed families and knew internet connectivity was an issue.

"Part of our planning process was figuring out how many students didn't have connectivity and those who had at least one device."

They ordered enough additional hotspots—wi-fi that could be turned on for families without internet connectivity—to connect about 2,500 families.

State education officials said districts couldn't require students to spend time learning, but schools were free to provide opportunities. And technically, teachers are still working even though schools are closed.

Teachers prepared 15 days of lessons for students and Chromebooks were distributed. Math and English language arts, along with ACT preparation courses for older students, would be made available through online platforms.

Schools in Decatur closed Monday, three days earlier than the state-required Thursday closing, and virtual learning began immediately.

Virtual school is going well, he said. One teacher is continuing to teach Advanced Placement Calculus, connecting with students through Google Hangouts. Another teacher is reading virtually with her kindergarten through 2nd-grade students. Principals are doing virtual updates, and one taught a math lesson virtually for his entire school, "just as a brain teaser."

Satterfield, a 30-year veteran teacher, principal, now in charge of student services, safety and operations, said he feels fortunate to be a part of a system that has resources and thinks ahead.

"We realize every system can't do what we've done," he said. And while others were questioning whether the coronavirus would disrupt school, leaders in his district knew it was a possibility. "Because we had a group of people willing to say this is a possibility, we were able to start the planning process early."

Learning online at Spring Valley School

Students at Birmingham's Spring Valley School are used to doing things differently when it comes to school. The school exclusively enrolls children with learning disabilities, and they need to be taught in non-traditional ways.

And until a few weeks ago, nobody at the 115-student private school had considered doing school online.

School director Dr. Laura Fiveash said online school is a tough go for students who need “multi-sensory” instruction. But Fiveash and her husband, a UAB physician began watching the coronavirus spread and knew they better figure out how to move school online.

“We started communicating with parents early on. We didn’t want to create panic, but wanted them to know hey, I’m thinking about this,” said Fiveash.

But given the challenges the hundred-plus students in her school face, how do you teach in a multi-sensory way when teachers and students can't be in the same place?

Worksheets could fill part of the need for learning to continue – "our copier ran nonstop for three weeks," she said – but students needed more than worksheets.

Enter Google Meet, an online platform for students and teachers to see each other face to face. But school officials had never given students access to the online meeting platform, even though they'd had Chromebooks for four years.

Third-grader Madilyn Yang attends Spring Valley School's online class with teacher Angela Gillespie on March 20, 2020, in Birmingham, Ala.

Students were taught how to log on to the platform, and teachers learned how to use it to teach. "Most of our teachers were really nervous at the beginning," Fiveash said.

Chromebooks and binders of information were sent home with students on Friday.

Sunday night, Fiveash told students and teachers that they would not reopen the school for students on Monday.

Distance learning would begin Wednesday. They'd have an abbreviated school day – 8 a.m. to 11:40 a.m. – for younger students. Students in middle and high school grades would have a full day, learning online, with breaks for lunch and P.E., through 3:40 p.m.

"This is about structure, not just learning," Fiveash said. "And kids have got to see their friends."

Fiveash was right.

“I can’t wait to see my friends tomorrow,” third-grader Madilyn Yang told her mother, Sarah, the night before online school started.

Sarah said when Madilyn logged in on Wednesday, it was "phenomenal” for Madilyn to see her friends online. “It does them really good to see their friends,” Sarah said. “To me, that’s just as important as the academic learning.”

Madilyn's learning space was set up at the dining room table so Sarah could watch, too. "It's the first time I'd watched a class. And it was neat."

The first hour of learning was all about reading, and Madilyn was engaged the whole time, Sarah said. Next was a 10-minute break and then on to an hour of math. Next was a 30-minute recess outside and away from the computer and then on to English language arts. "Right now," Sarah said, "they're studying the Titanic."

Fiveash said school officials had to determine what the bare basics, subject-wise, would be and focus on that to start with.

"If we're asking them to sit in front of a screen," Fiveash said, "I want to make sure those hours are used in the most efficient way for the most important subjects." For students in second through fifth grade, that means reading, math and English language arts.

Next for Madilyn was lunch and then one more class: P.E. That, too, was online.

Sarah said there are some technical glitches, but she's glad Madilyn is continuing her learning. Sarah's two older children attend public school, and there's no expectation for them to do school during the period schools are closed.

If public schools remain closed through the end of the school year—Kansas has already announced they won’t return to school this year—Sarah plans to find home-schooling options for her two older children.

“We can’t take six months off.”

Barriers, expected and unexpected

Because of the wide range of resources—money and internet connectedness—among Alabama’s schools, it’s no surprise that many schools weren’t able to scale up distance learning quickly.

And even Alabama’s wealthiest school district ran into unexpected barriers.

Mountain Brook City Schools were ready for the pending close of schools and had an e-learning plan in place for the 4,300 students in their schools if schools closed. But the school closure announcement came after schools were closed on Friday and students hadn't taken their Chromebooks home with them.

The plan to let parents pick up Chromebooks on Monday was scrapped after multiple Mountain Brook residents tested positive for COVID-19.

"They weren't directly connected to our schools," Barlow said, "but they were close enough that we thought they might be." Teachers were worried about returning to school on Monday, so they decided to shut down for three days and regroup.

Elementary school officials started distributing Chromebooks to students Saturday morning. Learning will be optional in accordance with the state’s order to close.

What a morning! Thanks to our stellar MBS team, we distributed more than 1,200 Chromebooks to our elementary school families. Posted by Mountain Brook Schools on Saturday, March 21, 2020

Two and a half weeks with no structured learning is too long, Barlow said. Mountain Brook, the wealthiest community in Alabama, has high expectations for academic learning and the long break is a concern to families. "How are we going to prepare our kids for their future?"

Continued preparation was key for Spring Valley's leaders, too.

"Above all, I don't want any loss of learning," Fiveash said, adding that she regularly pops into virtual classrooms to say hello, just as she would on an ordinary school day.

They're still working on communication, Fiveash said, and that's an ongoing process. But so far, feedback from parents has been mostly positive.

And there are ongoing technical challenges. "Some people's internet is not going to work when we want to."

“Grace is going to be key. If we can’t be graceful through this process, it’s not going to work.”

Day 2 in the books! We are so grateful for the support of our SVS Family. #SVSgoesvirtual Posted by Spring Valley School Alabama on Thursday, March 19, 2020

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