Diane Coston
DeLand, FL - The Volusia County School Board is holding a special emergency session tomorrow (July 21) to take action on the Fall Reopening Plan
Interim Superintendent Dr. Carmen Balgobin and her staff are recommending approval of the plan and the submittal of option 2 to the Florida Department of Education for approval.
Option Two in the Fall Reopening Plan: Volusia Live (in real-time streaming) with Student's School of Enrollment (pending approval of FLDOE) – This option is pending approval by the Florida Department of Education. Students will remain at home but follow the same daily schedule as their classmates who are in traditional school. Students will participate in classroom instruction by logging in on a device and engaging with their teacher and classmates virtually, using platforms such as Zoom or Teams (real-time streaming). These students are expected to log in and out on time for class every day. They are also expected to engage in classroom activities. Attendance will be taken.
Volusia United Educators President Elizabeth Albert says while the concept is good, implementing it is another story. Volusia Live would give each teacher a regular classroom roster just like every year. The difference is some of the children are in the classroom while the rest learn from home. This means the teacher is teaching in two different formats at the same time. She doesn't think this is good for anyone involved. "That is where we need further refinement and development. When you are trying to manage and monitor two groups of students simultaneously, that does become quite cumbersome and challenging."
Albert said they are asking for changes to be made to the Volusia Live option. " There needs to be a dedicated teacher identified to support distance learning. They can use the same curriculum, the same resources, the same pacing, the same assessments, the same tools of instruction but we can't do it in two different modalities."
