Uniontown’s school district began a continuous learning plan to allow students to learn from home during the nationwide closure of schools, due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

Last week, a parent’s story of how the learning plan was working was published on FortScott.Biz.

This feature is from a teacher’s view.

Rose Gauthier teaches kindergarten at West Bourbon Elementary School.

Following is an interview by email from Gauthier.

When did the USD235 Continuous Learning Plan begin?

“We began Thursday, April 2^nd with a practice run with the parents and students to work out kinks. We started our remote learning officially on Monday, April 6^th. We will finish on Tuesday, May 19^th.”

How much daily planning do you have for the classes?

“A lot. A teacher’s job has never been a 9:00 to 5:00 job, but even more so with this new way of teaching. It is hard to put a certain time frame on all the work the teachers, administration, and staff have put into it. From getting devices into student’s hands, the tech department working out tech issues for teachers and parents, and teachers creating different ways to teach their students with this new way of learning.”

Did you get together as a group of teachers and decide what the most important things to teach are?

“Yes. The school began with many “Zoom” meetings that included administration and teachers, with guidance from KSDE, to determine the best way to reach the kids.”

(Zoom provides users with a cloud (internet) platform for video and audio conferencing, collaboration, chat, and webinars across mobile devices, desktops, telephones, and room systems, according to the Zoom website).

“I create a meeting on Zoom and send the parents an invite.,” she said. “The students click on a link and have a password to log in.”

“Our focus, as for many schools, is primarily the social and emotional spirit of the kids. This is a difficult and confusing time for them and many of the kids do not understand what is going on, especially at the primary levels. Letting them know that we are here for them, we miss and love them. Academically we are focusing on maintaining what the kids have already learned and limited new material to the essential outcomes that were agreed upon as a team”

Do you teach from home or do you go to school?

“Both, the less I need from my classroom the more I teach from home. I go in once or twice a week.”

Have you seen any good come out of this difficult situation of not having the students in a classroom?

“Out of every bad situation, something good always comes out of it. Nothing will replace the social and emotional aspects of being together in the learning environment. The hugs, the high fives, being right beside them to guide them in their learning.”

“This situation has given us the appreciation of each other, the parents an opportunity to be a bigger part of the learning experience, and for all of us to step back and remember what is really important in life. And mostly, we get reminded of what a great community we have. We couldn’t do this without the support of great parents.”

What are some of the challenges?

“The biggest challenge is not seeing the kids every day. Adjusting to remote learning and tech issues are some other challenges, which gets easier as we go along. Also, reaching those kids without internet access is a challenge.”

How do you grade the kindergartners in this new plan?

“In Kindergarten we don’t give a traditional letter grade. We use checklists to provide feedback to parents about where the students are academically. During this time, we will still focus on those checklist skills while understanding that we will need to be prepared to provide the needed remediation to students at the beginning of the 2020-21 school year.”

“The district has worked together to provide a similar learning experience for all students, but obviously this looks slightly different based on the grade, content, teaching style, etc.”

Life is different since the COVID 19 Pandemic has gripped the world.

People are staying home to prevent the spread of the virus, some businesses have closed, and parents are helping teachers with student’s learning at home.

One such parent is Christal Martin of Uniontown.

Christal and her husband, Seth,  have two sons, Caden, 5, and Casen, 4.

Caden attended West Bourbon Elementary School and is in Rose Gauthier’s kindergarten class.

He and little brother Casen are learning from the USD 235 Continuous Learning Plan.

“I have been really impressed with USD 235 and Mrs. Gauthier,” Martin said. “Getting technology in the kids’ hands, giving technical support and also getting food to our kid’s communities.”

For her, the best part of the continuous learning plan that the school district USD 235 has is “Being able to have hands-on in Caden’s education. I have really enjoyed it, once we’ve gotten into a routine,” Martin said.

A challenge for her is learning all the different applications that are available online for the continuous education plan.

Her solution?

“In the evening, I play on the app so I’ll be ready to go the next day,” she said.

Caden received an IPad from the school district for use at home.

On Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Caden has a Zoom call at 9:30 a.m. from Mrs. Gauthier.

On Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. Physical Education Teacher Jackie Hall and Music Teacher Rhonda Allen give lessons.

Art Teacher Chris Woods prerecords a video of art projects then posts it as an assignment in Google Classroom for students to do.

“The Zoom call is 30 minutes,” Martin said. “We’ve read books, done science lessons, interviewed another student in their class and afterward in a journal they will describe the student.”

Other resources are used throughout the day with reading and math the main focus,” Martin said.

“We spend about three and a half to four hours each day,” Martin said. “The state recommends 45 minutes a day. I don’t want him to get behind. We do a lot of extras. We want to keep them learning and not have them stall, in my opinion.”

“It’s been a learning curve,” Martin said. “It’s adjusting to take care of both of their learning. I’ve been homeschooling Casen, too.

USD 235 has started teaching its students off-campus, following the closure of the county’s schools due to the pandemic.

The District Continuous Learning Plan officially started on Monday, April 6 and will run through Tuesday, May 19.

“It is not online learning,” Bret Howard, superintendent, said. ” This is a Continuous Learning Plan created as a response to unprecedented times.  I think this is a very important distinction to make.  Uniontown USD 235 is providing continuous learning opportunities for all students regardless of whether they have the internet or not.”

“We are all in unknown territory and Uniontown USD 235 wants everyone to know that we need to work together and communicate to have a successful conclusion to this school year,” Howard said.

“I am thankful for our teachers who are working extremely hard to meet the needs of our students,” he said.

“This is an amazing opportunity for the Eagle family to grow, support one another, and have compassion for all people.”

“We know this pandemic has caused stress to students, families, and our communities.  Uniontown USD 235 will do everything in our power to make this a positive time for children and families.”

“We thank everyone for working to be true partners in education,” Howard said.

Howard answered the following questions via email:

What preparation did the teachers make?  How did they decide the curriculum?

“Professional development for the district’s Continuous Learning Plan began the week of March 30 with an introduction, evaluation, and revision of the proposed plan to be presented to the Board of Education.  Teachers engaged in a series of activities for the communication platforms they will use.  The district’s behavioral health therapist through Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center introduced and provided Social Emotional Learning resources for teachers, students, and families.  As grade level and content area teams, teachers identified untaught essential outcomes and planned meaningful and engaging ways to deliver the material to students.”

Do they teach from home or their schoolroom?

“The large majority of our teachers are teaching from home.  Our teachers are not required or expected to physically be present at West Bourbon Elementary or Uniontown JH/HS.  Some of our teachers have chosen to come to the school and do their Zoom Webinar meetings for their students.  Some do so out of convenience and some out of necessity due to internet service and reliability at their homes.  Right now we only have roughly 4-5 teachers in our buildings on any given day.  We also have some paraprofessionals that work for the Special Education Interlocal coming to our buildings as well.  They do so for the same reasons.”

In addition to teaching staff, others are working at the school.

“Several members of our food service staff are working multiple days a week to be able to provide meals for approximately 150 people ages 1 through 18.”

“Our custodial staff is working to clean rooms and areas used by our essential staff and employees who are coming into the buildings.”

“Our technology staff works from the buildings several days per week as well as our administration and administrative assistants.”

“We are very thankful for all of the hard work put in by so many of our employees.”

What about those who didn’t have computers, smartphones,etc?

“Uniontown USD 235 is a 1:1 district for laptops, Chromebooks, and IPads.  All HS (Grades 9-12) students already had a laptop computer that they could take home daily.  All students in grades 4-8 had Chromebooks they used at school and students in grades PK-3 had IPads.  If their parents requested a device through our parent survey, students in grades PK-3 were issued an IPad and students in grades 4-8 were issued a Chromebook.  We asked a parent/guardian to sign a technology usage agreement before picking up the device. ”

How will the students be graded? How will this last bit of teaching affect their final grade?

“We have asked our teachers to have patience, flexibility, and grace during these unprecedented times.  However, we do expect all of our students to participate in our Continuous Learning Plan either through the use of technology or through enrichment activities delivered to them via packets through US Mail or if they are participating in our food program they can be delivered to them through that avenue as well.  If students do not participate in the Continuous Learning Plan, it will have a detrimental impact on their final grade.”