More than 60 percent of families in St. Louis City have opted for virtual learning with their own teachers from home.
St. Louis Public Schools, which revised its plan so that all learning will be online, said approximately a third of children will be at designated school sites and taught virtually by teachers.
Parents and their children were given three options, virtual learning at home with instruction from their teacher using Microsoft teams, self-guided online instruction using Edmentum software, and instructional support centers (ICSs) where students complete virtual learning with instruction from their teacher at a designated school site. Six percent opted for self-guided instruction.
"A major factor in our desire to establish Instructional Support Centers (ISCs) at some schools" was to help low-income parents, said Meredith Pierce, director of communications for St. Louis Public Schools.
"Low-income parents often do not have the ability to stay home with their child during the day because of work responsibilities," Pierce added.
"Childcare can be difficult to secure and expensive. In addition, the African American community has been hit especially hard by COVID-19, and that is our largest demographic."
On whether the city has enough iPads and laptops for all students, school management said that since it has received approximately three quarters of the numbers ordered.
"We believe we will meet our goal of providing a device to every student by September 4, 2020, but, as you indicated, sourcing may become a future problem," said Pierce.
The school's first restart plan was drawn up in consultation with other stakeholders, including teachers, parents, union representatives, administrators and community partners.
"Given how COVID-19 has progressed in our community, we have had to revisit our restart plan several times and adjust based on the evolving reality of COVID-19 in St. Louis," Pierce said.
"Some teachers expressed they did not feel comfortable returning to in-person instruction at this time. We heard their voices and worked with the union on the plan we currently have.
"Ultimately, based on recommendations from health officials, we decided to start the school year virtually with teachers providing instruction from their homes. Teachers are also welcome to use their classrooms for this purpose."
The communications director concluded: "There will be a learning curve for everyone, but we have worked extremely hard on our Virtual Learning Plan 2.0.
"We have been working with a cohort of teachers under the guidance of our Academic Office to develop best practices, and we are confident that we have a solid plan to provide standards-based, high-quality instruction in a virtual setting."