Remote learning continues on full throttle at Mansfield City Schools.
A second packet of 13 at-home lessons for students in pre-kindergarten through high school will be ready for pickup at each school from 8 AM to 12 PM on Tuesday, March 31, through Thursday, April 2. At the same time, parents and students are asked to return completed packets of the 10 days of homework sent home on March 16.
Mansfield Senior High has set a specific schedule:
- Tuesday — Freshmen, 8-10 AM; sophomores, 10 AM-12 PM.
- Wednesday — Juniors, 8-10 AM seniors, 10 AM-12 PM.
- Thursday — All, 8-11 AM.
Everyone will remain in their vehicles and follow staff directives for drop-off and pick-up. Anyone with questions about the procedure – or who has not received third-quarter grade reports – should contact their respective schools.
Four of the lessons in next week’s packet will complete the three weeks of Gov. Mike DeWine’s initial three-week closing order. In anticipation of an extended closure, the remaining nine lessons will extend to April 24, excluding Good Friday and spring break April 13-17. “It is very important that the at-home assignments prepared by teachers be completed and returned,” Superintendent Stan Jefferson said. “These are counted as instruction days.”
On March 12, the governor said, “During this extended period of closure, schools should work to provide education through alternative means.”
Stephen Rizzo, the district’s chief academic officer, said the governor’s statement indicated that schools should try to make a good faith effort within available capabilities to support continued learning outside of school. “We are among the geographic areas where the governor and the Ohio Department of Education understand many students do not have online access,” Rizzo said. “Therefore, our good-faith effort is based on paper lessons prepared by teachers.”
The paper-based lessons are a state-approved extension of the use blizzard bags beyond the normal three days.
Brad Strong, president of the Mansfield School Employees Association, told his members last week that the lesson packets should contain “review and high-quality learning material.”
Jefferson said the governor has indicated that he will sign H.B. 197, passed by the General Assembly on Wednesday in response to the COVID-19 public health crisis. Among education-related changes, the bill:
- Eliminates state and federal testing for the 2019-2020 school year.
- Prohibits the issuance of report cards for the 2019-2020 school year and provides a one-year safe harbor from sanctions related to the report card.
- Waives the third-grade reading guarantee retention requirement.
- Permits schools to grant high school diplomas to students on track to graduate and for whom the principal determines that the student has successfully completed the curriculum.
Mansfield City Schools will await explanations from the Ohio Department of Education on specifics of the legislation.
“We will address these and other points of H.B. 197 in the days ahead,” Jefferson said. “In the meantime, we ask all families to emphasize the importance of completing and returning at-home assignments.”
