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WATCH NOW: Waterloo school board hears virtual education concerns from parents

Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier - 10/15/2020

Oct. 15--WATERLOO -- Sending his son to kindergarten during a pandemic worried Dustin Lies.

Enrolling him in Waterloo Community Schools' online virtual education program seemed like the best answer.

"When this option was announced, I was relieved and thankful about my son's safety," he told the Board of Education in a letter read at its meeting this week. "But I envisioned a quasi-classroom setting conducted virtually, suggested activities, virtual reading time, and even just time for kids to see each other and interact virtually."

He has been disappointed with the reality of his son's online learning.

"The overarching issue I have is that currently it feels as though virtual students are second-class citizens in a way," said Lies. "How disheartening it is when that virtual learning consists almost entirely of working through a less-than-user-friendly system and watching videos."

Lies was one of five parents who voiced concerns Monday during the board's public comment period about their children's experiences with online education. All submitted letters or emails that were read by board secretary Pam Arndorfer.

Superintendent Jane Lindaman said she was familiar with the parents' concerns and had talked to most of them prior to the meeting.

"We are definitely evaluating what's going on right now," she noted. Parents of online learners were invited to participate in a survey last week. As of Monday, about 335 people had responded.

Respondents were "actually quite significantly positive" about the program, said Lindaman. "Not quite, but approaching 80% of parents were satisfied with the virtual learning experience, which I think is pretty amazing given the scenario."

Still, with "a little over 20% of parents who are not satisfied with the virtual instruction," she said improvements are underway. "We have a team of individuals that is working very hard on this."

There have been many staffing issues around offering in-person and online instruction as "hundreds and hundreds" of students have moved between the options. Staffing was a concern for the parents.

"There is next-to-no actual instruction provided for virtual students," said Lies, leaving he and his wife to come up with lessons and activities. "There should be virtual-only teachers with no in-person responsibilities at the same ratio that there are in-person teachers to students. These teachers should be available, if not daily, then multiple times per week to do guided instruction, reading, even just allowing kids to socialize."

Virtual teachers, who don't work with in-person students in Waterloo Schools, are assigned 80-120 children and required to contact them through video every two weeks. Parents and students, who work at their own pace through online lessons, can contact teachers at any time.

Mary Wilber called the virtual teacher for her grandchildren -- in kindergarten and second grade -- "wonderful, especially given the impossible situation."

"She has 93 students," said Wilber. "She only meets with her students once every two weeks for 15 minutes. Imagine being a 5-year-old and only seeing a live person every two weeks."

"Communication is lacking. Teachers are overwhelmed," said Kit Ming Vierra, who has first- and fourth-grade children in the virtual program. "Basically, the parents are the ones monitoring the student's performance."

Matt Gibbon, who has a second-grader in the program, suggested delegating duties to others so virtual teachers can gather with students online for events like book readings. "There must be some way for us to think outside of the box to increase interaction with others for the virtual learning students."

Lindaman expects there to be more opportunities for student-teacher interaction, with livestream events prerecorded for students who aren't available at a specific time. "We're definitely working on that to get more connections," she said.

The parents also talked about various concerns with the online curriculum, created by the company Edgenuity. Among those were students being tested on concepts not taught in the lessons, not enough practice before testing, poorly planned lessons that sometimes repeat and other glitches with the system.

Testing on concepts not taught was a red flag for board member Lyle Schmitt.

"Why would you put out a product like that?" he asked, adding that the company should be fixing those problems when alerted. "If they're not working in real time, we need to work with someone else or we need to do it ourselves."

Parent Leanne Klinkenberg voiced concerns "about the mismanagement, lack of transparency and inconsistencies across grade levels and minimal guidance provided by the district" related to the curriculum requirements, particularly at the high school level. She said "we were more than two weeks into the year" before it became clear students needed to complete seven credits for the semester even though four classes were initially loaded into their accounts.

She also took issue with "the district's well-publicized attitude that in-person learning is the best educational model, so that's where the district's prioritizing its resources."

Lindaman said officials stand behind the assessment since it is "probably what's best for most -- not all" and in-person classes were what schools were prepared to do. She noted implementation of initiatives takes at least two years and often three to five years or longer.

"We weren't ready to scale up for this virtual (learning) and we did the best we can," said Lindaman.

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