Columbus schools will offer in-person learning 5 days a week this fall
Columbus City Schools students will have the option to return to classrooms five days a week in the upcoming school year, Superintendent Talisa Dixon said Wednesday evening.
Planning is underway and an announcement about what learning options will be available for families is coming soon, she said.
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“(There is) more to come to all our families, about what the fall and the options will look like,” Dixon said. “But we will be back five days in person for the fall.”
Currently, the state’s largest school district is operating in a “blended learning” format, meaning students are attending classes twice a week in-person and are completing classwork online from their homes on the other three days. The district gradually phased in its nearly 47,000 students starting on Feb. 1, a process that finished just two weeks ago, when some middle and high school students had their first day of in-person school in more than a year on March 25.
Families have also had the option to enroll students in the district’s fully online digital academy.
Wednesday’s brief update came after two parents spoke during a meeting of the Columbus Board of Education, criticizing a lack of communication about when students might return to classes every weekday and what options will be available in the fall.
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“I worry that the first two years of my child’s formal schooling will be spent primarily behind a computer, without the benefit of substantive peer and teacher interaction,” the mother of a kindergartner said.
During their remarks, the parents also noted that all other Franklin County school districts have resumed at least four days of in-person classes each week.
The Whitehall and South-Western districts, for example, shifted to five days of in-person classes this week, after students returned from spring break. Several other districts in Columbus suburbs did so throughout March.
Among Ohio districts with demographics more similar to Columbus, however, current learning modes are mixed.
Akron, Cleveland, Toledo and Youngstown remain in a hybrid format, though Toledo announced last week that students will return to five days of classes on April 19.
Canton, Dayton and Cincinnati are offering classes five days a week.
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Earlier this week, the Cincinnati Board of Education approved a resolution confirming that it will offer five days of classes in the upcoming school year, in addition to remote instruction and blended learning, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. The district is also working on a pilot program that would allow students to livestream their classes during next school year.
As of March 31, 78% of Ohio’s 609 districts were offering in-person classes every weekday, and 22%, were continuing to offer a mix of in-person and online classes, according to the Ohio Department of Education.
@AlissaWidman
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