The Superintendent of the Salt Fork School District says he would not be surprised if schools remain closed beyond the current planned opening date of April 8th. ‘’I’ve said many times to our teachers that we’re going to figure this out, and we’re going to do our best,’’ said Phil Cox on WDAN Radio’s Direct Line program Thursday.
Cox says school districts have to be flexible because of what’s happening with the coronavirus crisis….
{‘’This is unlike anything any of us ever would have predicted. It’s just the unknown. It’s crazy at this point,’’ said Cox. ‘’As we’re trying to get new information from the State Board of Education, from the Governor on a regular basis – you know, we’ll get to a point where we get information and so we gather as superintendents, and as administrators – and with our teacher leadership, and we try to make a decision we think is best for the kids. And by the time we make that decision – new information comes to us, and we now have to change what we just did. And that’s happened several times so far. So being flexible is the new normal for us,’’ said Cox.]
The Salt Fork District, like others in Vermilion County, has stepped up to provide meals to students in need and other help. Cox says his district is using a combination of ways to teach while schools are closed….
{‘’Some of our teachers – especially at the high school level – and a lot of our junior high teachers are going to do E-Learning where students will have Chrome Books. We’ll be using Google Classroom as a platform to deliver instruction using formatted platforms, like Google Hang-out, to be able to communicate with students,’’ said Cox. ‘’For a lot of our elementary teachers – they’re going to go with kind of the hard packets. We’re calling it ‘Remote Learning’ where they will have worksheets and packets that parents will come and pick-up and take home and do with their kids. And every week they will exchange it – assuming this closure extends for several weeks to come.’’]
And does Superintendent Cox believe that once the crisis is over educators will look back and find anything positive about what happened?….
{‘’Well, I think one thing is we are exploring what this has looked like to do on-line learning. And it’s not something we’re going to go full-time, but maybe there’s opportunities to provide additional courses for students in the future that we never thought about. Because in a smaller district we can’t offer it because of the number of teachers, but perhaps through online platforms we can,’’ added Cox.
You know, for me the biggest thing that I think we’re going to see is – times of crisis can either bring people apart or could bring it together. And what I’ve seen in my community of Salt Fork and in Vermilion County as a whole – it’s really bringing us together,’’ said Cox.]
Superintendent Cox added Salt Fork teachers and support staff ‘’have been absolutely tremendous through the whole process’’ as the district has been figuring out how to deal with what’s happening.
[The Direct Line program is sponsored by Danville’s Second Church of Christ and can be heard each Thursday morning on WDAN (1490 am) Radio right after the 8:00 a.m. news.]
