The coronavirus (COVID-19) has brought massive changes to the Rockbridge County School System.  All classes have switched to online for the duration of the school year, and no students are allowed on campus for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year.  Geometry and Statistics teacher Scott Fleshman has been working through the transition.

“It’s much more difficult in an online setting than being there in person, but the students really are doing a great job keeping up with the material and asking good questions.  That being said, I do see many people taking advantage of the online platform,” said Fleshman.  “If a student doesn’t want to do the work, it is hard to get them to do it, as you have to rely on the parents to get the message across,.” Classes are being continued through the use of Google Classroom, which allows students to complete and turn in assignments online.  Additionally, the Google Meet app has been used to host video discussions, and its screen sharing feature allows for power-point based lectures.  However, all of these services require internet access, which is a concern for teachers like Vicki Black, a Physical Education (formerly Spanish) instructor at Maury River Middle School.

“It really forces our school system to consider the different socioeconomic backgrounds that the students come from.  We have some students that have all of the necessary tools to complete assignments, yet others that do not even have internet access,” said Black.  “Also, we cannot determine whether students are just choosing not to do the work or do not have the means to do so.”

Although there have been issues with the online program, teachers are optimistic for the future.

“We were almost to the point of review time anyway, so there was not much left that needed to be done.  There will be some bumps in the road next year that need to be addressed, but that is okay and I think we’ll be fine,” said Fleshman.

For many teachers there was only a small amount of material left for students to cover.

“As far as timing goes, the whole situation could have been much worse,” said Black.