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Like school systems throughout Virginia and elsewhere, Henrico County Public Schools officials had limited time to decide how they would structure instruction plans for students after the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the final three months of the in-person school year.
They opted for a multi-faceted approach – packets of lesson plans and educational activities initially, followed by online resources and activities on the website they’ve dubbed “Edflix” (a word play on Netflix), a period of optional potential grade-enhancement exercises for middle- and high-school students, and optional video conferencing with teachers one or two days a week. The plans all center around the system’s six-point “Henrico Learner Profile,” which seeks to foster in students high character, global citizenship, and strong communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creative thinking skills.
The approach hasn’t met with widespread approval.
“I have been very disappointed with the ‘distance learning’ that Henrico has provided due to COVID-19,” Tuckahoe District resident Amanda Wainscott wrote to the Henrico School Board last week. “The [Edflix] choice boards and supposed ‘resources’ are buried in a "colorful" marketing plan and a black hole of links and passwords. Where is the real instructional plan, the content, the lesson plans, the teachers teaching?”
Wainscott was one of 21 county residents who submitted comments about the school system’s online learning plans to the board prior to its April 23 work session, which members conducted online because of the pandemic. Of those 21, 18 expressed frustration or disappointment with the online options, two expressed positive reactions in a broad sense to how the school system has handled the pandemic and closure of schools, and one had praise for the efforts while also expressing concerns about their implementation.
“We patiently waited for four weeks for a program to help us work with our children to make sure that they continue to get an education,” wrote Thomas Upson of the Tuckahoe District. “What we received is not acceptable – it contains no lesson plans with any substance, extremely limited virtual learning, and no recommendations that would take anyone more than 15-20 minutes per day. Trying to go through the maze of passwords to even print out the assignment takes me longer than that!
“Every other public school system in the area is providing their students with lesson plans or virtual learning or some kind of combination of the two. We need a structured program that has been tailored for each grade at the school with concrete lesson plans so that we can continue to educate our children.”
Partially in response to questions and criticism from parents, Henrico officials are today unveiling more detailed optional learning opportunities through Edflix.
Chief among those changes: a separation of activities by grade level; previous versions of Edflix, which debuted April 14, combined kindergarten and first grade, second and third grade and fourth and fifth grade activities at the elementary school levels, which drew criticism from some parents.
“We’re learning that there are things that we could do better, and we’re learning that from you,” Brookland District School Board member Kristi Kinsella said, addressing constituents during last week’s work session. “Know that we’re listening and we’re adapting and trying to make things better for you.”
In addition to a weekly choice board (which offers various activities in core subject areas) and a performance task (a project), enhanced Edflix options now also include:
• independent learning and practice sections by subject level (designed with the state’s Standards of Learning tests in mind), through which students can download and complete various assignments;
• “Family STEAM” (science and technology activities and lessons);
• a list of applicable grade-level books;
• social and emotional exercises and activities.
School officials intend to continue adding to the site, Henrico Schools Chief of Staff Beth Teigen told the School Board during its work session last week. Beginning May 4, teachers will start engaging students in academic concepts that would have been taught during the fourth quarter, she said.
Subsequent phases will occur during the summer and into the 2020-21 school year, Teigen said.
“Our intent is to offer some of these opportunities face to face – as safety allows – in the summer as well as through digital means,” she said. “We are also planning to utilize any number of instructional opportunities this fall, whether online or in person or both.”
To assist with the at-home learning efforts, school system officials have distributed more than 4,000 Google Chromebook laptops to families for use by students during the next several months and intend to provide about 2,000 more to those who need them. The school system also will benefit from the provision of additional WiFi hotspots countywide for the next year, provided through an $80,000 grant to the Henrico Education Foundation from Facebook.
'A day late and a dollar short'
During last week’s meeting, Tuckahoe District board member Marcie Shea said she’d heard from parents who were happy with the online learning plans and some who weren’t. Three Chopt District member Micky Ogburn largely echoed Shea’s sentiments.
“We’ve gotten tremendous amount of response on the effectiveness of it,” Ogburn said. “We have heard some parents where that platform didn’t really work for them or they had trouble with it. Staff have been incredibly responsive to it.”
The changes to Edflix, which in part had been planned several weeks ago, likely are coming too late to satisfy everyone.
“I find the online learning to be ‘a day late and a dollar short’ and am very concerned about our kids falling behind,” wrote Tuckahoe District resident Lauren Corby. “I wish that the teachers were able to provide more instructions and that the Edflix site wasn’t so generic. It’s ridiculous to have the same assignments from K-5th, and I think it’s too much screen time.
“Also, it’s interesting that Chesterfield and Richmond were able to roll out much more detailed plans much earlier than Henrico, that smacks of poor planning to me.”
Wrote another Tuckahoe resident, Erin White: “As a former Henrico county teacher myself, I know we can do so much better than this. Our children deserve more direction and serious review of learned material. Review of specific math concepts instead of vague dumbed down assignments.”
In Chesterfield County, school system officials largely have allowed each school to craft its own plans by individual grade level. Some have posted detailed daily plans and exercises, while others have posted more general and simplistic learning opportunities.
In Richmond, school officials have districtwide lesson plans arranged by dates; parents click on a date, then a grade level to view the entire day’s assignments by subject. Most days have video lessons from teachers, recorded in the weeks since schools closed.
Hanover County also has its lesson plans broken down by individual grade level and is requiring students to complete three assignments for each course between April 13 and May 29; teachers will grade them according to simple “meets expectations/does not meet expectations” criteria, according to the school system’s website.
“We recognize that there is nothing that replaces the services that we can provide when we’re open,” Superintendent Amy Cashwell said during the April 23 work session.
Henrico officials have said the school system is giving great leeway to individual teachers, who can determine for their own classes the best approach to take.
“[L]et’s not forget how big a role our teachers are playing in this,” school system spokesman Andy Jenks wrote in an email to the Citizen. “Their frequent interactions and feedback with students is huge at this time, but that’s not something you’d notice on a webpage. Teachers are, and will be, reaching out directly to students to support and guide students during this time.
"Teachers are being given tremendous flexibility under the current circumstances, as they’ll know best how to best engage their students in virtual learning. . . [I]nstead of standardizing a one-size-fits-all approach, we chose to craft a platform that meets the voice and choice of our students and their families. We realize that each learner's situation and needs are unique, and we want to ensure each Henrico family has the resources they need. Teachers will be there to help guide students and parents through the various resources.”
