Staying connected during virtual learning

Forming and keeping connections was a central theme in the last Henrico County Public Schools Student Town Hall Monday evening, during which Varina District School Board member Alicia Atkins and other school staffers answered students’ questions. At times, students themselves spoke to each other about their experiences.

The counseling department has prepared itself to support students as they return to school in a virtual model, according to HCPS Director of Counseling Elizabeth Parker.

“We understand that learning in a pandemic is complicated, and it is hard, and there are just normal things that are going to be very difficult,” Parker said. “So we want to help you guys navigate the normal things, but also be checking on yourselves, be checking on your friends, in case there are some more serious things that start to come about.”

School counselors are licensed mental health professionals, Parker said, and they’ll be available for individual sessions and for small group counseling. School psychologists and social workers also have received additional training, she said.

School counselors will be hosting monthly prevention lessons, and teachers will lead social-emotional learning for “Wellness Wednesdays” for elementary, middle and high school students, she said. Schoology will have a counseling department course with resources and lessons.

One student asked about ways that students could stay connected without in-person school.

Said Atkins: Share your feelings with people you trust. As a parent, she asks her children how they feel and works to help them.

“We may find goofy ways to make you smile. We may do all sorts of things – myself, I do TikTok videos, and then I share them, just to make them laugh and smile, even if it’s just for that moment,” she said.

Parker shared several tips for students:

• Participate in any group discussions in class;
• Take opportunities to study together virtually, like creating a book club for a book you are reading in class;
• Text your friends during breaks in the school day, and share how you are feeling and ask how they are;
• Call friends on the phone to help counteract meeting fatigue from being online;
• Play safe online games together;
• Create group playlists to which multiple friends can contribute;
• Participate in a social media challenge.

Being pen pals could give students a way to stay connected and something to look forward to receiving, Atkins said. They also could ask their parents if they would be comfortable allowing a socially distanced hangout outside, she said.

Students could create a meeting link on Microsoft Teams for their friends to join, Parker said.

Students who feel isolated should contact counseling, Parker said, for help reconnecting. It is OK not to be OK, she said, but students should communicate those feelings to someone.

Staying organized
Atkins and Parker shared organizational tips for a student who was concerned about the absence of bells to transition classes.

Atkins and her son made a poster board clock with his list of classes and set a timer to go off after each of his classes, she said.

Organization is personal and a skill most people have to learn, Parker said. The Google calendar alerts and notifications will pop up on screen, so she suggested students could set notifications for their schedules.

Students should make a paper contact list with information for their teachers, the technology hub, their guidance counselor and other contacts they might need, Atkins said, so that they have phone numbers and/or email addresses in the case of technological or other issues.

During the forum, students asked about graded assessments and submitting work.

Henrico Schoology has an upgraded app that allows teachers to comment directly on documents that students submitted, Atkins said. Her daughter had talked about the difficulty of getting feedback on a document separate from her work, she said, so she was excited for the app.

Teachers will give their students guidelines and procedures for taking assessments, Varina Elementary School Principal Mark Tyler said, so that they are accurate reflections of what students have learned.

Teachers might not give traditional tests because of the virtual platform, Highland Springs High School Principal Kenneth White said, and Highland Springs and teachers across the county are considering other methods to gather that information.

Redistricting issues raised
Kishanti Barmoh spoke as a member of Henrico Justice, a student group seeking educational reforms, reiterated the group’s demand that all schools reflect a similar diversity profile to whatever extent possible.

Both of the redistricting plans that existed in March, when the process was halted because of the pandemic, would move the easternmost neighborhoods in the Glen Allen High School zone to Hermitage High, which would affect the schools’ economic and other diversity, she said.

Atkins would consider what Barmoh shared, she said, and will have conversations about it once redistricting is back on the board’s agenda sometime this month.

“My colleagues will be more versed in their districts regarding Hermitage, but make no mistake about it that Ms. Atkins has her eye on it and that we’ll be deeply engaged in conversations around redistricting, and the impacts, specifically around equity and diversity,” she said.

Atkins is proud that Superintendent Amy Cashwell added equity to the division’s strategic plan, she said.

“I am looking forward to great things when it comes to diversifying our students as well as our staff and creating a culture of inclusiveness” – a vision that Atkins believes the division’s goals will produce.