SUFFOLK, Va. — After a late night school board vote, the plan is set for Suffolk Public Schools: the first nine weeks of the fall semester will be taught virtually.
Although most students should plan to learn at home, the School Board made some exceptions for students with disabilities. They will be gradually phased into classrooms.
Teachers will be asked to work from their physical classrooms two days a week for those nine weeks.
Even with completely online instruction, board members said the youngest students in the county won't be sitting in front of their computers all day long. The schedule includes "brain breaks," lunch, social-emotional learning and remediation time.
Eighth graders through high school students would go to block schedules, taking four classes per day. There are periods for enrichment and student support built in to the daily routine.
Sherri Story, a member of the board, said even though it would be a difficult period for the schools, she believed in Suffolk's teachers.
"It's a different day, today. This starts a new year," she said. "Everyone knows that grades count, we're gonna be taking grades, and I want to speak up for the teachers and say: I will make you a bet that this will be a great effort that everyone's going to put in, constantly, and many more hours than maybe if they had been actually in the school normal, because this takes a lot of effort - to manage online learning."
This decision follows Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Newport News, Hampton, York, Portsmouth and Williamsburg-James City County schools, who will also be starting the school year online, to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.