Whether it's virtual or in-person, summer school will look different this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education convened a Summer School Task Force of school leaders across the state in April.
The task force created an administrative memo that includes three recommendations for summer school: provide maximum flexibility to schools, provide clear expectations for summer learning, and provide clear expectations for virtual summer school.
School districts are normally required to complete 120 hours of summer school. This year, districts can apply for DESE's Summer School Minimum Hour Waiver Form, but the Blair Oaks and Jefferson City school districts still plan to complete 120 hours.
JC Schools
The Jefferson City School District will hold virtual summer school instruction Monday through Friday from June 3-30.
JC Schools partnered with Springfield Public Schools to use its Launch virtual program for summer school.
In-person summer school was originally planned for Monday through Thursday June 1-25. The dates shifted to match the schedule offered by Launch.
Designed to serve Missouri students, Launch is based in Springfield Public Schools and partners with school districts statewide to offer students access to Launch virtual courses. There are 270 school districts in Missouri that use Launch.
"We believe it will be a good experience for our students as there is a possibility that virtual education may be necessary again this coming school year depending on how the COVID-19 situation progresses," JC Schools Communications Director Ryan Burns said.
Launch currently offers more than 180 courses, and all courses are aligned to the Missouri Learning Standards, according to the Launch website.
The courses are built in a Learning Management System called Canvas, and all courses include individual and collaborative work with the same content students would learn in a seated class.
Through their devices, students complete assignments such as discussion boards, projects and assessments. Students will have opportunities to video chat with teachers, and they will be able to work at their own pace.
Launch courses are taught by Missouri certified teachers who work in partner districts. Fifty-four JC Schools teachers were offered positions with their summer school program, according to Launch.
Kindergarten teacher Emily Roberts, who will teach second grade with Launch this summer, said she's excited to teach through the program.
"Canvas is a wonderful learning management system, and I think the curriculum is going to be very rigorous while also allowing for the students to be very independent in their learning, which will be nice for parents coming off of homeschooling during quarantine," Roberts said.
So far, 781 elementary school students, 383 middle school students and 865 high school students are enrolled in Launch at JC Schools - a total of 2,029 students. Schools are still processing some student enrollments, and they anticipate the final number will be about 2,200, Burns said.
Last year, 3,274 students enrolled in summer school. The district does not have a count of the number of students enrolled in summer school before transitioning to Launch because many of the enrollments weren't processed by the schools.
JC Schools announced the decision to hold virtual summer school in late April. The district decided not to hold in-person summer school based on the information at the time a decision needed to be made, Burns said.
"There are many uncertainties as to what the next few weeks may hold as it relates to COVID-19, as well as when social-distancing guidelines will loosen enough to allow us to hold school in the traditional format," Burns said.
With virtual summer school, DESE says local education agencies "must think about the degree to which students can access learning experiences online. This will include not only the availability of devices and access to the internet, but also the degree to which faculty can develop and deliver high-quality virtual learning to all students," according to the DESE website.
Chromebooks were collected from seniors, disinfected, repaired and given to kindergarten and first-grade students attending summer school. All other students checked out Chromebooks from the district before the school closure.
The majority of students who don't have internet access were given MiFi hotspots in April. The district is distributing MiFi devices to any other students who don't have them and need them for summer school, Burns said.
Roberts said she's thankful the school issued her daughter a Chromebook.
"She's very confident with it, so it helps her be independent," Roberts said. "I know some of my students would not have been able to connect with me during the closure if they didn't have a school-issued device. It's nice that our district can supply students with things like that for summer school, too."
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Blair Oaks
The Blair Oaks R-2 School District in Wardsville rescheduled summer school to begin June 22. It was originally scheduled May 27 to June 25.
Blair Oaks' summer school normally runs Monday through Thursday, but this year it will run Monday through Friday from June 22 to July 2 and July 6-16. All students enrolled in summer school will attend both sessions.
"In an effort to get summer school completed, we're going to we're going to go on those Fridays this year and then really work around for the July weekend which gives it an extended break," Superintendent Jim Jones said.
There are about 350-400 students enrolled in summer school at Blair Oaks, Jones said.
Blair Oaks will not offer driver's education this summer because of the delay. The class normally runs from May to August, and there are usually 50 students enrolled in the class, Jones said.
The Blair Oaks administrative team formed a task force to plan the best way to hold summer school safely. The task force includes health services staff, buildings and grounds staff, guidance staff, food services staff, building leadership team members, transportation staff and parents.
"There'll be a lot of planning that will take place between now and the start of summer school," Jones said.
They will continue to be in conversation with members of the Cole County Health Department and other school administrators to determine what other districts are doing and the best practices for Blair Oaks, Jones said.
"We're going to continue to draw off the experiences that people are having, and we're going to see what's worked for them and try to emulate that in our process," he said.
DESE's memo states, "If an in-person summer school is determined to be the best local option, schools should consider how modifying the schedule may better safeguard public health." Schedules could be modified in a number of ways, such as an altered start date, phased scheduling or staggered class scheduling.
DESE urges school leaders to consider public health measures, including "social distancing, washing hands frequently, wearing masks, taking temperatures, suspending the use of drinking fountains, altering food service routines, revising procedures for passing out and collecting materials, using common work spaces and playground equipment, etc. and communicating new procedures with students, families and staff."
Blair Oaks is considering these measures and determining how to ensure social distancing in classrooms, buses, lunchrooms, transitions between classes and before and after school, Jones said.
He said they will promote healthy hygiene practices such as hand-washing, continue to thoroughly disinfect the buildings and practice social distancing.
"We're soaking up all these things, and we're trying to process them to see what works best in our particular district," Jones said. "Ultimately, there's not a one-size-fits-all plan - you need to consider all the information available."
Jones said holding in-person summer school will allow the district to better plan for reopening in the fall.
"During the course of summer school, we'll learn a lot that'll be important to the decisions we make for the opening of the fall semester," Jones said.