Sumter schools to offer live virtual instruction, in-person orientation

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Sumter School District will still begin the school year fully virtual with online instruction, but, given a new requirement to offer a face-to-face evaluation day for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, the official school year will now begin Aug. 28.

Superintendent Penelope Martin-Knox and other district administrators presented the virtual school reopening plan to the district’s Board of Trustees on Monday night, and board members reaffirmed their support of the superintendent’s recommendation to start the year in a virtual capacity. Administrators also added the goal is to move to a hybrid/blended model of virtual and in-person instruction as soon as it is safely possible to do so.

Given COVID-19’s continued presence and it constraining many districts from safely starting the school year with in-person instruction, the state Department of Education is now making it mandatory that all districts offer face-to-face Learn, Evaluate, Analyze and Prepare (LEAP) Days before the start of the school year.

Those five LEAP Days are now added to the district’s calendar and will be from Aug. 10-14.

Even though the district is mandated to offer the evaluation days, student attendance isn’t mandatory, according to administration.

Virtual instruction when the school year begins will consist of students learning online from home and teachers delivering live instruction through Google Classroom with increased accountability, compared to the spring semester.

Martin-Knox and Chief of Schools Brenda Hafner emphasized the district’s desire to move to a hybrid/blended learning model with some face-to-face instruction for students each week as soon as it is safe to do so. The district’s re-entry plan includes that expectation of transition.

After beginning the school year virtually, every 30 days the district will re-evaluate whether it can safely phase in a hybrid model. That hybrid will consist of in-person instruction two to three days per week and online instruction at home the other days, Hefner said. The desire is also to shift to full, regular classroom attendance when it is feasible and safe.

Students will still have the option to remain in full virtual instruction once the hybrid begins if that is where their comfort level is, she added.

This article will be updated later today online and in tomorrow's paper.