CHARLESTON, W.Va. — In a year significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, West Virginia State Superintendent of Schools Clayton Burch says local and state education leaders did their best to provide services to students.
Burch discussed the challenging school year during a virtual address released last week by the state Department of Education, in which Burch mentioned how the agency educated 267,000 students while continuing essential programs, including local food distribution efforts. He noted the department quickly worked to provide resources and information to families amid changing health conditions.
Burch’s address focused on nutrition, contact with education personnel and opportunities for instruction, with Burch noting staff’s efforts in organizing services in a short period.
“Work that would typically require months was done in days,” he said. “Coordination and planning was unbelievable during this time, from the Department of Education to local county school systems, child nutrition directors, service personnel, National Guard. Their work has translated to over 27 million served to date. Over the summer alone, over 8 million meals were served. Compare that to 2019, when about 500,000 meals were served.”
Burch touched on Kids Connect, an effort supported by Gov. Jim Justice to establish around 1,000 internet hotspots across the staff. Burch noted the increase in internet availability is not a permanent solution for communities that lack internet access and stability.
“It’s going to be necessary if we’re going to talk about equity and high-quality education in the future, but it is a start,” he said. “Counties used more than $48 million of their resources from CARES (Act) funding to assist with instructional delivery, technology, ramping up their own efforts around Wi-Fi and broadband access.”
School systems developed multiple classroom models, including face-to-face classes, virtual lessons and blended schedules. According to Burch, enrollment in virtual schools increased from fewer than 2,000 students to 50,000 pupils because of the pandemic.
The state Department of Education hired 1,000 teachers to support West Virginia Virtual School. The department also worked with the state Higher Education Policy Commission to allow some college students to become substitute teachers.
Burch thanked teachers for balancing in-person and virtual instruction.
“The preparation they did for Sept. 8 was just unbelievable,” he added.
The coronavirus pandemic also brought the department’s coronavirus map, which tracked the rate of cases and included a color-code system showing which school system was open as coronavirus cases increased in each county. In-person instruction is suspended when counties are at the orange and red levels.
“As frustrating as it could be for parents, for teachers, we found it did keep our school systems safe,” Burch said. “It focused on community outbreaks. It assisted us in making decisions on in-person versus remote. It guided us through the fall and allowed us to see lessons learned, and what we found was our schools did an excellent job mitigating risk.”
According to Burch, the department recorded a monthly average of 20 coronavirus outbreaks among 900 facilities.
Burch stressed while the pandemic is troubling, the state “cannot put our children’s futures on hold.”
“We’ve got to come back as strong than ever in January and be prepared to assist our children and continue to engage with them, preparing them for their future,” he said.
The department released its latest coronavirus map on Dec. 19, in which McDowell County is the only green county. Forty-seven counties are either orange or red.
Gov. Jim Justice on Wednesday announced elementary and middle schools will have five days of face-to-face instruction starting Jan. 19, regardless of a county’s color on the Department of Education’s map. High schools will only be closed if a county is red on the department map.