Students in Monroe County are enjoying the last remaining days of their summer vacations. With the 2020/21 school year set to kick off on Tuesday, it’s time for students to start hitting the books. Or rather, the Chromebooks.
In a year filled with so much uncertainty, and oftentimes tragedy, Monroe County is embarking on an unprecedented endeavor: the remote-education of the entire student-body. Not in recent memory has an academic-year begun with so much uneasiness, and so many questions. And what is perhaps most frustrating, is that the majority of those questions can be answered by nothing less than the passage of time.
For the moment, Monroe County is red on the State Color Metrics Map. According to the guidelines set forth by the WV Department of Education, a county must be designated as orange or below in order to conduct in-person education, and hold controlled practices/extracurricular activities.
However, county school officials have stated through social media, that if Monroe is not downgraded to either green or yellow, all schools will remain fully remote.
The Color Metrics Map is updated every Saturday at 9 p.m., with the next update scheduled for this Saturday, September 5. A final decision regarding remote-learning will be announced after the update. However, with the steadily-increasing number of confirmed cases announced by the DHHR this week, it is highly probable that Monroe County will remain red after the Color Metrics Map is updated.
All students, from kindergarten through 12th-grade will need a Chromebook to participate in remote-learning. Monroe County Schools are providing them, at no cost, to students who do not have one they can use.
The Chromebooks will be available for pickup at James Monroe High School today, Thursday, September 3, from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m., and again from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m.. And on Sunday, September 6, from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m.. Pickups will be done via a drive-through system, and school officials have asked that parents and students be patient as the process is lengthy.
The “Chromebook folder,” which contains pertinent information, as well as the required signature sheet, can be found on the county BOE’s website, at boe.monroe.k12.wv.us. Any questions regarding Chromebooks should be directed to Mrs. Tuggle at btuggle@k12.wv.us.
The Chromebooks are a part of West Virginia’s Kids Connect Initiative, which is intended to bring high-speed broadband internet access to every student within the state. Monroe County is, of course, participating in the program. The parking lots of all county schools, including Mountain View, Peterstown Elementary, Peterstown Middle, James Monroe High School and Monroe County Technical Center, will act as WiFi access points for students.
Monroe County school officials are encouraging all county residents to “Please do your part to stop the spread by wearing masks, avoiding large gatherings, washing hands and socially-distancing. Our students are counting on all of us.”
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