By Jacqueline Tempera Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — In New England, winter storms rarely come as a surprise.
So why aren’t school districts prepared?
A bill that passed the Senate’s committee on education Wednesday would allow schools across the state to submit by Dec. 1 a plan for virtual education during inclement weather or emergencies. The plan must be approved by the commissioner of elementary and secondary education to count as a school day, according to the bill’s language.
Roger A. Picard, D-Woonsocket, sponsored the legislation. Picard, who works for the Woonsocket School Department, said during an April hearing that he hoped the bill would help students “maintain and keep up with school work on the days missed.”
What does this look like? Ryan Hall, a teacher at the Greene School in West Greenwich, has an idea. When he joined the staff in 2015 as a technology teacher at the charter school, he implemented a virtual learning system that students could access through their school-issued Chrome-book computers.
During snowstorms teachers are to post assignments by 10 a.m. on Google classroom — a website where students can interact with their teachers, and educators can track each pupil’s progress. Students go about their usual schedule attending their courses from the comfort of their couch, while educators are on call from noon to 3 p.m. to answer any questions via email, text, or phone call.
Sydney Paiva, a 16-year-old student from Coventry, said she looks forward to these days.
“It’s a great day where you get stuff done,” she said. “And it takes away from days that would be added to the end of the school year.”
Hall structures his lesson plans around the seasons. Every February, he teaches his students coding — something that can easily translate to an at-home lesson.
If students are away from the classroom for more than three days, or if there is not an 80-percent attendance rate, the Greene School will cancel classes both real and virtual.
The Greene School’s structure operates on the assumption that each student has access to a computer, an internet connection, and a smart phone.
Tim Duffy, executive director of the R.I. Association of School Committees, spoke in favor of the bill at the April hearing — but expressed concerns about “the poverty gap and technology gap.”
“This may adversely impact some of the urban districts that have difficulty, where parents don’t have access to devices or the internet,” he said, specifically mentioning the Providence and Woonsocket school districts.
Picard said these students could do “paper-driven or book-driven activities.”
Andy Andrade, the special assistant to the commissioner for legislative relations of the R.I. Department of Education, backed Picard.
“We believe the language gives the local district the ability to design their own plan,” Andrade said. “Quite frankly, to have one policy doesn’t make any sense. You need flexibility.”
The bill passed committee and it moves to the Senate for a full vote.