First day of school: Teachers adjust to remote learning

Technology runs smoothly, teachers enjoy seeing students

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On Monday, schools across the country started the school year — many doing so remotely. In North Carolina, only a few hours into the first day, the crashing of online student information system NCEdCloud temporarily left families and students across the state unable to access their school’s online learning programs.

At Chatham County Schools — which will continue under the remote learning Plan C for at least nine weeks in response to COVID-19 — the first day went smoothly. That’s partially because CCS is not using NCEdCloud, which manages PowerSchool and Canvas education tools, to distribute remote learning materials.

“We’re actually good to go,” CCS Public Relations Coordinator John McCann said Monday. “Our learning management systems are routed internally.”

The only impact of the statewide outage of the tool for CCS, McCann said, was that attendance had to be tracked manually by counselors and social workers instead of through the system.

The CCS Board of Education unanimously extended Plan C at the district’s public schools from four to nine weeks at its Aug. 10 meeting. Prior to the board extending the remote-learning period, Superintendent Derrick Jordan said the county was much better prepared to provide remote instruction this semester than they were in March.

“Folks should expect it to be absolutely better than what it was,” Jordan said at that meeting, adding that additional structure to remote learning this semester, such as attendance and grading policies, were a big part of that. “It won’t be perfect. There will still be hiccups. But I see that folks will be better positioned to navigate given the lessons that we were able to learn as a result of the quick pivot last semester.”

For first-grade teacher Debbie Bitting, who has been an educator for 30 years and teaches at the new Chatham Grove Elementary School, it was clear her students loved seeing their friends and teachers, even if virtually.

“Today, seeing them on Zoom, it was like my heart just exploded,” Bitting said. “I saw all their smiling faces, and it felt real. It was really a good experience.”

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper ordered all schools to close for two weeks starting March 16 to slow the spread of the coronavirus, later extending the in-person closure through the end of the school year. Cooper’s original announcment came over the weekend, meaning many students and teachers didn’t know their last in-person class was the last. The quick pivot to online and remote learning made for an overwhelming transition for students, parents and teachers alike.

The governor announced July 14 that schools would open the fall semester under the hybrid learning Plan B, stating that “there are no decisions more important than our children in our schools.” At the time, he said individual school systems could opt for the fully remote Plan C option. At a news conference at the beginning of the month — where he also extended Phase Two until Sept. 11 — he shared that half of the state’s K-12 school districts were offering remote learning, with the other half offering some form of in-person learning.

As people continue to adapt to changes brought by the pandemic, teachers across the state — including those in Chatham — are working to make the most of remote learning.

Laurie Page, an educator for 21 years, teaches at Chatham Central High School and said day one “this time around” was different, but not necessarily bad.

“It was a good day,” she said. “Lots of getting used to the new learning style, but good.”

Altangla Harrison, who’s been an educator for 27 years, teaches 5th grade at Chatham Grove Elementary School. She’s dedicated to making remote learning work for her students, even if it’s not the same for her without students in the classroom. Harrison led several get-to-know-you activities with her students to help make the most of virtual learning and, all in all, she said it was a good day.

“This was very different, not actually being in the classroom physically with the children and feeling their excitement and getting to know them personally,” Harrison said. “I think that it’s just going to take more time to get to know them.”

The earliest CCS can move to any form of in-person learning is during the second to last week of October, which coincides with many of the school’s end-of-grading quarters. At this time, fully in-person learning — known as Plan A — is not an option for any district in North Carolina.

Reporter Hannah McClellan can be reached at hannah@chathamnr.com.