Columbus school district keeping students educated amid coronavirus

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – With class not physically in session this week due to the coronavirus, the Columbus Municipal School District took a unique approach to keep their students busy during this time off.

The school district developed an academic contingency plan to assist students during school closures.

Online courses for students will be available, in addition to academic packets.

Columbus Municipal School District Dr. Cherie Labot said despite students not being able to physically attend school, they will still have work to do.

“We have a list of online resources on our website,” said Dr. Labot. “We also had put the information on our Twitter and Facebook account. We are preparing packets for those students that don’t have Internet access.”

Carla Henry, an English teacher at Columbus Middle School, said the courses and packets will consist of various school subjects.

“They will be using the IReady online program the English teachers have also decided to let the students use an EDU site online program. And in addition to that, they will also be working with packets that we have prepared in ELA math and science,” explained Henry.

Educators know that some students may not be able to take part in these online courses.

“For those students, we will just catch them up,” said Henry. “Everybody may not have access to the different resources and materials, so we are going to be graceful in that regard.”

Kresta Cain, a physical education teacher, said the school will do all they can to make sure students are using this time off productively.

“We as a school have to make sure we stay in contact with our kids find ways to do that,” said Cain. “Whether it’s online through, our district website, social media as we do have Facebook and Twitter and Instagram account reaching out to them as much as we can. Just let him know that you know we are here, we support them we will do whatever we can do as teachers to reach out and help them.”

Teachers also ask parents to make sure they are doing their part by having their children take time out of their day to study.