CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — In just a couple of days, over 40,000 students will return to school in Cherokee County for both virtual and in-person instruction. As the date nears, many parents that elected to enroll their child in virtual learning say that they're concerned.
Over the past week, social media comments have been circulating from parents about a lack of guidance from the school district regarding virtual learning. Kathy Moore, a parent of two middle school students says that she feels the district has placed a higher importance on in-person instruction over virtual.
"Nobody knows what to tell their children. Nobody knows what to tell them to do. I don’t even have a website to log to tell my children to log into," said Moore.
Outlined in the district's reopening procedures, it says that all digital learning teachers will set a time and date for a virtual meet-and-greet through Microsoft Teams/Canvas.
Erin Rosner Delgado, a parent of two children with special needs says that she has no idea how the district is going to handle virtual learning for special education.
"I don't even know if my 6th grader will be in a virtual class with other 6th graders or special need 6th graders. We're just waiting to see what happens on Monday," added Delgado.
According to the district's website, special education services for parents that select virtual learning will be "highly individualized and based on the decisions made by your child’s IEP team". The guidelines go on to say that the school will "implement your child’s services to the best of its ability and in light of the fact that in-school services have been offered".
Both Delgado and Moore added that they have heard that district teachers are feeling stressed about the online learning procedures.
"I know teachers are quitting. They sent out a note the other day that said don’t worry if you’re teacher leaves - we have a list of retired teachers that can step in," explained Delgado.
The district told us that they have been working around the clock to prepare for Monday, and that they were focusing on communicating directly with parents.