TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Eleven days before all schools in Leon County are scheduled to begin the fall semester, only a few thousand students either have yet to make a final decision or have enrolled in a virtual academy.
Enrollment for Leon County Schools in-person and digital instruction is roughly split evenly.
Our updated numbers show that we have just crossed the 50/50 threshold with 15,400 students enrolling for digital online learning to 15,000 for in-person learning.
— Leon County Schools (@LeonSchools) August 20, 2020
The members of the Leon County School board gave clarity Thursday on just how many students would be in classrooms as opposed to online as well as support for parents to keep track of students working at home.
Superintendent Rocky Hanna confirmed the numbers for school choice.
"We're at about 49 percent enrolled in brick and mortar, face-to-face, and 51 percent who are distance learning," said Hanna.
Come August 31 the district says around 15,000 will be back in the classroom and 15,400 will be working online.
"Tomorrow we're launching our parent academy," Dr. Gillian Gregory said. "Which will be all web-based work for parents as they navigate distance learning and canvas in the online learning environment."
With the high volume of students, the academy gives parents support with digital learning.
YouTube videos will be pushed out and a call center set up to help students and parents navigate school at home.
"The more adults they interact with, the more quarantining we're going to have to do," said Roseanne Wood, LCS board member.
Overall, the district is satisfied with their plan to return students and teachers safely back to school and online.
“There is nothing more essential than a public school teacher,” said Hanna.
The superintendent also touched on digital devices. He says they are going to work with what they have right now while they wait for the devices they ordered to arrive.
While some have the means to do this, others don't even access to the internet.
LCS says they're aware the digital divide is a persistent problem, but they're committed to filling the gap.
They're working to provide about 8,400 devices to students either taking virtual school or the digital academy.
Some will be using laptops if they're going hybrid while others will get a desktop computer.
The rest are asked to use their own.
There a currently 84 teaching and teaching-related positions open in LCS.
