Online learning getting positive feedback despite 'hiccups'

Online learning options typically used by a small fraction of Medina County students have now been opted into by roughly a quarter of enrollment across multiple school districts. As of Wednesday, 24 percent of Cloverleaf Schools students have elected online learning for this school year, which just started Tuesday. That marked a three-week delay from original plans for Aug. 19. Cloverleaf Director of Curriculum and Instruction Bob Hevener said his district is one of many in Ohio to experience problems with content filtering software this week designed to keep students from looking at other online material while they're logged in to school work. He said that issue was quickly resolved and — from an in-house standpoint — things are going relatively smooth. "Securly is our content filtering company and, from what I've been told, it was a problem that occurred all across Ohio," Hevener said. "It also created some connectivity issues and, of course, we also had a Verizon outage that added to it. On our end, we knew there would be some fires to put out and some problems to solve but I have a great team working for me. They've worked very hard on making this a great option for our students and parents." Around 3 p.m. Tuesday, thousands of Verizon service loss reports began popping up across northeast Ohio with a significant number of those coming from Medina, Lorain and Cuyahoga counties. According to the company, that issue has since been corrected. Hevener said it was not yet clear whether content filtering problems completely halted students' ability to complete online work or how much Verizon's problems interfered with access. "A lot of the first day or two is about making connections with students and creating routines to follow," he said. "Every grade level is at different places with that. Our online teaching coordinator had a phone to his ear for 10 solid hours working with students, parents and our K-12 teacher facilitators." The district is using multiple private vendors for online learning including Study Island, Edmentum and i-Ready with curriculum based on models set up by those vendors. A future in-house online academy isn't out of the question for Cloverleaf, Hevener said. "This is my 33rd year in public education and the best way to serve our students and communities is to always move forward," he said. "We need to evolve. There just might be a place for a Colts online learning academy in the future. Time will tell. We'll gather data and make that decision at the appropriate time. We're in a situation that no one ever anticipated." "There may be a body of students at Cloverleaf who perform better in a Colts online academy," Hevener added. "That's also not meant to disregard the importance of the social-emotional well-being of students in a face-to-face environment." Wadsworth Wired working for parents Cloverleaf and Wadsworth Schools parents painted a mostly glowing picture of their experience so far with expanded online options. Marlena Mann and her Wadsworth fourth grader, Natalie, created a "maker space" dedicated to learning in the district's expanded online option, Wadsworth Wired. "I wanted to create a space to encourage her," she said. "There's the encouraging, brightly-colored classroom doors and walls like at school, which she is missing. The light is turned into a lit-up cloud. She wanted a soccer theme. Our goals so far have been conquering math and getting all assignments turned in on time." A recent Wadsworth survey brought in 3,558 responses with 72.4 percent saying they're sending children back to district buildings for in-person instruction. More than a quarter of respondents said their children were moving to Wadsworth Wired, while roughly 2 percent said they're withdrawing from the district. "I would have never dreamed of home school before COVID," said Justine Patterson, parent of a Wadsworth fifth grader and second grader. "The Wadsworth teachers make it very fun and easy for the parents. They do miss the social interaction of friends but have enjoyed getting to do live Zoom meetings with their classes." Leah Gallion said any issues for her Wadsworth kindergartner have been minor and resolved shortly thereafter. "Overall we've very pleased with how everything has been going," she said. "Any hiccups they have had get fixed quickly. "It's a learning experience for everyone but I'm happy with our choice to stay home and do Wadsworth Wired. For kids this age, it's a unique challenge as far as staying interested and involved while being patient and waiting for their turn to talk. They have all been doing well." Wadsworth students in grades 1-12 were welcomed back Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 with a staggered schedule. Missy Smith Jarvis is a paraprofessional with Cloverleaf Schools whose daughter has opted into online learning. Jarvis said she's taken a leave of absence from work in consideration of her husband's medical condition that puts him at higher risk for severe COVID-19 infection. "It was a little rocky yesterday and today as my daughter was getting frustrated," Jarvis said. "She was doing her i-Ready math and reading testing for them to see where she is at to guide her to the correct level of learning. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better now that she finished for today. Other than that, she has done great but it breaks my heart that she can't be at school with her friends." Overall connectivity for online learning has improved, said Cynthia Arends of Wadsworth about her children's experience. "Getting the Chromebooks onto our Wi-Fi was difficult," she said regarding the end of last school year. "We believe that was also due to other devices in the house using the Wi-Fi. This year, they're using personal hot spots on their phones and we found the connection and reliable WiFi access through the Chromebooks to be much improved." Melanie Hall Sindelar said her family may stick with Wadsworth's online curriculum even after the pandemic ends. "We chose virtual just to see how everything plays out with COVID and go from there, but who knows?" she said. "With how smoothly everything is going we may just opt to stay out until next year. The teachers and staff have been absolutely amazing, which is not surprising." Contact reporter Jonathan Delozier at (330) 721-4050 or jdelozier@medina-gazette.com.