A mixed system of in-person and virtual learning options for the 2021-22 Cobb County School District’s academic year includes an “exclusive” virtual program and a five-days-a-week instructional calendar for both.
The Cobb Board of Education heard more details Thursday from district officials, including Superintendent Chris Ragsdale, who said “virtual is here to stay” and not just in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic that has prompted online instruction for the last year.
More details will be provided Monday at the district’s Cobb Learning Everywhere vertical. Also starting Monday, registration for grades 6-12 will get underway and lasts through April 1.
Ragsdale and Chief Academic Officer Jennifer Lawson presented grade-level plans that include an “exclusive” online learning environment for grades 6-12.
For students from pre-kindergarten through 5th grade, there will be local school-based online learning. Ragsdale said many of those options will be “school by school specific,” with no singular district-wide program.
The plans also call for some online elementary learners from several schools in a geographic cluster to be taught by a singular teacher. That model is designed for semester and year-long enrollment.
Registration for PreK-5 starts April 19 and continues through May 1.
High school learners will have a block schedule and supplemental classes. Those high school and middle school students in the virtual option will be enrolled through the Cobb Online Learning Academy.
Most online learners will be taught by full-time teachers certified in online teaching. For online high school students who wish to be enrolled through their home high school, they can learn independently through the district’s Cobb Virtual Academy.
The district is in the process of filling more than 750 teaching positions for the next school year, and is conducting a virtual job fair later this month.
“This is good stuff, this is cutting edge stuff,” Cobb school board chairman Randy Scamihorn said at Thursday’s learning options presentation.
“We have a fantastic staff that can make this happen.”
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