School officials say virtual learning essential for school shutdowns

Oct. 27—State health officials are predicting a particularly severe flu season, but local school officials say they are better equipped to deal with it after ramping up technology for remote instruction during the COVID pandemic.

An outbreak of flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) at Austinville Elementary caused the school to shut down for the week beginning Tuesday, but it did not force an end to instruction. Eighty-three students and roughly 30% of staff were reported absent on Monday and an additional 17 students were sent home that same day. Instruction was shifted to virtual delivery.

Superintendent Michael Douglas said it is a daunting task to temporarily close a school but he feels his district is doing a better job of avoiding learning loss during the closure.

"Before we had virtual, you would have closed school and you wouldn't have delivered any instruction, then that school would have had to make up the days," Douglas said. "The difference is it allows you to provide some instruction and you don't have to have those kids come in on Saturday or add days on to the end of the year to make up for lost time."

Alabama Department of Public Health administrator Judy Smith said she is expecting a high incidence of flu this year because fewer people are wearing masks or social distancing than the last two years, when COVID was more prevalent.

"Throughout the nation and throughout Alabama, there is a highly cautious concern that this is going to be a bad flu year," Smith said.

According to ADPH data released Wednesday, every health district in the state is experiencing "significant influenza activity."

Lawrence County Superintendent Jon Bret Smith's district saw 85 more absences Wednesday than on Sept. 26.

"Now, things like flu and RSV are ramping up, kind of like what we saw before (COVID-19)," the superintendent said.

Officials at Morgan County Schools said they are not seeing a significant increase in absenteeism from flu or RSV, but virtual instruction provides them with a tool to deal with an outbreak if it happens.

Morgan County Schools Technology Director Lee Willis said virtual instruction has been a more useful tool in reaching students at home than the district's previous methods.

"What we used to do back in the day is we would send home paper packets with kids," Willis said. "The difference is, with virtual instruction, they can email or communicate with the teacher and the teacher with the student with a much quicker response. With the paper packets, if (students) got stuck they were just stuck until they made a phone call or somebody could get to school."

Douglas said DCS also handed out paper packets in the pre-COVID past but it creates more strain on teachers to prepare them if a school experiences a flu outbreak.

"Normally with these kind of outbreaks, you don't have stuff prepared and planned," Douglas said. "You're either forcing your teachers to put together something or you're forcing your parents to come up and get it."

With a virtual classroom, Douglas says, the teacher is able to interact with students via computer and go over lessons in real time.

Limestone County technology director Linda Smith said students sent home due to an outbreak should not miss schoolwork because most textbooks in the district are accessible online.

"Back years ago, when a student forgot to bring a textbook home, they didn't have a textbook available to do their work or study," Linda Smith said. "We've improved that because textbook materials are interactive online and we're seeing that increasing."

Willis said virtual instruction is beneficial when students have to be sent home, but it is nothing he would want to implement long term.

"In the short term, I have confidence that children will continue to learn and learn pretty effectively," Willis said. "When you go long term, it becomes a matter of expectations at home. Even if the parents are really engaged and really pushing, the child has to be motivated themselves."

With Austinville Elementary students out for the week, Douglas agrees.

"This is a short-term thing that, hopefully, we'll get them back face to face as soon as possible because if you do it long term, kids are going to suffer," Douglas said.

— wesley.tomlinson@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2438.