A year ago, as students, faculty and administration in the Carroll County School District were preparing to come back to school from Spring Break, Governor Tate Reeves announced that schools would be remain closed through April 17, 2020.
Students did not return to school for five months, and the Carroll County School District began navigating how to teach their students remotely.
To combat the increasing number of cases of COVID-19 in the state, Carroll County students did not return to school until the last week of August, however, the district was faced with a quarantine that closed both J.Z. George and Marshall Elementary two weeks before Christmas.
All the while, the county’s students were split between distance learning and traditional in-person instruction, and the administration worked to determine how to teach their distance-learning students effectively in a county with limited internet service.
The district has openly stated they’re dealing with a skill regression in students due to being out for five months, and some students aren’t completing all work required of distance-learners. However, district leadership is working to ensure students receive the best education they can under the circumstances given.
When the pandemic was declared, Superintendent Jim Ray said the administration, faculty, and staff rolled up their sleeves and went to work on a plan of action. It wasn’t always perfect, but they’ve made it three-quarters of the way through the school year without major incident.
“We’re trying not to hide behind COVID-19. We know it’s there, and we know it’s hampering us,” Ray said. “We try not to use it as a crutch to an extent. It’s no secret, it comes out in the paper that our test scores needed to be improved. Is COVID-19 hampering that? Sure.”
Ray said the district is trying to get students where they should be academically, but it will take a collective effort to do so.
He said this past year has not only been a learning experience for the students but for teachers and parents as well. Ray said he has teachers that have been teachers for 20-plus years, and they are learning how to teach their students through Zoom. Parents had to decide which method (distance learning or traditional) works best for their child, and students are having to deal with new ways to learn.
It’s been a learning experience for everyone involved.
For Ray, getting acclimated with a new school district came quick, very quick.
“It was like pow! On top of everything else you have to work on, now you’re hit with dealing with COVID-19,” he said. “It almost puts you on hold because now you’re in survival mode. Now they’re decisions to make. Can we go to school today? You’re not focusing on improving your test scores, improving education, improving the things you want to work on. Now the biggest decision is are we going to be able to go to school today? How many employees are out? How many are quarantined?”
“All in all, we hung in there. We’re trying to have school to the best of our ability. We’re trying to have [students] in school. It’s certainly has not been a perfect situation, but we’ve fought through it. I hate to use the word survived, because we have to do more than survive it. We have to get past it in order to get back to quality education,” he said.
The district has hit a few bumps in the road, but the goal remains to improve the students. Ray said they have their nose to the grindstone, working to do just that.
He said there is still work to do, and once they get past COVID-19, they can focus on quality education, improving scores, and creating men and women who will be productive citizens of not only Carroll County but wherever their feet may land.
