Parental involvement in school increasing with remote learning

WADESBORO — When the pandemic struck in March, the school district quickly adapted to online learning with limited resources and guidance. But now, with the new school year underway, administrators are seeing a positive emerge from all of this uncertainty: greater involvement from parents, cultivating a better learning environment for students.

In a normal school year, Principal Daniel Burrows of Wadesboro Elementary School would typically be contacting parents about behavioral issues with students. Now he’s confident going in to each interaction with parents that it will be about making sure their student is as connected to their education as they can be.

In the beginning of the school year, Burrows said 100% of households who needed laptops, totaling 150, received laptops. Those who were not in need went above and beyond to make sure their child was ready for this unique year, marking an immediate parent involvement.

“I even know of a parent who used that check, the relief fund, they used that to buy their student a laptop,” Burrows said. “That’s awesome, perfect! I wish you would have told us, we could have helped you a little bit. But that just goes to show, the parents are taking this very seriously. They do want what is best for their kids.”

The school district already solved the issue for students who are still waiting on laptops or hotspots by providing hard drives. At Burrows’ school, there is a two-fold system to the hard drives. A student will receive a hard drive with one week of material. Students can put their work right on the it and then switch it out for a week two hard drive. The teachers will take back the old hard drive to look over the student’s work and then upload the next week’s material.

“Our kids are really adaptable, they’re resilient and they’re showing their integrity by trying and trying and trying,” Burrows said. “Everyone is making efforts. We are united in where we are going, which is awesome and I’m really excited because we are walking together in this.”

This cohesiveness between school and households is partly due to parents seeing for the first time the day-to-day work of teachers. Parents see the curriculum directly, fostering the opportunity to become “co-teachers.”

Burrows believes this remote learning environment can only be successful with both teachers and parents working together, breaking down the separation of home and school.

It’s not just parents who are contributing more to learning. Burrows views everyone as a teacher: parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, custodians.

“Everybody who touches this child metaphorically, in this child’s life, is teaching this child something,” Burrows said. “Whether we realize it or not, kids are watching. We should be united when teaching kids because if you want a lesson to work, whether it be a moral, ethical or educational pedagogical lesson, we should be aligned in that.”

To help unite the bridge between school and home, teachers are creating parent-friendly lesson plans, allowing the parents to understand the learning point of each activity, reinforce the lesson and to check their child’s comprehension.

“Right now what we are finding is when we are saying, ‘Hey, we are going to work on X skill,’ the parents are more aware of that, they are more cognitive of that, they’re hearing it. They’re monitoring their kid’s work for that,” Burrows said.

The shift from previous years of parents only checking if their child finished homework to parents now working with their child to successfully understand and complete class work, creates more success for the students.

“I’ve been blown away by the parental support we’ve gotten and I think it is from empathy,” Burrows said.

There is one parent in particular who is coming to teachers asking specific questions about the lesson and content who Burrows guarantees would not have done so in a normal year.

Parents now have a window into a day in the life of a teacher and Burrows thinks it is being appreciated in the community. Parents unsure of teaching can look to Burrows and the district for resources. The district is there to help and equip parents with strategies, to be successful, he said.

“To me, we’re teaching as we would normally,” Burrows said. “A lot of ways we are teaching better because a lot of the logistical problems of the school day are gone.”

Kids are kids and some have bad days, as Burrows explained, but being online there are no behavioral issues. Some children who find it difficult sitting in a 19th century model of school for eight hours a day are more successful online, according to Burrows.

Teachers also have more time in the day to plan, grade and prepare as they are teaching online for half the day, instead of fighting the clock. Younger students are online with teachers from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and the older students are online in the afternoons. This leads to less strain in the households on computers and older siblings monitoring and checking in for their younger children.

The district’s flexibility allows for parents to work, and for older students, who historically would drop out to maintain a full-time job and provide, they are able to still complete their schooling.

Burrows attributed the smoothness this early part of the year is due to the hard work behind the scenes. He tells his staff to put their energy into the preparation in order to produce an effortless lesson for students.

Schools can serve multiple functions for children, and Burrows said they’ve made it a point to not forget that by incorporating “life skills time” into the new school schedule. Once a week students can meet with the social worker, guidance councilor and other advocates to address the social and emotional needs of the students.

“It takes a village and I think for the first time we’re seeing that education takes a village too,” Burrows said.