LEE COUNTY, Fla. — The Lee County School District says nearly two thousand of its students have yet to participate in distance learning, which could prevent those kids from advancing to the next grade.
Out of the 85,000 students enrolled in K-12 schools in Lee County, “there are approximately 1700 students that have not participated or engaged in distance learning, ” said Rob Spicker.
98% of students are actively engaging through google classroom, email, or phone, but 2% of students that haven't participated at all.
“It’s a fair amount of work, it’s a fair amount of standards that they were expected to learn in that grade, ” said Spicker.
Dr. Elizabeth Elliott is a Professor of Early Childhood Education at Florida Gulf Coast University.
She says there could be several reasons why some students aren’t participating.
“You have to look at the age range of the children, the social-economic status of the children. Are there children who are simply unable to log in? ” said Dr. Elliott.
The district has provided laptops, wifi-hotspots, and paperwork packets to students who need them.
But as families face a worldwide pandemic, their priorities could shift.
“Are they in a position of just trying to survive? ” said Dr Elizabeth Elliott.
The district says teachers and counselors are working to reach out to students, letting them know that they still have time to catch up.
“We want those students engaged, we want the families engaged, we don’t want them to fall behind, ” says Rob Spicker.
if students fail to meet the requirements, the decision to repeat a grade will come down to several aspects.
“Looking at the work that they’ve done, standards that they’ve met, the scores that they’ve achieved up until that point and it will be a decision amongst that group of people staff teachers parents as to what grade that child should be in, ” said Rob Spicker.
