Teachers, School Staff Organize Massive Pick-Up
After the governor extended the stay-at-home order for students until May 4, schools organized a massive school-supply pick up effort for parents to pick up their children’s supplies.
Picking Up Supplies at Weaver Lake Elementary in Maple Grove
Parents wait to pick up materials. Photo courtesy Cory McIntyre.
On Thursday, parents and kids came to Weaver Lake to pick up supplies. In some cases, that included chrome books or I-pads.
The principal said remote learning via computer is a new frontier for education in the state.
“Especially at the elementary level,” said Patti Farmakes from Weaver Lake Elementary. “This is very, very uncharted territory for us. Our staff, our district staff included, have been working really hard on getting that laid out for families, for students and for teachers.”
Farmakes and others at Weaver Lake are confident that students and teachers will be able to adjust to this new way of learning. Students will not have classroom interaction with teachers or classmates, just computer contact.
“I think it is going to go smoothly,” Farmakes said. “They’ve been working really hard. We’ve been working out kinks for the last week with technology and making sure that all of our Google meets and those are working. We’ve been trying those out and teachers have been meeting with students on-line already just to make sure everything is ready to go.”
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As parents and kids pulled up in cars and trucks to get their supplies, it was another example of how quickly things have changed in recent days because of COVID-19.
Educators believe that will be able to teach from afar and get their online message across to students.
It’s exciting work,” Farmakes said. “We will see how it goes, but everybody is optimistic about it.”
