Tag: Phil Giaramita

Categories
Coronavirus News

Making it work: Distance learning is a big challenge for special-needs students

Since distance learning began in March, Marybeth Clarke has discovered many new things about her 14-year-old daughter, Elle, who is in seventh grade at the Virginia Institute of Autism’s James C. Hormel School. PC: Zack Wajsgras

To the relief of local teachers, parents, and students, this school year is almost at an end. The sudden transition to distance learning back in March posed a challenge to schools across the country, but it’s been especially tricky for special education and English as a Second Language students, along with their teachers and families. These students require individualized, hands-on assistance and care, something that does not lend itself easily to at-home learning.

When schools first shut down, many parents of special ed students did not know the specific strategies and practices that their children’s teachers used in the classroom, says Jessica Doucette, director of education services at Virginia Institute of Autism’s James C. Hormel School. Learning how to work with their student has been even more difficult for parents with full-time jobs, and single-parent households. Distance learning also removed those children from their much-needed classroom routines, which help them to manage behaviors and emotions, says Becca Irvine, a special education teacher at Baker-Butler Elementary.

When ESL students were taken out of the classroom, they lost a crucial learning tool: peer interactions. “English learners, in particular, learn by listening to their peers,” says Albemarle High School ESL teacher Renata Germino. That’s an especially big loss for students whose parents have limited English skills. In Albemarle County alone, there are kids from 96 different countries, speaking more than 80 different languages, according to Germino.

One of the biggest distance-learning challenges for ESL students, teachers say, is one many families have faced: internet access. Schools have provided Wi-Fi hot spots and laptops, among other resources. But some students still do not have adequate internet access. From ACPS’ Check and Connect program, which requires teachers and counselors to contact every student at least once a week, “we know there are 685 students, about 4.7 percent [of the division], who do not have home access to the internet,” says spokesman Phil Giaramita.

To accommodate them, teachers have sent learning materials through the mail, as well as delivered items in person.

And special education and ESL teachers have found a variety of other ways to meet their students’ needs.

Teachers at the James C. Hormel School have provided one-on-one training to parents of students with autism, teaching them how to work on specific skills with their children the same way they would at school, says Doucette.

These trainings and resources have helped Marybeth Clarke learn more about her 14-year-old daughter, Elle, who is in seventh grade at the James C. Hormel School.

“Obviously, I know my daughter inside and out, but I didn’t know her academically. As we approach new subjects and content every week, I have to gauge almost right away [if] there’s a skill missing that she needs in order to understand something else,” says Clarke, who is a stay-at-home mom. “Sometimes I see her do things I had no idea that she could do, and other times…[struggle with] things I had no idea she couldn’t do. It’s definitely a learning curve for me.”

While it was “very rough” for Elle when her school first moved online, she and her mother (with teachers’ support) have been able to establish their own routine at home, which helps Elle complete her work and feel at ease. Every school day, Elle writes in her journal, does online assignments, and receives one-on-one occupational and speech therapy through video chat—all at set times, and with plenty of breaks.

To best help their students, ESL teachers have been translating assignments into the students’ native languages, says Germino. They’ve also provided students with online articles designed for ESL, allowing them to change the reading level and have words read out loud.

But the biggest priority for both special ed and ESL teachers has been maintaining strong relationships and consistent communication with kids and their families, they say.

Like many teachers, Molly Feazel-Orr conducts daily virtual one-on-one meetings with each of her special education students at Burnley-Moran, during which she sets behavioral expectations and gives them a structured schedule for the day.

Teachers have also been videoconferencing regularly with parents, working with them to develop plans for every student that align with their individualized education programs, as required by federal law.

To regularly check in with students and their families, ESL teachers (who don’t already speak their language) use tools like Interpretalk, which puts an interpreter directly on the line, and TalkingPoints, which translates text messages in 100-plus languages. They’ve also used Zoom, Google Meet, and similar platforms to have one-on-one lessons, as well as bring everyone together to practice their English.

It currently remains unclear when students will return to their classrooms. According to Giaramita, the Virginia Department of Education will release a report this month “on timing and various scenarios for the reopening of schools,” which will have a “highly significant influence” on the decisions each school division makes—whether classes will be face-to-face, online only, or a hybrid of the two.

But for now, “we all need to offer grace to ourselves across the board—families, students, administrators, everybody,” says Germino. “This is all brand new for us, and we’re all working really hard to do the best we can.”

Categories
Coronavirus News

Class dismissed: School closings intensify equity issues

Jack Jouett teacher Heather Dow sits in her car outside the middle school to utilize the public WiFi. Dow lives in Greene County, and does not have a fast enough internet connection to take Zoom calls for work. PC: Zack Wajsgras

With Virginia’s K-12 schools shuttered for the remainder of the academic year, our city and county districts have moved into uncharted territory: figuring out not only how to teach thousands of students outside of the classroom, but also making distance learning accessible and equitable for all.

The districts say they are still developing formal distance learning programs, which will be rolled out after spring break, on April 13. In the meantime, some teachers in both the city and county have provided students with optional online modules and activities, reviewing previously taught material. Educators have also been using video conference services like Zoom and Google Hangouts to bring kids together.

Accessing these resources, however, is more difficult for some than others. Up to 30 percent of Albemarle County Public Schools students don’t have adequate access to the internet at home. And while Charlottesville City Schools do not have division-wide data on students’ internet access, its most recent CHS student survey indicated that 6 percent of households have no internet.

To bridge this digital divide, ACPS has boosted the WiFi signal at all of its schools, as well the Yancey School Community Center, allowing anyone to get onto the internet from parking lots. Several hundred cars have already been spotted taking advantage of this crucial resource, according to ACPS spokesman Phil Giaramita.

ACPS has also leased part of its broadband spectrum to Shentel, enabling the company to expand internet to more rural, underserved households in the area. With the lease revenue, it’s ordered about 100 Kajeet Smart Spots, which are “devices you can install in your house that will access the network of local carriers in your area,” explains Giaramita. Once they’re delivered, “we’re going to start distributing those to teachers [and students] who don’t have internet access at home,” and will order more as needed.

In the city, CCS recommends that students who have inadequate internet access connect to an AT&T or Xfinity hot spot, as both companies have recently opened up all of their U.S. hot spots to non-customers. The district is also distributing hot spots to students who are unable to use those publicly available.

Both city and county school districts are giving laptops to students in grades two and up who need them. ACPS also plans to distribute iPads to kindergarteners through second graders.

At CCS, learning guides are available online for pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade students with suggested activities that do not require access to the internet.

Despite these efforts, CHS senior Jack Dreesen-Higginbotham remains concerned about the city’s transition to distance learning. “I know they’ve been working on trying to set up hot spots for students, but I don’t know if it will be accessible to everybody. And [still], not everyone has a school-provided laptop,” he says. “My brother, who is in sixth grade, wasn’t provided one, so he’s had to use mine to do his work.”

However, Dreesen-Higginbotham’s CHS teachers, who currently use Zoom, are doing a “very good job at instructing their classes and organizing lessons, so that they can be inclusive to everybody,” he says.

After spring break, both CCS and ACPS will provide more formal online—and offline—academic instruction and enrichment for each grade level.

“We’re looking at finding specific solutions for individual families, whether online, offline, or a combination,” says CCS spokeswoman Beth Cheuk.

“Offline could simply mean working with kids by telephone, by regular mail. We’ve asked teachers to be creative, so that there isn’t any student who is disadvantaged by their access to technology,” adds Giaramita.

While students will learn new material through distance learning, there will be no grading (or SOLs). Instead, teachers will provide feedback on a regular basis.

To former CHS teacher Margaret Thornton, now a Ph.D. candidate in educational leadership at UVA, this is an opportunity for local schools to explore different types of evaluation systems.

“I hope that we can make lemonade out of these lemons, and re-evaluate a lot of our policies—grading is certainly one of them,” she says.

“We’ve [also] known for a long time that our standardized testing system has created a lot of inequality,” Thornton adds. “We can be rethinking assessments at this time, and how we can make it more formative and more useful in instruction.”

Both school divisions want to ensure that as many students as possible graduate or are promoted to the next grade level. Per guidance from the Virginia Department of Education, students who were on track to pass before schools closed will do so. But on April 6, ACPS announced that if distance learning is not “the best fit” for a student, they will have the option to complete the school year by attending classes in July, or (excluding seniors) during the next school year.

While ACPS’ lesson plans will not go into effect until April 13, Giaramita says one of its distance-learning initiatives has already been implemented: Check and Connect. Students will now be contacted at least once a week by a teacher, counselor, administrator, or principal to talk about their distance learning experience, what assistance they need, and what their internet access is like. So that no student is left out, this contact can take place by phone, email, video call, or even snail mail.

CCS has also asked teachers to connect with each of their students to identify which ones need additional support, regarding WiFi or other issues.

Such practices may be particularly beneficial to those who do not have parents at home to help and support them throughout the day.

“So many service workers are being considered essential, and are doing essential work. But that means often that their kids are going to be home alone without adult interaction,” Thornton says. “The relationships between teachers and students are [going to be] key.”

Other teachers, parents, and community members have expressed similar concerns for students with limited access to adult instruction and interaction, such as those from refugee or ESOL families. And with a significant amount of students without adequate internet access, some fear students won’t be prepared for the next school year.

“It is really hard to live in the county and not have reliable [internet] access. We don’t even have cellular service so we can’t utilize a hot spot,” says Jessiah Mansfield, who has a senior at Western Albemarle High School. “If we need something important, we have to go to Charlottesville to download it. I’m sure we aren’t the only ones with this issue, but it will impact our children.”

However, others remain hopeful that teachers will be able to help their students make it through the rest of the semester.

“As the crisis continues and escalates, so does anxiety for all. Learning should be suggested. Remember we are at home trying to work not working from home. Connecting with my students is just as important for them as it is for me,” says Libby Nicholson, a fourth-grade teacher at Broadus Wood Elementary School. “We are in this together! We got this!”

Categories
News

Game on: Monticello High will compete in Virginia eSports pilot

Rocket League is one of the three games students will be able to play as part of VHSL’s eSports pilot program. (Photo captured via PlayStation 4)

Virginia high schools will put a new spin on the word “athlete” when they launch an eSports competitive video gaming league this fall.

The Virginia High School League announced earlier this summer that it’ll be rolling out a one-year pilot program for the 2019-20 school year that includes three different video games: League of Legends, Rocket League, and SMITE. Schools can put together teams to participate in any of the three games, with one match played each week during both the fall and spring semesters. Matches happen, and are watched, online, so student competitors may never meet each other in person (so much for the “good game” handshake).

Billy Haun, executive director of VHSL and a former Monticello High principal, sees an eSports league as an opportunity to engage students who might not be involved in other school activities, and doesn’t see them replacing traditional sports.

The digital era has seen a rapid rise in the popularity of eSports worldwide. A study conducted by Goldman Sachs found that eSports’ monthly viewing audience averaged over 167 million people in 2018 on streaming platforms like Twitch. That’s a bigger audience than those for the last Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, and Stanley Cup—combined.

After receiving several calls over the last few years about eSports, VHSL decided to try a pilot program in conjunction with PlayVS—the official eSports league of the National Federation of State High School Associations. According to VHSL Assistant Director Darrell Wilson, over 30 Virginia high schools have expressed interest in participating this year, including Monticello High.

Three teachers have volunteered to lead the team at Monticello this year, and 20 students have already expressed interest. The high school will pay for the program under its athletics budget.

Although there’s a $64 licensing fee per game, Albemarle County Public Schools spokesman Phil Giaramita says the overall cost of the program is relatively low compared to other sports. Monticello will use an existing computer lab for gaming, and all competitions will be played online, so there are no travel fees. As of now, Monticello is the only area high school committed to the league, but Western Albemarle and Charlottesville High have said they’ll both consider joining for the spring season if enough students express interest.

Haun admits he expects some pushback from parents who might oppose public high schools providing opportunities for students to play more video games, but he says “a lot of kids are already playing eSports, they’re just not playing competitively or under guidance of adults.” VHSL hopes to encourage students who wouldn’t be playing organized sports anyway to get involved with an activity that caters more to their interests.

While eSports may appear unproductive, one researcher has found that most studies about the cognitive effects of video games show the games can help with mental focus.

Marc Palaus Gallego is a Ph.D. graduate in cognitive neuroscience with the Open University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain, who conducted a study on the neural basis of video gaming in 2017. He found that while results aren’t always consistent, there appears to be an overall positive effect on brain development—as long as kids don’t spend too much time in front of the screen.

“Apparently, those who are experienced in video games are more efficient in optimizing the mental resources to focus on a task, specially tasks with strong visual components,” and that can be observed when the difficulty in a game increases, Gallego says in an email. He believes that as long as kids balance extended video gaming with some other kind of activity, there’s no major risks to their brain development.

And while some studies have found negative effects from video gaming, Gallego doesn’t put too much stock in their results.

“These detrimental effects seemed to affect attention, inhibitory control, the processing of social information, and lower verbal IQ,” Gallego says. “However, there are numerous examples of other studies which found improvements in the same areas, so it’s difficult to generalize.”

The three games VHSL is offering each require varying levels of strategy and collaboration. Rocket League, which is a soccer-esque game using rocket-boosted cars, requires players to be in constant communication with one another to set up shots and play efficient defense. League of Legends and SMITE are arena-style battle games, where players concoct strategies and think quickly to best opponents both individually and as teams.

Giaramita says that “engagement in school activities correlates with academic success” and gamers represent an untapped group of students that schools typically struggle to get involved. An eSports league gives many students who have difficulty finding friends a new avenue for breaking the ice with classmates and securing a more enjoyable high school experience, he says.

They’re not your typical jocks, but the number of students interested in competitive gaming will only continue to grow. With the pilot program, Haun and VHSL are hoping to help young gamers bring their passion with them when they go to school.

Categories
News

‘Deeply and irreparably sorry:’ Student who threatened ‘ethnic cleansing’ apologizes

Superintendent Matt Haas read a public apology from the Albemarle teen who made a racist threat against CHS students. Staff photo

The 17-year-old Albemarle County student who threatened an “ethnic cleansing” at Charlottesville High in March, prompting a city-wide school closure for two days, has offered an apology in a letter written from the Blue Ridge Juvenile Detention Center.

County schools Superintendent Matt Haas read the letter written by Joao Pedro Souza Ribeiro at a recent press conference.

“All students make mistakes and we want to be here to help them,” Haas said. “I think it will help people understand there is a person behind what happened.”

Ribeiro, who has no prior criminal record and whom prosecutors acknowledged showed no signs of carrying out violence, was charged with a felony and a misdemeanor for making the anonymous threat on the message board 4chan.

The teen says he tried to delete the post almost immediately, but he acknowledged that his explanation “should not and will not” be acceptable to the community.

“That website represents all that I abhor in this world,” Ribeiro said about 4chan, parts of which have been a haven for white supremacists and hate speech. “I regret including racial slurs, including one that targeted my own demographic group and that of my friends. Looking back, I don’t really understand why I did it. Maybe I was looking for support from the hateful people who traffic in the embrace of violence so I could then reveal to them what I really believed and tell them that the joke was on them.”

The letter prompted surprisingly little response on social media, and students contacted for this piece did not respond to a request for comment. Jane Mills, whose daughter is a senior at Albemarle High School, had mixed feelings.

“I run Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry, and we get people doing court-ordered community service, and for some reason, the apology felt like somebody made him do it,” she says. “But like most parents of teenagers, who were dumb teenagers at one time, too, I tend to forgive those dumb judgments and I think we are probably likely to forgive this kid.”

Ribeiro said he’s sorry for letting down the community, and specifically his parents, who cry when they visit him in juvenile detention. “I had never seen my father cry before,” he added.

At the press conference, Haas detailed new measures to encourage students to report potential threats, including an anonymous reporting system and a cash reward.

But in this case, reporting was not the problem. When asked about what the schools are doing to prevent students from posting something like this in the first place, county schools spokesperson Phil Giaramita says it’s “impractical” to block internet access on school property, and one of the most effective ways to deter this behavior is by making students aware of the consequences.

“We’re trying to help students realize that images posted on social media don’t disappear simply because they are deleted and that the punishment can be severe,” he says, though he didn’t offer details.

Amanda Moxham, an organizer with the Hate-Free Schools Coalition of Albemarle County, says her group is “deeply concerned” by the lack of anti-racist eduction in local schools.

She says the county school system “has not acknowledged their role in sustaining a racist system that creates a culture in which making a racist threat is viewed as a joke.”

Categories
News

Some county residents have strong opinions about what’s appropriate for Black History Month

Walton Middle School is under fire for including City Councilor Wes Bellamy’s photo in a Black History Month display. Photo by Eze Amos

Controversy erupted recently over including a local politician and activist in a Black History Month display at Walton Middle School—and we bet you can guess who it is.

City Councilor Wes Bellamy had some community members clutching their metaphorical pearls when his photo appeared alongside those of historical black figures such as Harriet Tubman, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, and Barack Obama, in an exhibit of approximately 50 photos that lined several hallways of the school.

“It was a desire to slip a very non-deserving person over on the teachers, community, and, most horribly, the students,” says Tom Stargell, a retired Walton teacher of nearly 40 years, who helped open the school in 1975.

Stargell’s concerns also appeared in the Scottsville Weekly, where he asked a representative from the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors to respond.

Supervisor Rick Randolph, who represents Scottsville, said in a written note to the paper that the school board would be a more appropriate group from which to solicit a response, but he also offered a few of his own thoughts.

“As a former middle school teacher, my strong suspicion is that not a single student at Walton, unprompted by an adult, has taken offense to this photo of the Bellamy family,” said Randolph. “Even if a student did notice this inoffensive picture, Dr. Bellamy deserves consideration as a positive role model for all youth.”

County resident Denise Davis, in an email to ACPS Superintendent Matt Haas, disagrees. “I am trying to comprehend how and why anyone of you could arrive at such twisted logic that it is appropriate to place Wes Bellamy’s picture alongside of the distinguished African Americans in the hall at Walton Middle School. This is a man who is a known racist, has verbally made it clear he absolutely has no use for white people, and, as you may recall, made the statement ‘it is not rape if she moans.’”

Middle school principal Josh Walton said in a statement that Bellamy is among the local black leaders who volunteered to work with students in the M-Cubed program at the school, which was developed to help male African American students improve in math. His wife also works at Walton.

“The use of Mr. Bellamy’s photo, nonetheless, was inappropriate,” said the principal, because Bellamy is up for re-election this year, and Walton says the school wouldn’t want it to appear as a political endorsement.

“More important,” the principal added, “I do not believe his inclusion in the exhibit fit with the theme of recognizing African American role models down through history who have had a lasting and positive influence upon our nation.”

Says Stargell, “No doubt there are persons at Walton who wish to further Mr. Bellamy’s political agenda…They got caught. They now say Bellamy was not deserving.”

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, is [Walton] that far out into left field shooting marbles, or does he honest to God think that Wes Bellamy is some shining star?” asks Davis.

All of the leaders’ photos were taken down at the end of the month. According to county schools spokesperson Phil Giaramita, next year students will have a role in deciding how to celebrate Black History Month.

Bellamy declined to comment.

Categories
News

YOU Issue: Recess report

Here’s what readers asked for:

What the hell happened to recess in our schools?—Rebecca Coleman Cooper

After her daughter had recess time taken away twice for talking during class, local mom Christa Bennett started a petition to end this punitive practice in city schools. And she thought it had worked.

The city’s school board approved a new wellness policy in September 2017—one that just won an award from the Virginia Department of Health—which mandates that teachers and administrators can not take away any recess, physical education, or physical activity as a form of discipline.

“I definitely consider getting this policy approved as a win,” says Bennett, who volunteers on the school’s health advisory board. “However, it is also true that taking away recess for punishment still happens. It happened in one of my daughter’s classes just today.”

The issue, she says, is that some teachers and administrators just don’t know the new policy.

The good news, she says, is that all of the principals are now aware of it, and “when approached with a parent’s concern, I’ve found that they’re able to work with the teacher to ensure recess isn’t taken away in the future.”

In city schools, kindergarteners now get extended play. The youngsters get two recess periods a day for a total of 45 minutes, according to schools spokesperson Beth Cheuk. From first to fourth grades, students get a minimum of 30 minutes of recess each day, and in fifth and sixth, they’re required to have at least 25 minutes of daily physical activity.

And how do we know that teachers are actually giving kids their recess time?

Cheuk says she spoke with one school secretary who “literally sees the kids on the playground, and watches a parade of them come into the office for bathroom breaks.” And other secretaries told her they routinely have to pull kids out of recess for early pickups. Principals and other administrators have eyes on all parts of the schools—including the playgrounds—to make sure teachers follow the master schedule.

“Bottom line: School secretaries know everything,” says Cheuk.

Over in the county schools, spokesperson Phil Giaramita says teachers don’t have the authority to take away recess time, though they don’t specifically have a policy that prohibits it. Kids in county schools get 20 minutes of recess per day, he adds.