10:15 a.m. Thursday update
Central Middle School’s orientation for incoming seventh-graders and their families, which had been planned for tonight, has been rescheduled. It will be held Thursday, April 26, with doors opening at 6 p.m., Principal Randy Gratz said. Tours and general sessons will begin promptly, he said.
9:45 a.m. Thursday update
With Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. school buildings closed today, Columbus families without Internet access at home can visit eight other locations with Internet access that are open, including:
- Columbus Youth Camp, 12454 W. Youth Camp Road, Columbus
- Harrison Township Fire Department, 9441 W. Old Nashville Road, Columbus
- Southwestern Bartholomew Volunteer Fire Department, 8500 E. State Road 58, Columbus (Ogilville)
- Bartholomew County Public Library, 536 Fifth St., Columbus
- United Way of Bartholomew County, 1531 13th St., Columbus
- The Ridge, 2800 Bonnell Road, Columbus
- Westside Community Church, 124 Tipton Lakes Boulevard, Columbus (closed on Fridays)
- Foundation for Youth, 405 Hope Ave., Columbus ($10 per day)
5:45 a.m. Thursday update
Students in the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. will logging in again Thursday for a second day of eLearning after in-building classes were canceled for all students for a second day.
Seven other Columbus schools have also canceled classes for Thursday: St. Bartholomew Catholic School, St. Peter’s Lutheran School, ABC-Stewart School, Faith Lutheran Preschool, First Presbyterian Preschool, Learning Tree Preschool and St. Paul’s Lutheran Preschool.
Also, Central Middle School’s orientation for incoming seventh graders and families is cancelled for Thursday night. An alternative date will be announced via elementary school announcements, Principal Randy Gratz said.
Here’s the statement posted on the BCSC website regarding Thursday classes.
BCSC Statement re: High Water
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Due to the flooding occurring throughout the county and an increased number of road closures, BCSC will again be CLOSED, tomorrow, Thursday, April 5, 2018. We will make up the day by conducting an eLearning Day. (We have no remaining scheduled make up days on our school calendar for this year.)
For more information about an eLearning Day, please visit our eLearning website, http://bcscelearningday.weebly.com/, and look for notices from your child’s teachers and administrators.
We do recognize that some students may not have an electronic device and/or Internet access at home. Given this, students will have until Tuesday, April 10, 2018 to complete all assigned learning objectives.
The designated buildings of Southside, Northside, and Columbus East will NOT be open tomorrow for students to access wifi. However, EVERY building will have staff members available if a student comes in to get his/her device.
Original posting
With school buildings ordered closed due to high water across the district, Wednesday became a learning day for the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. eLearning system — its first.
Tanya Butler, a seventh-grade English teacher at Central Middle School, was prepared when the district’s inaugural eLearning day was called.
Butler’s students were scheduled to give presentations in their classroom Wednesday. However, she used the online platform to tell her students to practice their presentations — and gave them an assignment to complete.
Many students were ready to learn at the usual time.
Had school been in session, students would have been in their seats by 7:50 a.m.
Six of her students had already messaged her questions by 8 a.m., while 40 students were actively using the system two hours later, Butler said.
Butler said she was pleased with the response and her students’ initiative to complete their work.
“I wasn’t sure what I would see,” Butler said. “The ones I’m looking at are doing a really good job.”
A teaching colleague, Brenny Jarrad, said she sent text-message reminders to students and parents about the eLearning day.
Jarrad, who teaches seventh-grade social studies at Central, said posting content through the online portal is something she does regularly with her students.
Jarrad said many of her students were logged onto the eLearning system at 7:30 a.m., where they found a video she recorded of herself giving them instructions. Fifty students had already turned in their assignments by the middle of the day, she said.
“It’s been really good,” Jarrad said.
Read more in Thursday’s print editing of The Republic
