From: Andrew Sekeres
Columbus
With the exponential rise of COVID-19 cases that we are seeing in Bartholomew County, the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. has decided to go to an eLearning schedule. If you are a parent in BCSC, you understand the struggles of eLearning; especially this year. You are concerned with the healthy development of your child. You want your child to succeed in life.
Right now, it is proving quite difficult to do both with everything going on in the world.
If you are a parent or someone that looks after a student, you are aware of the difficulties that are associated with It’s Learning and PowerSchool.
In order to understand the system, it takes time, patience, and some basic computer knowledge on how to navigate the system. Your child might be able to help you because they use it at school. However, if your child has a physical or learning disability, this could be challenging for them.
For other students, they are able to understand the learning platform at school. However, when they are operating a full school day’s workload at home, it is a different story. Parents now have to become teachers and try to help their child to focus on the different tasks in front of them.
So, what could be a solution to this issue?
One solution that would help parents to navigate their child’s It’s Learning is BCSC could hold learning seminars for parents to teach them on how to use it. During these seminars, a school staff member could teach parents on how to navigate the learning platform and learn how to troubleshoot if you come across any problems. There are many families that are struggling with navigating these learning platforms. Also, the school staff could provide help on how to assist students who have a 504 Plan or an IEP. It is crucial that communication between BCSC is constant during this time. These seminars could be a great starting place.
I implore BCSC to think about holding a seminar like this. I understand the difficulties of holding seminars in the time of COVID-19, but I think you would be able to come with a creative solution to help parents who are struggling with It’s Learning and PowerSchool. BCSC could work with city and county leaders to find places in which these seminars could be held. A possible place for these seminars could be at the Donner Park Center or Shelter House. Safety, social distancing, and wearing facial coverings would have to be high priority for these seminars to take place.
In times like this, it is important showcase the Hoosier hospitality that our leaders keep telling us that we have. By holding these seminars, BCSC is not only empowering their students but their parents as well.
