‘Virtual day’ set for schools

HOPE – The Hope Public Schools will observe a “Virtual Day” on Friday this week in keeping with the academic calendar for 2020-2021.

Students and teachers will not be on campus throughout the district during the day Oct. 30 and will work from home. The concept of “virtual” days has been incorporated into the calendar for dates including Oct. 30, Nov. 23-24, Feb. 15, and March 19.

The concept is intended to aid remediation for students and lesson planning for teachers, who now deal with both on-site and online students.

“Virtual Friday” will, however, become a regular feature of the academic year beginning Nov. 6 and will continue through Dec. 18, at which time it will be evaluated by district administration.

“Virtual Friday” will have a different look on each campus for on-site students:

Clinton Primary School – Class time for students will be blocked through the day.

Beryl Henry Elementary School – Classes will be rotated for activities, interventions and remediation.

Hope Academy of Public Service – Core classes will be blocked into 90-minute periods and teachers will have a one hour conference time for virtual students.

Yerger Middle School – Core classes will be blocked into longer periods, either with a morning and afternoon emphasis or morning-only emphasis with use of electives.

Hope High School – Seniors will have flexible hours; other students will have specialty days such as College Day, Career Day and other specialty concepts to better acquaint students with their future.

The “Virtual Friday” concept was adopted by the Hope Public Schools Board of Education in its Oct. 19 meeting to provide a weekly “virtual instruction day” to accommodate teacher workloads outside of regular class days created by the bifurcated on-site/virtual system used because of the COVID-19 health crisis.