As a result of inclement weather from Tropical Storm Irma canceling several days of classes for Gwinnett County Public Schools in September, officials will be looking into Digital Learning Days.
At the start of the year, Gwinnett County had included three make up days in the scenario that school would be missed, however, those days have been used for the missed days in 2017.
In the monthly GCPS board of education work session in December, CEO J. Alvin Wilbanks said they would continue to have 180 days of instruction countywide.
The trend for digital, learning days is growing with the Dacula cluster becoming integrated in the GCPS eClass initiative.
Google Chromebooks in Dacula classrooms were initially used to act as a resource for students to get additional help on subjects. Now, Dacula High School principal Bryan Long said the cluster’s total commitment to GCPS’ eCLASS digital initiative is fueling a cluster-wide learning surge.
“We asked district for flexibility, allowing teachers time to plan lessons by having cyber days,” Long said. “It gives the teacher time to build videos and assessments. That one days lesson might take four or five hours so these days allow them time to plan these lessons out.”
Dacula had two digital learning days in fall where students had the option of choosing whether they would come to school to complete their assignments or do their assignments remotely. Long said about 280 of the school’s 2,100 students decided to come on campus that day.
This semester Dacula will have three dates — Jan. 12, Feb. 2 and March 7. All students receive six assignments on the digital learning days with each taking about 30 minutes for each assignment.
The dates are regularly spaced days for teachers to plan for upcoming assignments rather than trying to plan out their curriculum over the summer. Long said the school is thinking about asking the district for six days next year to continue to allow teachers time to plan intricate lessons.
“We can make education more relevant and engaging through personalization,” he said, “helping us to reach outcomes of a higher graduation rate and increased student achievement.”
Gwinnett’s newest school, Paul Duke STEM High School, will also be integrating digital learning days. On Monday through Thursday, students will attend classes. Every Friday will be designated as a digital learning day, the first school in Gwinnett County to have an official four-day school week.
Digital learning days are currently set to have teachers post assignments on their eClass course pages. High school students assignments will be posted by 8 a.m., elementary school assignments will be posted by 9 a.m. and middle school assignments will be posted by 10 a.m.
Grayson High School receives large grant for community farm
The Food Well Alliance has awarded Grayson High School a $25,000 grant to support the Grayson High School Community Farm and Garden project. The farm and garden helps students learn and hone the skills needed to run an urban garden that provides nutritionally dense food for families that don’t have access to locally and sustainably grown, healthy foods.
Cassy Moon, an assistant principal at Grayson High and the teacher spearheading the project, said the grant will make a big impact.
“We are beyond excited for the opportunity to teach our students new skills and donate that bounty to our students and their families,” Moon said. “We can continue to provide fresh, free food to local families and the local food Co-Op. We are so grateful to Food Well for the support. It is an opportunity that few schools get.”
The Food Well Alliance’s annual Local Food Grant supports a group of farmers, nonprofit leaders, entrepreneurs, and educators who have demonstrated through collaborative projects why locally grown food is the most sustainable and equitable choice for ensuring healthy food access in Metro Atlanta. Grayson High is one of only 13 organizations selected by the Food Well Alliance to receive the award.
“The Food Well Alliance Local Food Grant support means we can serve our population, teach our students, and create a legacy of growing and sharing healthy food in the Grayson community,” Moon said. “We plan to live up to the ideals of the Food Well Alliance of locally grown sustainable food.”
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