D20 prepared to move elementary schools to e-learning

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- All Academy District 20 high schools and middle schools moved to e-learning Monday, November 16th, and now their elementary schools are following suit. After Thanksgiving break, all District 20 elementary students will be learning from home.

District 20 leaders say they know the transition to e-learning for Spring of 2020 was abrupt, but they attribute a lot of that to them making the switch in a day.

This time around they're ready; but frankly, they're out of options.

When the district made the call to regress back to e-learning, 10 of their elementary schools were already learning remotely, and 14% of students and staff were in quarantine, as well.

Though the district's substitute teacher pool consists of around 600 people, many of them were hesitant to come to the classroom.

"This is all about lack of staffing," says Allison Cortez, Director of Communications for District 20. "We had one situation where the teacher was covering two or three classes at a time. That’s not what’s best for kids."

Shortly after the district made the call to temporarily move students to e-learning in the spring, Governor Polis shut the state down altogether.

When that happened, district leaders admit they weren't prepared.

"We were hurting," says Cortez. "We were thinking if we had extra laptops in departments to get to students. I mean, it was just so quick of a transition, we just didn’t have the inventory to get out to the folks who needed them."

District leaders say they just got an order in of 11,000 laptops they're distributing to families.

Teachers in the district have also been training for this very moment since summer.

"The training was a lot of online courses: how to create Microsoft Teams, how to create assignments in Schoology," says Mary Jarnigan, a teacher at Ranch Creek Elementary School.

Jarnigan says she's confident she'll be able to give kids consistency, even through e-learning.

"I feel like I'm way more prepared. I know what I need to do to continue effectively teaching," says Jarnigan.

All schools in District 20 will be remote learning until December 18th leading into the holiday break.

If kids do return to in-person learning this school year, it won't be until 2021. A specific date has not been set.