Enrollment: 2,369 students

Facilities: 4 schools

Yolanda Barba, Director of Curriculum and Instruction

Distance learning rollout: Planning for distance learning started on March 16, the first day schools were closed. To provide student services, our initial step was determining access, such as surveying students and teachers to determine their technological needs at home.  At a virtual teacher and administrator meeting, people asked a lot of questions, but none of the questions were about the why, that was never in question.  What we needed was a clear direction on how to establish the how. The how was a challenge as it took a process to conceptualize. This was addressed through a collaborative effort between the district’s Educational Services department, the coaches and the teachers. The district and the teachers’ union also initiated negotiations, but it didn’t take long from the onset to come to an agreement regarding the parameters of the distance learning plan while protecting the safety of unit members. Once again, the why was never in question. However, knowing that we needed to provide students adequate support to maximize their learning opportunities, the rollout of technology was another challenge that we needed to address urgently. In an email shared by our superintendent to all GUSD staff, she stated that we were “building the plane as we fly it,” and that perfectly sums up the process. Technology and internet access: With respect to challenges, we believe that some of the student barriers that we are addressing will be internet access, virtual academic support, and multiple students in a household with one computer.  Many of our students don’t have access to technology and for some that do, what they have are shared devices in their homes. In fact, 59 percent of our special education students do not have access to technology equipment and 40 percent had no access to the internet.  There’s also the divide in the capacity to work with technology. While we anticipated this to be true with many of our families, we also needed to address the fact that our staff has differing knowledge and comfort levels on educational technology. We needed to think about building our staff’s capacity and how to plan, develop and implement ongoing professional development, albeit remotely and urgently. This was not an overnight process, it took a couple of days for teachers to “feel the ground again” and start developing their plans, which were, for the most part, ready the week of March 31. Tech equipment roll out began the week of March 31 and a blessing in all this was T-Mobile was already going to grant hotspots with unlimited access to all Gonzales residents. 

Enrollment: 11,344

Facilities: 21 schools

Derk Garcia, Superintendent Distance learning rollout: Our approach from the beginning was to prepare for long-term school closures. Therefore, we provided three weeks of online enrichment to our students while our Educational Services Department developed a distance learning plan, including professional development for our teachers. This allowed our teachers the time and opportunity to learn, collaborate, and plan for teaching and learning in an asynchronous continuous learning model. Additionally, our educators developed a tiered approach to supporting students who are not engaging in distance learning and/or showing signs of needing additional socio-emotional support. The decision to give ourselves the time to be thoughtful was hugely important to a successful rollout of our distance learning initiative. The biggest challenge we face is how to provide appropriate services to our special education students in a distance learning model. Distance learning starts on April 14. One of our challenges will be striking a balance between exposing students to new learning while not overwhelming children and families in this new structure. Our number one priority is our students’ socio-emotional welfare, and during this crisis, we do not want to increase the stress on families.  Technology and internet access: Approximately 3,000 families require a device and several hundred require internet access to engage in online learning. The Technology Services Department distributed more than 2,500 Chromebooks and resource information on free internet service to families before Spring Break. Additionally, we purchased several hundred hotspots for those families who are not able to access free internet services.  Balance of learning modules (online and/or physical documents): Teachers gathered core instructional materials for their children, and our administrative team scheduled pickup dates and times for families before Spring Break. Therefore, our children have the opportunity to engage in online learning and with their physical core materials. Individual teachers determine the ratio of online learning and physical core materials, in consultation with their Professional Learning Community.  Evaluation of systems: Our continuous learning plan is a combination of enrichment, reteaching, and exposure to new learning. We do expect students to engage in new learning related to essential standards and key concepts within each core subject area. However, we understand the depth of learning will vary based on the individual circumstance of each child. Therefore, our educators must consistently monitor student learning, provide feedback, and communicate with students as well as parents/guardians.

Enrollment: 14,875

Facilities: 17 schools

Ryan Smith, Assistant Superintendent, Secondary Educational Services Distance learning rollout: This school year marked the third and final year of our 1-1 Chromebook initiative that provided these devices for every student in grades 3-12 to use at school and home. In many ways, we are on fairly good footing with the sudden and unexpected shift to distance learning. We have used a Learning Management System and have conducted a lot of professional development, focused on instructional technology. As we learned that our schools were going to be closed, we quickly set up a website to act as a central hub for our teachers and staff to support them with their distance learning efforts. One of the biggest challenges we have faced is transitioning from technology’s use as a tool to support and enhance face-to-face instruction to technology’s use as the primary driver of instruction. Technology and internet access: We are fortunate to be a part of the One Million Project’s grant that provides hotspots for students in grades 9-12. However, access for students in grades K-8 has been an issue. Spectrum Cable’s offer that provides Wi-Fi access to eligible families has been helpful, but there are still some families who do not have access. We are working to find additional solutions to support the family of any student that needs Wi-Fi access but cannot afford to get it. Balance of learning modules (online and/or physical document): Prior to school closures, we had been working diligently to ensure that more and more of our curriculum resources are digital. The move to distance learning will serve to ensure that work continues.