BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – Jefferson Terrace Academy Principal Zane Whittington welcomed students bright and early online for their first official day of school.
The newly built campus won’t have children filling the halls right away, but Whittington is hopeful that day will come.
“I think i’m looking forward to seeing the students’ reaction to building when they get a chance to come in,” Whittington says.
In July, Superintendent Leslie Brown announced the school system will open in an all virtual model through Labor Day.
An initiative called TechReady was launched to give devices to families who may need it for their student.
The decision to go virtual was made as parents and teachers expressed health and safety concerns.
“We believe that having this brief period of time where teachers are teaching online, students are understanding and experiencing working online. It will allow us to shift anytime during any episode we might be going through as the school year goes on,” Brown explains.
Students are able to connect with teachers through Google classroom and many teachers say they worked hard over the summer to make sure students still felt the at school environment while at home.
“I know it’s going to be a little bit of a hurdle for them and i just wanted to make this as much as school-like as i could with also being super engaging and fun for them,” says first grade teacher Kara Fasanella.
Students’ new classroom may be at home, but officials say nothing has changed when it comes to making sure they receive top quality education.
“We really want the students and parents to have confidence that their children are in a safe environment and that can be provided in EBR schools,” Brown says.
Devices are hotspots are still available for students that need them. You can find more information here.
