Schools in Omaha, Neb., will end the academic year a week early on May 15, which officials said will allow time for training in distance learning. South High Magnet School in Omaha on April 2.
Photo: Nati Harnik/Associated PressSome districts are giving up on remote learning and ending the academic year early, after discovering that it was too cumbersome for teachers, students and parents.
Washington, D.C., as well as parts of Georgia, Texas and elsewhere plan to end a week to several weeks early.
Schools have struggled to launch remote learning for more than 50 million children across the country during the coronavirus pandemic in the largest experiment in remote learning ever. Among the issues they’ve encountered, not all students have internet access or have parents available to help, causing concerns about inequity. As a result, many districts haven’t required schoolwork be completed or graded. Student participation, when schools are even able to measure it, has often been below regular attendance level.
The Bibb County School District in Macon, Ga., is ending school Friday for about 21,500 students—three weeks early.
“The vast majority of our community was feeling stressed,” said Curtis Jones Jr., superintendent of the Bibb County district, just over an hour south of Atlanta. “There were inequities between schools. I had teachers who were telling me, `I’m trying to figure out how to do my job as well as teach my class.’ It made sense to us to get rid of the stress and get ready for the following school year.”
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Georgia, like some other states, has waived minimum instruction-time requirements during the pandemic, allowing districts to end the academic year early. Without a state waiver, districts not meeting time requirements risk losing state funding.
In Bibb County, Tera Edwards, who has a 10- and 12-year-old in the district, said shutting down early was the right decision for various reasons, including that not all students have internet and it was hard to turn in completed work during shelter-in-place rules.
“We’re living in the middle of a global pandemic,” she said. “If your child is having a meltdown and scared because of what’s being seen on the news, maybe the spelling words can wait.”
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The public school district in Washington, D.C., will end remote learning three weeks early on May 29. District officials said they hope to carry over the weeks to next school year, possibly starting early, and hope to be back in school then.
“We believe that preserving some time from June and potentially utilizing that time in August, would be the best approach to provide the optimal learning experience for students,” Chancellor Lewis Ferebee said during a recent briefing.
The district didn’t respond to a request for further comment.
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A majority of members surveyed by the Washington Teachers’ Union preferred to keep schools open through the school year but wanted support to ensure students had devices and could get online and that professional development was available, said Elizabeth Davis, president of the 5,000-member union.
“Those teachers basically had to transition from brick-and-mortar classrooms to distance learning in one week,” Ms. Davis said.
In many states, unless there is an executive order closing schools, it is up to the school district on whether to open or close them.
Some administrators have been hesitant to end the academic year, fearing an early “summer slide,” or information that children lose over summer vacation. There’s also concern by parents about what to do with students who are starting their summer break early as social distancing and shelter-in-place orders could drastically limit summer activities or working.
“Trying to shift learning modes mid-school year, in the midst of a pandemic that brings a very real set of stressors to everyone in the community, makes balancing all of this difficult for everyone,” said Monadnock Regional School District superintendent Lisa Witte last week in a Facebook post.
The district, which serves about 1,600 students from several small communities in southern New Hampshire, will end school about two weeks early on May 29. The district didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Some districts have gotten creative in ending academic learning while not proclaiming the school year over to comply with requirements.
Ysleta Independent School District in El Paso, Texas, says May 15 will be the last day students will be assigned new content and assignments, but the academic year won’t officially end until June 5—and students can turn in outstanding work until then. The arrangement was made to ensure the district meets the 75,600 minutes of instruction required under Texas law, according to the district.
DeKalb County School District in the Atlanta metro area is ending learning about a week before planned—on May 8 for seniors and May 15 for other grades. The district said in a statement that it “recognized the digital divide, availability of internet service, and inequities that exist during remote learning” in bringing the semester to a close.
Schools in Omaha, Neb., will end the academic year a week early on May 15, which officials said will allow time for training in distance learning. A spokesman said the district wants to strengthen the learning method in case it’s needed in the future.
Write to Tawnell D. Hobbs at Tawnell.Hobbs@wsj.com
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