BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Some children miss virtual learning and wish that they could return to online distance instruction. One Kern County school district is offering those children the chance to do just that.
Panama-Buena Vista Union School District is inviting any students in Kern County who want to return to virtual learning to join its program this fall. The program is specifically for students in first through sixth grade.
According to Dionne Wood, the Instructional Services Coordinator for the Panama-Buena Vista Union School District, distance learning was a free-for-all during the pandemic. Now, beginning its third year, Wood says students and parents are better connected through the program, filling a vital need in the community.
"A full classroom set up for their use," said Wood. "They're like a teacher and a classroom and the students just have to be set up on screens. So they're able to really interact, the connectivity is better, the product is better that we use now. So we learned a lot during the pandemic."
All students in the virtual learning program will be part of McAuliffe Elementary until the end of sixth grade.
Vanessa Wallace teaches first grade online and calls the kids her "angel babies". She says that it is easier now to keep the students "engaged" in the lesson plan and that parental involvement is a big key to their success.
"The parents are seeing what I'm seeing and they're able to get a look of inside the classroom and what that looks like and opposed to if you're in person, they don't exactly know what goes on," said Wallace. "I mean, they do but you're actually seeing it live."
Online students will also have access to sports, book fairs, and library time, just like the kids on campus.
To enroll a child in the virtual learning program, fill out an inter-district transfer at the child's school and go from there.
The form will need to be completed before Tues, Aug 1. School starts on Wed, Aug 16.
