Throughout Lake County, over 42,000 students and 3,000 teachers will, in some way, head Back To School next week. Due to the virus pandemic, students will start the school year with four different learning options:
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- Full-time traditional, face-to-face learning in brick-and-mortar school buildings
- Full-time online instruction through Lake County Virtual School.
- Modified Day, which allows students to take some classes in their school building and other classes at home online
- Lake LIVE, a full-time option with daily instruction from teachers at the students’ home school or a school in their geographic region, when possible.
Teachers and parents are cautiously preparing for the uncertainty that the year holds and the unprecedented challenges parents, teachers, and students will face.
The South Lake Tablet was able to contact Lake County Superintendent Diane Kornegay and ask her perspective on the coming school year.
South Lake Tablet: Were teachers able to request their preference on assigned teaching options?
Superintendent Kornegay: We surveyed teachers and found that 75.1% prefer to be assigned to a brick-and-mortar school building, 13.8% want to teach at Lake County Virtual School, and 10.4% prefer Lake LIVE. A small number – 0.6% — have taken a leave of absence.
We also surveyed parents and found that about 50 percent want their children to return to our school buildings full-time through the traditional learning option or part-time through the modified day option; 26% want to do Lake LIVE and 25% prefer Lake County Virtual School. We then assigned teachers based on their requests and options selected by parents.
South Lake Tablet: Describe how Lake County school teachers are preparing for the re-opening.
Superintendent Kornegay: Teachers are training and preparing lessons based on the instructional option to which they have been assigned. They are also being trained on our safety protocols.
Additionally, we have ordered personal protective equipment for our teachers and schools to help protect against the virus.
South Lake Tablet: What is the primary concern of parents who are sending their children back to brick & mortar schools?
Superintendent Kornegay: Most parents question safety protocols and the four instructional methods. We are following the new safety protocols to help prevent or minimize the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. You can find our safety protocols at this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eI0L2geHyd516BtSD5JMjgYBBfydxUpo/view?usp=sharing
South Lake Tablet: Can students attending online school participate in after school activities?
Superintendent Kornegay: Schools will determine if after school activities and clubs can move temporarily to a virtual environment. If not, clubs may meet as long as students are socially distanced and all safety protocols are maintained.
South Lake Tablet: Are the State and Federal Governments helping with guidelines and funding?
Superintendent Kornegay: We received $9,662,731 in CARES funding. From that, $1,396,322 will go to charter schools for their proportionate share, and $966,796 is the private school equitable service reserve. That leaves $7,299,613 for district-operated schools. We are using that money for increased allocations for virtual instructors, increased transportation, an increase in PPE distributed to schools, an increase in substitute costs, Chromebooks for all students and hotspots for home instruction.
Additionally, Lake County Commissioners agreed to use $1.6 million from their CARES Act funding to help provide extra janitorial services, surface disinfectants and foggers, plastic partitions for tables and desks, no-contact thermometers and temperature scanning kiosks in our schools.
South Lake Tablet: On a lighter note, can you tell us about new schools planned for South Lake County?
Superintendent Kornegay: A Four Corners K-8 school is slated to open in the fall of 2021 in Cagan’s Crossing community with an environmental curriculum that weaves in science, technology, engineering, and math. The Aurelia M. Cole Academy is expected
to open in the fall of 2023, replacing Clermont Elementary and Clermont Middle schools. An addition to Lake Minneola HS is also underway to increase student capacity by about 400 students.
South Lake Tablet: Is there anything else you would like to have us share as a positive message in your plans to open Lake County Schools this year?
SUPERINTENDENT KORNEGAY: “We are about to experience a school year like none we have ever seen before. Some of our students will be back in our classrooms with new safety protocols in place as we navigate through the uncertainty of this pandemic. Some of our students may be learning online virtually, while others will be with us part-time and spending the rest of their day learning at home. Regardless of the option that a parent has chosen, the one thing I can assure them of is that their child will have a great teacher who, with much love and compassion, will be there to meet not only their academic needs but also their emotional needs during this time of fear and uncertainty. It is going to be an unusual school year, and I can’t promise that it will be easy, but I know that our teachers will rise up for their students and we will get through this together.”
