MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Colquitt County School System is asking parents to complete a Back-to-School survey to help administrators determine how best to educate children amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The survey will be available July 6-17 and will offer parents three options: a traditional, in-person classroom and two versions of online classes, according to a letter being sent to parents.

“We hope that the majority of our families will feel safe returning to a fairly traditional school setting,” Superintendent Doug Howell wrote in the letter. “Our teachers are being provided opportunities to enhance their online instructional skills to supplement traditional face-to-face instruction and to provide the possibility of a smooth transition to home-based instruction should short- or long-term school closures be ordered at any point during the school year. 

“We understand that some families may not yet feel comfortable returning their child(ren) to the traditional school setting,” the letter continued. “For those families, we are offering two options for home-based instruction through Colquitt County Schools.”

One of the options, called the Remote Classroom option, is available to all children, kindergarten through 12th grade. The other is part of a statewide online learning program that is available only to grades 6-12.

The letter offered details about both programs.

The Remote Classroom option will offer instruction that’s aligned with what other Colquitt County classrooms are doing at the same grade level. It will be taught by a Colquitt County teacher.

“This remote learning will not look the same as the virtual experience this past spring,” Howell wrote. “The expectations and rigor will mirror face-to-face instruction (facilitated through Google Classroom), and virtual students will have a full school day Monday-Friday. Students will access their classes at set times online each school day. Our system-employed virtual teacher(s) will be able to provide the grade level instruction and digital learning support that will meet your child’s needs. The school system will provide devices as necessary.” 

Teachers will be available to meet in person, on the phone, or online as needed to address individual student needs and concerns, the letter reads. This option will provide the smoothest transition back to the traditional classroom since the instruction will be provided on the same schedule as that being taught in the classrooms in the local system. 

The other online option is the VirtuPack Program, which is used to access the Georgia Virtual School — but it requires a commitment for at least a semester because GAVS’s curriculum is not aligned with the local schools. A student who tries to leave or join it in the middle of a semester will be ahead in some things but behind in others.

“Your child will receive instruction by teachers employed by GAVS,” Howell wrote in the letter. “Since this is a program and not a school, students will maintain official enrollment at their districted school and therefore be able to participate in extracurricular activities. Students will need to work on their assigned courses on a daily basis, but will not necessarily follow a set daily timed schedule as required in the Remote Classroom option.”

In the survey, respondents will be asked to pick one of the three options for their children, but they can change the selection as the start of school approaches, the letter said.