By Carol Vaughn —
Accomack County Public School employees will continue to be paid on their normal pay schedule, after the school board Tuesday approved a pay plan in light of the recent statewide order closing schools for the rest of the school year during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The school board also approved an academic plan for the remainder of the year.
All full-time 10-month and 12-month contracted employees will continue to receive their normal salaries for the school year on the regular pay schedule, according to a presentation given to the board by Finance Director Beth Onley.
Additionally, coaching and activity supplements for spring will be paid in full.
Pay for part-time employees will reflect their previous month’s pay for when school was last in session. That is, what they were paid on March 16 is what they will be paid on the 16th of April, May, and June.
The pay they received on March 31 will be what they receive on April 30, May 29, and June 30.
Part-time employees include student support monitors, PALS tutors, cafeteria monitors, some cafeteria workers, long-term substitutes, translators, and people who have more than one position with the district, according to an April 1 memorandum to employees.
Payroll processing will continue via access from computers outside the school board office if the Accomack County Administration building in Accomac, where the office is, should be closed due to the pandemic, Onley said.
Still, for employees who do not have direct deposit, checks might not be able to be printed in that case.
School employees without direct deposit are urged to sign up for it as soon as possible so they can continue to get paid if the county building closes.
Employees can obtain the form at: https://www.accomack.k12.va.us/ourpages/auto/2017/11/21/38994281/direct%20deposit.pdf
Directions from the ACPS website are Departments – Human Resources – Employee Information – Full Time Employees – Direct Deposit pdf.
Email the completed form and a voided check to [email protected] or [email protected].
Holland in a telephone interview with the Post on April 1 said to students and parents: “Be calm. Be patient. We care about them.”
He urged students “to not waste a day — I want them to read.”
The district’s plan for continuity of learning addresses how students at the elementary, middle school, and high school level will move forward.
The plan is for the district to observe spring break, as planned, and for distance learning for students to start in earnest April 14 and run through the end of the school year, June 5.
Teachers will provide students with virtual learning activities that review what was taught before March 13, when schools were closed.
“We are not going to focus right now on new content,” said Rhonda Hall, assistant superintendent of instruction.
Assignments should take less than two hours per day to complete.
Teachers will set up office hours for students and parents to speak with them about assignments, and will give a weekly summary of their activities to their administrators.
Instruction could come via the internet or via packets teachers prepare — which can be handed out with takeout meals being provided at schools, or mailed to students without internet access at home.
“In this area, the technology is not equitable for all kids,” Hall said.
She said families of younger students who have home internet access, but who need to borrow a computer from the school district to do their schoolwork, may contact the school principal.
All seventh through 12th grade students in the district already have a Chromebook, she said.
Additionally, internet hotspots are available in the parking lots of Kegotank Elementary School, Pungoteague Elementary School, Arcadia High School, Arcadia Middle School, and Nandua Middle School.
Hall said an intensive summer school is in the works for high school students in grades 9, 10, and 11 to complete coursework required to receive a standard diploma.
If schools are allowed to reopen by August, the plan is to hold a two-week summer school from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily starting Aug. 3 for all 9th, 10th, and 11th grade students, Hall said.
If the pandemic’s progress does not allow for schools to reopen by then, the alternative plan is to add a fifth block to next year’s schedule to allow students to complete the required courses.
Elementary schools will add 15 minutes to the school day next year to account for instructional time lost to the closure, according to Hall.
“The big issue for us…is our seniors,” Hall said in a telephone interview.
Waivers have been given by the state superintendent of education to allow seniors who were on track to graduate as of the time schools were closed to do so.
“They are good to graduate,” Hall said.
Seniors who were not passing classes as of March 13 will need to complete those classes with a passing grade in order to graduate.
Teachers will create individualized plans for each of those students, according to Hall.
Students enrolled in Virtual Virginia classes may continue to take those classes, or may accept their grade as of March 13.
The College Board will be offering Advanced Placement students an at-home, 45-minute test this year.
Dual enrollment students were judged to have met the requirement for instructional time by the time schools were closed, with the exception of one class, College Biology 102.
The teacher for that class and Nandua High School’s principal will be working out a plan to meet the required instructional time through distance learning and/or instructional packets.
Students will be graded as pass or fail for courses taken in the spring semester.
All middle school and elementary students will be promoted to the next grade.
