With the new coronavirus quickly spreading throughout the state, including multiple cases confirmed in Leflore County, all area public and private schools have been closed this past week and will continue to be closed next week.
Many families throughout Leflore County have been trying to cope with the loss of routine, while schools have found ways to continue educating students outside of the classroom.
Gov. Tate Reeves announced on Thursday that public schools will be closed until at least April 17 to help decrease the spread of COVID-19. Reeves, however, urged parents to make sure children continue to learn from home.
Pillow Academy will be closed next week but is evaluating the situation weekly, in keeping with the recommendations of the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools, to which it belongs.
Beginning Monday, Greenwood-area public and private schools are offering distance learning and packet learning.
Many students, however, began educational enrichment activities this past week.
Two of Deana Wilson’s children have been affected by the school closures — her daughters Takari Wilson, 5, and Tyonna Granderson, 14.
“I’m working with my baby at home, with the IXL the teacher sent. We do work every day. I take an hour, and we work on things that are pre-K level,” the Itta Bena resident said on Thursday.
Her daughter, Takari, is a pre-K student at Leflore County Elementary School.
Takari Wilson practices sight words.
“I try to keep her on the same schedule she was on while she was in school,” Wilson said.
Wilson, a pre-K teacher’s assistant at the Sunflower County Consolidated School District, has been at home with her children. She is enjoying the quality time she is getting to spend with her children, but she also misses seeing the students in her classroom and helping them learn.
“The teacher I’m in the room with, we got together, and we use a RemindMe app and send out activities to the parents and things they could do with their kids,” Wilson said.
At the beginning of the school year, the Greenwood Leflore district began distributing Google Chromebooks to students, which Wilson said has been very helpful this past week. Her daughter, Tyonna, an eighth grader at Leflore County High School, has been using her Chromebook to work on school assignments.
“It’s really beneficial, because they can do the online learning and still keep up,” said Wilson. “My daughter just logged in, and her teacher had sent an assignment for her, and she’s doing that now.”
For Sulee Blansett, the principal of Pillow Academy Elementary School and a mother of two, her weekday routine changed drastically this week.
“Life is definitely different than it was before spring break,” she said. “This week should have been back to packing lunches, laying out uniforms, mad dash to get to school, last-minute packing of a dance bag, and beginning of baseball practice. Now we are social distancing ourselves and doing lots of creative family activities.”
Her son, Jackson, 10, has been out of school, and her daughter, McCarty, 3, has not been attending day care in an effort to comply with the nationwide recommendation of social distancing.
Blansett said this week the elementary school students were scheduled to take achievement tests, so most teachers did not have assignments scheduled for the week.
“I did not treat this week as a distance learning week,” she said. “My kids were sent to a grandparent’s house some days due to my husband and I both working, or they were with me, and I was having to do a balancing act.”
For educational enrichment, and to occupy their time while not in school, Blansett said she did take advantage of the many apps that usually have a fee to use but are being offered for free because of the coronavirus crisis, such as ABCmouse.com.
“I also printed a speed drill for my son and a handwriting sheet for my daughter,” she said.
With her children at work, Blansett is able to do her job, which has been especially busy as the leader of an elementary school.
“I have been on more conference calls and zoom meetings in the past week than I have in my entire life,” she said.
The elementary school on Friday rolled out its distance learning packets for the upcoming week.
“We will then move toward some virtual learning and teaching,” she said. “Students will enjoy this process and look forward to the technology change, so they will be motivated at first to log on and see their teachers’ videos. Teachers are creating plans that will entice the kids and keep them sharp on their skills.”
Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School District announced that its distance learning packets would be available online Monday.
“The faculty and staff of (the district) are continuing to deliver instruction using an alternative format. Our teachers will still be available to assist students during this time period. Students will still receive grades for work being completed,” the district said.
Many of the teachers and administrators have been posting videos on the district’s Facebook page with tips for learning at home and providing online assignments.
Tiffany Seals, standing, holds up flashcards while teaching her nephews, De’Monte Forrest and Landen Wade, and her son, Ja’Kyren Williams.
The district reported that by Tuesday, 500 students in grades K-8 had logged into i-Ready, an interactive online learning program that assesses students and provides individualized instruction.
Tiffany Seals and her two sons have been practicing social distancing by staying at home over the past week.
Her oldest son, Jayden Williams, 15, attends Leflore County High School, and her youngest son, Ja’Kyren Williams, 3, attends School Of Champions Development & Learning Academy in Itta Bena.
Her youngest son has asthma and had an asthma attack last Friday.
“It worried me. I didn’t know what was going on. That gave me a big scare,” said Seals. “With him having asthma, I have to keep him in the house.”
Seals, who is a second grade teacher’s assistant at Threadgill Elementary School, is also at home since all public schools across the state closed this past week.
“My oldest said he is ready to go back to school. He said he is tired of being home,” she said.
Seals likes that she is getting extra time she doesn’t normally have to spend with her children and help them with their schoolwork.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, “the past week has been kind of horrific in a way,” said Seals. “Even though this virus is going around, I’m not worried about the virus, because I know we have a God who is bigger than the virus. But at the same time, I’m getting to spend time with my children as well.”
Seals said her children are spending their days working on school assignments, playing games and chatting with her.
What is most important to Seals is that her children, and her second grade students, do not fall behind in their schoolwork.
“We want them to keep everything that they have; we don’t want them to lose anything,” she said.
Her oldest has logged into i-Ready and worked on Algebra I assignments, and she’s been working with her 3-year-old and doing educational activities, such as counting numbers.
Her children have also been visiting free websites that were provided by the schools for online educational work.
Pryor Hackleman’s family has been out of their normal routine over the last week.
While school is out, Sellers Hackleman, left, and her older brother, Townes, do yoga with a children’s YouTube yoga video on the TV.
Her 4-year-old son, Townes, attends Pillow, and her 3-year-old daughter, Sellers, attends St. John’s Preschool & Weekday Ministries. Both have canceled school.
“We’ve been working in shifts,” said Hackleman, who has a wedding- and event-planning business, A Pryor Engagement, that’s been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, and also works with her father at Priority One Mortgage. She manages social media at St. John’s United Methodist Church.
“My mother-in-law, she will come relieve me at 3 or 4 p.m., and the other night I came to work from 4:30 to 8:30 loading mortgage loans, so when my husband got home from work, he was having to do bath time and dinner.”
Hackleman and her husband, Andy, have been juggling their jobs and keeping the kids occupied at home.
“It’s a different environment where you’re just trying to make things work,” said Hackleman.
She said her children’s teachers have been great resources.
“The teachers are tagging us on Facebook with things we can do online,” she said. “My kids’ teachers are actually texting us and sending us links. That’s the beauty and benefit of a small town, because everybody is trying to do their part and help.”
Hackleman has also found other resources online, such as YouTube videos of yoga for kids, story hours being streamed online, and ArtPlace Mississippi’s new livestreamed online art class presented by Yolande van Heerden.
While Leflore County, along with the rest of the nation and world, is facing a challenging time, there are some bright spots, too. With school being out and while most are practicing social distancing, families are getting the opportunity to spend more time together.
“We went on a golf cart ride, and I let them play outside, and then we had a picnic at our picnic table outside,” Hackleman said earlier this week. “It’s spending quality time with my kids that I wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. Even though right now it may not feel like it because it can be stressful, you are making memories.”
• Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7235 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
