I made this petition to make sure that there is another safe online option in Duval County (Duval Homeroom Online) vs DVIA during the Pandemic. Parents should have more say in how they want their children to get their education. This issue affects everyone in Duval County and we need change now!   

      We read about the 1918 flu and how it claimed so many lives in our history books. Not thinking that something of this nature could affect us. That state of mind became a reality. The early part of 2020, the coronavirus had a devastating impact on the United States. It changed our world forever. As of Today, parents receive calls from an automated system daily reporting more cases within their children’s school. The calls are overwhelming for parents and they worry about the health and well-being of their children. Covid-19 and the highly contagious Delta variant cases are running rampant throughout Duval County. The Department of Education should reconsider an improved version of K-12 Duval Homeroom online with enhanced mental and psychosocial needs for students because it will give parents more flexible options and keeps their children safe during the pandemic. This option will also allow for students to remain in their magnet program seats or neighborhood school without having to reapply.

       There has been a dramatic increase in cases since the start of on-campus learning this school year. According to the Florida Times Union, Duval County has surpassed 1000 cases in the first three weeks of school. Compared to last school year, there were only 2,498 for the entire school year while the majority of students were doing remote learning (2021). Cases are only expected to rise because social distancing isn’t an option in schools that are filled to capacity and opt-out for mask mandates. As recommended by the Centers for Disease and Control, wearing masks indoors regardless of vaccination status and social distancing of 3ft-6ft is the best way to limit the spread of Covid-19 (2021). This is impossible on a school campus when students gather into the cafeteria, sitting within 3ft of other classmates while in classes and riding buses to and from school. In addition, there are two students assigned to a seat on the bus and that is not a distance of at least 3ft, especially when the bus is filled to the maximum. It is a known fact that people who are vaccinated can still spread the virus to other people in overcrowded spaces including schools. If students had the option to attend school from the comfort of their own home, this would lessen the number of students on campus while also limiting the transmission of the virus from person to person. By having this option available, students are able to focus on their education instead of the impact of the pandemic.

      Traditional schooling is said to be more beneficial to students than online learning but online learning has many benefits to accommodating any individual student. Online learning takes less time to complete, students can work at their own pace, review assigned materials and does not require students to get up 2 hours or more before school starts compared to traditional schooling. In addition, using digital books are inexpensive than hard copies which means less to carry for students or no lost, stolen or damaged books to replace. According to the World Economic Forum, there is evidence that students retain 25%-60% more material online compared to their traditional counterparts of only 8%-10% (2020). On campus schooling requires children to be present for 6 hour days and get to the bus stop hours before school is in session. This alone can cause mental and physical fatigue or distress. As a result, it causes academic struggles including poor performance in class participation. Not to mention, the teacher to student ratio makes it difficult to get one on one attention in any given class period. Reinstating duval homeroom online as an option has substantial benefits including no exposure to covid while concentrating on their education. 

       Duval homeroom can be an alternate solution to the Duval Virtual Instruction Academy (DVIA). DVIA has no options for high school acceleration and limited course options. All students K-12 are seen under one roof when it is time for state academic testing. Students risk loss of current credits, lose magnet seats and the connection to neighborhood school. If Duval homeroom is an option, students keep their current credits earned, still have connections to their current school and access to a rigorous curriculum including advanced placement (AP) and International baccalaureate (IB) courses while still having the opportunity to attend a 4-year college of choice unlike the latter, graduating for DVIA would only allow for a 2-year community college admission. DVIA does not offer AP and IB courses which means all children are on a standard level regardless of advance academic level of growth. 

       Students’ mental health and well-being is paramount for duval homeroom online platform to be successful. Students can be stressed by social isolation from lack of interactions with classmates. According to Xuefei, in order to make online learning successful, it needs to have a modified feature to address the mental health and psychosocial needs of students and improve digital skills for learning online to make students and teachers more proficient with the technology (2021). The challenges can be combated by promoting student to student communication, implementing virtual study groups among students and access to mental health counselors virtually to help alleviate any barriers affecting their education or personal life. According to Low, Duval county schools have programs in place for students and it focuses on mental and emotional education. The students are able to access services when needed as it helps improve their performance and well-being (2021). Duval County Schools are full service schools which means all schools have resources for mental health counseling offered for individualized situations. Students are able to access services from 6am-6pm for academic or personal use to address the whole student via online or in-person. With that being said, by encouraging healthy communication, taking breaks, setting schedules, creating a school space at home and access to counselors virtually can prevent the mental burnout of students educating online. Implementing mental health awareness as it is on campus into online learning is about taking the necessary steps to help the experience be successful for all students attending Duval County Schools.

       Furthermore, students are not the only ones that face challenges from online learning as teachers can have mental exhaustion too. When the pandemic hit, all teachers were put into the digital world without proper preparations. Some educators were not proficient in online learning which created stress that could have been avoided with adequate training. A tremendous amount of pressure was placed on the shoulders of teachers to upload lesson plans and monitor their students' progress. It can cause stress on teachers because of the additional workload as some teachers do not want to teach online and on-campus at the same time. Not to mention, teachers had to teach their class on top of other classes not originally assigned to them. There are many factors at play when it comes to online learning and there is a way to address such issues. There are programs available in Duval County Schools to address the mental struggles or exhaustion due to online learning for staff. Teachers can utilize the services for mental health for work related stress and/or personal issues. It addresses the teachers' mental and emotional state and prepares them to help their students too. As stated by Low, “For the educators’ teachers’ own well-being, there are lunch-and-learn workshops on coping and stress, as well as mindfulness activities. And for educators who need additional support, employee assistance programs are available online as well as on-site. The district leadership also actively participates in creating and sustaining a supportive environment for staff members (2021).” Having mental health resources available will help teachers with whatever struggles they face with online learning. According to the Frontiers in Public Health, “adopting coping strategies that are practical and applicable during online sessions can decrease the risk of psychological distress and preserve health and well-being (2020).”

     Last but not least, teachers are one of the key elements to the foundation of education including distance learning. They are the reason online learning is possible. Without them, education as we know it would cease to exist. Teachers have said that the workload has increased due to the pandemic because teaching online and on campus is a lot to handle. As a result, many teachers have resigned or have taken early retirement because of the increased workload and some not wanting to put their health and the health of their family at risk while teaching. Issues of this nature can be addressed by letting teachers teach online and others teach on campus according to their preference. The Duval County school district has lost many amazing teachers because they weren’t being acknowledged. Some educators feel they are underpaid and not shown appreciation. For instance, educators received bonus checks and after cashed those checks bounced. This is not how we should treat our teachers for all their hard work. According to the WJCT news, Duval county school board is voting on a 1.2 million dollar proposal to recruit students from charter schools, private schools and homeschooling to return to Duval County Public Schools (2021). Increasing the pay for teachers, in turn increases the quality of education for the students, both online and on-campus. According to Cleaver, “In 2015-2016, 18% of U.S. teachers worked second jobs, in everything from online teaching to retail. Teachers are 30% more likely than non-teachers to have a second job. It goes without saying that raising teacher pay so teachers didn’t have to work a second job would boost teacher morale and help them stay focused on their classrooms (2021, para. 6).”  Instead of spending 1.2 million to recruit students, these funds can be utilized to pay veteran teachers, rehire and hire more teachers for our school system to accommodate our growing school community of 130,000 students. It can also be used to reinstate and reconstruct the Duval Homeroom platform. Funds will not be needed for advertising to recruit students to come back to our district. If the funds are used to pay teachers, it will improve the quality of education received by students. This alone will bring more students to Duval County for the superior education options offered by teachers in our school district. Teachers have the ability to push the boundaries of online learning to make it an exceptional experience.

     Our world was upended when covid-19 struck the United States. We had to learn to adapt to the inevitable. It changed education and this is the new normal. The school community can continue to move forward in the brinks of the pandemic. In order to make Duval homeroom have better performance and be successful, it needs enhanced features to accommodate the mental health and well being of students and teachers while also providing training to improve digital skills for all involved. Let’s give parents a better option to choose for online schooling by reinstating and reconstructing Duval homeroom. If the teachers, students, parents and Duval County School Board Officials work together as a whole unit, together, it will make Duval County schools be one of the best school districts in Florida.