R.I. school districts lack state-approved study-at-home plans

No school district in Rhode Island has an approved plan allowing students to work from home in the event of a snowstorm or other emergency.

At least one superintendent, Michael St. Jean of North Smithfield, isn’t happy about it.

St. Jean said he sent a detailed “snow day” plan to the state Department of Education in 2018, but it was rejected. The Education Department said the district rescinded its plan after the department outlined problems with it.

In 2017, legislation submitted by Roger Picard of Woonsocket enabled districts to submit plans for virtual school days when classes are canceled for bad weather, particularly snowstorms.

The bill gave the Education Department the authority to approve the plans.

Three years later, only Barrington has permission to make up snow days — by extending each school day by five minutes and setting aside a teacher training day as a snow day.

“We put together a pretty comprehensive plan,” St. Jean said Thursday. “It has the support of the unions, administrators, parents. RIDE called out a number of issues. To be honest, we didn’t feel they were issues.”

His district has Chromebooks for every student. It developed a help desk that parents could call with technical questions. Teachers and students are already using Google Classroom, an online instruction application.

St. Jean said he withdrew the plan because he felt the Education Department wouldn’t support it.

Now, with the looming threat of coronavirus, he wishes his schools had had a chance to pilot the program.

“If the Department of Education is willing to accept our plans,” he said, “we’d be happy to revisit this.”

The Education Department, meanwhile, said: “The standard is appropriately high because we want to ensure that virtual learning plans serve all students and work for all families, with a particular focus on equity.”

Regarding the threat from coronavirus, department spokeswoman Meg Geoghegan said: “We’re working closely with our colleagues at the Department of Health to monitor the situation and provide resources and guidance to districts. The R.I. Department of Health has been great about sharing updates with us and with schools, and we will stay in close contact in the event that cases of the coronavirus are confirmed in Rhode Island schools.“

The department said several districts started the process of submitting online learning plans, but they either didn’t pass muster or the districts decided to withdraw their submissions.

Picard said he was “kind of discouraged” that his enabling legislation never went anywhere.

“I would encourage RIDE to take a look at this again,” he said, “and come up with an idea in case of an emergency. I like to see more flexibility, and then, as we go forward, make adjustments here and there.“