St. Mary Parish students will resume in-person learning in Phase Three

While the St. Mary Parish School System still needs more details on the state’s move to Phase Three of its reopening plan during the COVID-19 pandemic to make a final decision, Superintendent Teresa Bagwell said all students potentially could return to campus for in-person learning by the end of this month.
The move to in-person learning comes after Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Thursday morning he would be moving the state into Phase Three Friday, with more details to come Friday in his 2 p.m. press conference.
For St. Mary Parish, Bagwell told the school board during its monthly meeting Thursday that local decisions will be made after they receive those parameters in the Phase Three plan.
“We anticipated obviously that at some point soon the state would transition into a Phase Three set of circumstances, and we really are excited that it happened so quickly. … There’s no replacement for a teacher in a classroom and students in the classroom and all of the interactions that occur to help kids learn, so we’re really excited,” Bagwell said following the meeting.
St. Mary Parish’s plans for the 2020-21 school year, which began Tuesday, were to have elementary students attend school daily, while those in junior high and high school would attend school twice per week and work virtually the remaining three days. The junior high and high school enrollments were split, so that the schools had only 50% occupancy at one time.
Parents also could enroll their students in virtual learning where they attended class from home.
With the move to Phase Three, Bagwell said parents of students in grades 6-12 will have the option of enrolling their students in the virtual learning program that has been in place in St. Mary Parish for about a decade or they can send their students to school.
The virtual learning program was added for elementary students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade this year, and Bagwell said parents who want their children to remain in virtual learning in those grades would be handled on a case-by-case basis.
However, just days into the school year, there have been numerous requests by students to opt out of the virtual learning program and enroll in in-person learning.
“I will tell you that many of our students who are returning are in that K-5 group, because it is a difficult set of circumstances to be able to learn virtually when you’re so young,” Bagwell said.