SALAMANCA, N.Y. — Schools are taking attendance and tracking participation a bit differently these days during the coronavirus pandemic.
2 On Your Side's Kelly Dudzik has spent the week researching how districts across Western New York are doing when it comes to students doing the work, and she's sharing how one district is working to boost its student participation rates.
At 4 p.m. on Most Buffalo, she went in-depth into the student participation rates in Salamanca. Participation rates track students who are actually doing the work, not just turning on their computers.
In the Salamanca City Central School District, for kindergarteners through 3rd-graders, about 90 percent of the students doing e-learning attend school regularly online and participate.
For grades 4 and 5, that rate drops to 85 to 86 percent. And for 6th and 7th-graders, about 80 percent actively participate.
The high school is mainly an e-learning hub. Some of the students do their classes from home, but there are also places for them to do their work at the school.
"We have about 170 that have elected to come into school and learn that way. While they are here, the teachers do go down and get them out of the e-learning hub. We'll bring them back to their room to give them some individual instruction," high school principal Chris Siebert said.
That's out of about 480 high school students all together.
Siebert says participation is good so far. For those who aren't participating, that could mean a home visit.
"When necessary, they will spend a day and do home visits to groups of students just to try to touch base with them. See if there's anything that they need. Any kind of supports, maybe, that we can provide. Kind of encourage them to do a little bit more on the participation end," Siebert said.
Siebert says they are concerned about around 20 percent of the high school students at this point. They're encouraged to come and do their work out of the e-learning hub at the school.
It is so popular, it's about to get some upgrades.
"We're in the process of trying to dial that up and make it more of a college-type setting like a library-type setting where it's a lot more comfortable. Right now, we have desks and stuff in there. It's kind of spread out," Siebert said.
"But we're looking at getting some actual office furniture, some office tables, and some office chairs that are a lot more comfortable to help with that process. It's hard to sit in a given area for any length of time, so we try to get them up, move them around. We encourage teachers to come down and move them out of that space and down to their rooms."
They also have physical education teachers take the students out to get some exercise, so they stay active.