AREA SCHOOLS are prepared to continue the work of educating children through the extended school closings ordered by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.

What started out as a three-week closure on March 16 was extended last week until May 1.

Local school districts have been providing online education. The latest announcement has them continuing to revise plans.

“After this most recent announcement, our hopes are dwindling as far as getting back this year, but we’re going to do everything we can to continue the education for our kids and we’ll get the year finished,” St. Clairsville-Richland City Schools Superintendent Walk Skaggs said.

“Obviously it’s not the best situation, but I’ve got to put some thank-yous out to our staff and our students who’ve made some adjustments and are doing everything they can to continue to educate our students under these circumstances. We have no idea how long this is going to last. It’s been so fluid. It changes daily, even hourly, so we’re going to continue with the mindset we’re going to do what we’re doing with our digital classrooms and our physical packages for those students as we move forward.”

Skaggs gave special thanks to the community and local businesses and organizations that have provided drive-up internet sites for students who need to download assignments and lessons.

Meanwhile, physical packets filled with three weeks of school work at a time are provided for students without internet access.

In the Purple City, similar plans are in place.

“I met with our principals (Tuesday) and we came up with a plan for the extension, the four weeks. Our teachers are preparing lessons for the next four weeks we’ll roll out to our students and our parents Monday,” Martins Ferry City School District Superintendent Jim Fogle said. “We don’t have a choice. We’re doing all that we can. I’m really excited about the way that all of our teachers are communicating with our students and our parents.”

In the western part of the county, other districts are taking similar steps.

“At Union Local we certainly understand and support the decision to extend the school closures in Ohio. Our principals and teachers have worked hard and continue to work to provide the best learning opportunities for our students,” UL Superintendent Ben Porter released in a statement.

“We have tried to provide open communication to our families through as many means as possible. I believe that our teachers will be prepared. They have worked and modified as we go using survey data generated from staff and students to see what is working well and not working so well.”

To the north, the Huskies also are making the best of the situation.

“We’re going to continue primarily with online lessons. Our seven to 12 (graders) … are doing Google Classroom, which is what they have been doing even in the class anyway,” Harrison Hills City Schools Superintendent Dana Snider said. “Our elementary (kindergarten through sixth-graders) are using our online programs, and they’ll continue to use our online programs. Those students (kindergarteners through 12th-graders) who do not have access to internet (will) … pick up packets of all the online programs.

“Each teacher contacts the students. They make sure they know what they’re doing and touch base, and the parents have been responsive. I keep track of completion of assignments, and completion of assignments are very good,” she said.

In Bridgeport, the superintendent is pleased with the steps being taken, but he regrets the time must be spent outside the classroom.

“We all miss the kids and the faculty. They’re the life of our district and we miss them terribly,” Bridgeport Exempted Village School District Superintendent Brent Ripley said.

“We have iPads for our fifth- through 12th-grade students, and they are doing work with their teachers through a program called Microsoft Teams as well as Zoom. That’s something they were exposed to in the school,” Ripley said.

“Some teachers are videotaping lessons and parents are stepping up, filling that void and helping their kids out right now by working on assignments with them,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of positive parental involvement in their kids’ education now. It’s just amazing to see how the parents are helping their kids out so they stay on track.”

Several also commented on the ability to perform practical experiments and projects outside of school.

“I actually have some teachers doing experiments in the Google Classroom with them,” Snider said. “I have preschool teachers that are doing experiments on Facebook, and having parents go on to Facebook and look at the experiments.”

“When I look at my home, I don’t have some of the things that we would need to produce a successful chemistry experiment, but there are some online manipulatives that are being presented to us daily,” Ripley said.

Harrison Hills is also continuing to distribute a breakfast, lunch and snack, which increased from five to seven days a week. The cooks and bus drivers have been doing it. They deliver packs of four or five meals at a time, twice weekly.

“We’re putting out over 400 meals a day,” Snider said.

“We’re still feeding families. We put the food out once a week, every Monday. We send five breakfasts and five lunches home,” Ripley said. “This Monday we fed 113 families. We’re very blessed to continue to offer that for families as they come in.”

Food is also being provided for Martins Ferry students.

“We’ll also be delivering lunches on Monday. We’ll do one week’s worth of lunches for the next four Mondays at our four drop-off spots that we had designated prior,” Fogle said.

And meals are available to Union Local students as well.

“We have provided meal support to those requesting support and we plan on continuing this method,” Porter said.