Since the closure of schools in NCSD several weeks ago on March 16, schools have been expected to continue to provide educational opportunities for their students. Starting after spring break, all students were required to turn in work for credit.  Each school however, was left to decide how to handle virtual learning on their own. KW and NC, the two main high schools in Casper, though different, are doing virtual school in the same way.  

At NC, virtual school consists of videos, Zoom meetings, and online quizzes. In Principal Harris’ letter, it stated that, “Our primary system for delivering new content will be Canvas, which is our student learning management system.  Some teachers may also opt to use Google Classroom if they were using that system prior to our school closure.”

 Kathryn McCarty, an NC Freshman said “ I do believe the school district is handling the closures well. All of my teachers are giving us normal work and the same expectations as if we were in school. I guess that’s what happens when you have advanced classes. We’ve been doing a lot of videos, notes, and online quizzes.”  NC teachers have been providing a steady flow of work for students to complete and turn in, though many grades haven’t made it into the grade book yet, since the quarter has been extended until April 17th. 

KW also has given students work, though at both schools some teachers are more organized than others. In his letter to KW families, Principal Mike Britt said, “Students will have a variety of options for lessons and content depending on their courses, but all KW adapted learning will use Google Classroom to post their lessons, content, expectations, and schedule.” 

This has happened, and many KW students also have class work to complete.  On Thursday, April 9th, Olivia Hammell, a KW Freshman says. “My learning experience has been interesting. I have to make sure that I sign into video chats on time, and that I get all my work from my teachers. One thing about this virtual learning is that some teachers are more organized than others. The week is almost over and some teachers I still don’t have any work from them. Some of the assignments that I have been given is to finish reading the Odyssey and take a quiz over it. For my music classes our teachers have us write music and practice our songs for the orchestra.”

For students who have left essential items at school, or are lacking technology, both schools arranged times for students to pick these items up. NC and KW have handled this differently.  KW gave students half hour pickup times based on last name. NC gave a starting time for pick up on April 6th and pickup continued throughout the day.

While many students are concerned about the danger of Covid -19 and grateful for the closures, other students see the closures as an unnecessary measure.  Yet other students see room for improvement. Kathryn McCarty said, “I think the problem is the students. If anything, we’re the ones not educated enough, or don’t care enough. A lot of us don’t care about social distancing or anything involving Covid-19. If we could improve anything, I would say that we need to be more educated on this matter so that people see the actual danger and understand why we need to be social distancing.”

According to the Governor of Wyoming, Mark Gordon, schools will remain closed until the end of April.  This action is intended to help keep both students and staff safe and may play a critical role in keeping a low death count of Covid-19 related deaths in Wyoming.