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CASS COUNTY — As school systems were informed Thursday that classes would not be reuniting for the remainder of the current school year, distance learning was already continuing as the new normal for students.

Shortly after the most recent mandate to extend school closures in Michigan came from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office, superintendents from the Lewis Cass Intermediate School District gathered electronically to discuss the order.

“Each of us concurred that we would work together to ensure that the children in our county would be well served educationally,” said Brent Holcomb, superintendent of the Lewis Cass ISD. “Moving forward, I see challenging times as a wonderful opportunity to put our best educational foot forward to service children. Schools and families will learn together.”

The Lewis Cass ISD’s Early Childhood Education director Chris Whitmire has been a part of efforts to create at-home, distance learning materials. As classes finished up the last day in school buildings on Friday, March 13, educators and staff worked over the weekend at the Lewis Cass Intermediate School District to make sure materials were put together for students to learn from home.

Just three weeks ago, on March 12, rumors began circulating through schools that the buildings would be closed temporarily as the COVID-19 threat showed itself officially in Michigan.

“We just so happened to have a school meeting on Friday [March 13],” Whitmire said. “There’s no way to get that many people together unless it’s scheduled. We just lucked out that is one of our standard mornings.”

After the original mandate was announced by the governor, educators added hours to their day to make sure materials were being created for students.

“We literally wrote lessons for three hours,” Whitmire said. “Then we edited the book over the weekend, and we had the book complete and created.”

The push to create a lesson book for students to take home was necessary, Whitmire said.

“In order for this to equitable for everybody, we could not just do virtual [learning],” she said. “We needed them to have something in their hands that they could refer to when we were talking with them or trying videos, things like that.”

Not every family has the same access to internet in their homes, Whitmire said. Having a workbook with activities and materials to work with meant that every child could complete learning activities remotely.

Teachers put out a call to the community for supplies, such as glue and scissors, to add to the materials that would be distributed to the students.

By Monday morning, the materials were ready to be assembled into “home learning kits” and distributed to the students and their families.

“We were ready for staff to all come in,” Whitmire said. “We washed hands, they scrubbed up and put on gloves. They had backpacks, and [the educational materials] were out to the community by Tuesday, probably around 3 p.m. It was a very quick turnaround.”

The home learning kits include a lesson book, a folder of resources, supplies and connections to videos to match along with lessons. The school system is utilizing social media platforms to engage with families and students. The ISD has also implemented a letter writing campaign with students and their families, and other ways to keep the learning field level and accessible for as many students as possible. A local organization donated $500 worth of stamps to the ISD for the letter writing campaign.

“We have 150 children, approximately,” Whitmire said. “Our teachers are going to try to go for three volleys of back and forth letter writing. In order to write a letter to the children, you have to have to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope so that they can write you back. We’re going to give that a try and see if that helps us stay connected with families and kids.”

Eagle Lake Elementary Great Start Readiness Program/Tri County Head Start teacher Shirley Penley is working through the distance to keep her class engaged.

“We have 16 children enrolled in the Eagle Lake GSRP/TCHS preschool, in room 2,” Penley said. “I am happy to say we have been in contact with all of them. Using phone calls, text messages, emails, storyboards or newsletters and Facebook.”

Penley was one of the teachers that put together the materials for students and families, and helped distribute them personally.

“As a team we pulled together, created an amazing home learning book, and gathered all the materials needed for each family to complete the 36 activities inside the book.”

The book helped connect with the families by putting something in their hands.

“After my associate teacher, Mariah Green and myself personally delivered every activity bag, we created a private Facebook page for our families to stay connected.”

Penley has been working with her younger set of students on reading stories out loud and posting them for her students online, and asking families to share their pets online and to describe them. Her class is also using letter writing as a way to stay in touch.

As the extension of canceled classes pushes the Lewis Cass ISD into its second phase of the Continuous Learning Plan, the needs have shifted as educators approach putting their second wave of material together.

“We are not able to accept material donations,” Whitmire said, as the precautions have evolved around the COVID-19 threat, with social distancing and sanitizing surfaces. “We would certainly appreciate community funds to fill the Home Learning Kit 2 with supplies. We think that these may be buckets, instead of the string bags this time.”

Still, Whitmire loves that she has seen the ISD spring into action so quickly to put together resources for their students.

“I think that our staff knows that we have a plan in place for them, and our families know that we’re trying really hard,” she said. “The community effort has been the most meaningful.”

Penley continues adapting her classroom to the online format.

“I expect this will change as we all learn newer technology, and how to use it successfully,” Penley said. “We might not be together in the classroom, but together we are still a school family.”