This last week, the administration announced that they hired a new physics teacher and introduced the new Spanish teacher who will both fill vacant positions.
Last month, the district paid $25,000 to provide Edgenuity to the one physics, four honors physics, and five Spanish 2 classes that lacked teachers. Not every vacant position has been filled but four of the ten classes now have a teacher.
As the administration and teachers make the decision this week whether or not to continue with the current online curriculum for the classes that now have replacements, we urge them to disband it.
Edgenuity was a last resort that we were forced to use, but it does not make sense to continue the online curriculum in classes that can be taught by qualified teachers.
We acknowledge the few arguments in favor of continuing Edgenuity for all classes: 1) We have already purchased the course for the semester; 2) The new teachers do not fill every vacant position or cover every class taught by Edgenuity, leaving some classes stuck with Edgenuity; 3) Edgenuity allows for stability through the end of the semester when students have already faced months of turmoil.
However, online education is never superior to a teacher. Languages, especially, must be practiced through speaking and communicating with other people, something online education cannot provide for students. Edgenuity should not be used as the primary curriculum but as a supplemental tool for students.
We should allow classes with qualified teachers to deviate from Edgenuity’s curriculum. Instead of viewing this change as a disadvantage to classes without these teachers, we should think of it as raising our students level of education. There will always be compromises and excuses, but we must start somewhere to improve the education of our student body.
TPH values our quality of education. We hope others will do the same.
