Parents and guardians waiting to hear if their waitlisted child has a spot in Aiken Innovate will have their answer by Thursday, said Jeanie Glover, chief officer of instruction for the Aiken County Public School District.

The waitlist had roughly 500 students before the Aug. 14 withdrawal deadline, according to the school district.

Glover and two other school district leaders – Micki Dove, director of curriculum support, and Dustin Fowler, virtual learning coordinator – answered questions from Aiken Innovate parents about what to expect in the coming weeks.

Technology pickup

Aiken Innovate parents who requested devices or hotspots can pick those items up on Thursday, Aug. 27.

Glover said the school district sent emails last Wednesday showing the date, time and location to pick up technology and hotspots.

Parents will need to bring identification, along with two documents: an acceptable use agreement and a hotspot form, Glover said.

Cause of delays

Some parents have not heard from their children’s teachers, according to the questions sent to the panel. Dove said those parents can expect to hear from teachers this week.

“We are currently finalizing our rosters, so all of the teachers may not have had their complete roster for students, so hopefully, those rosters are going to be finished tonight (Monday),” Dove said.

What to expect

Prior to the first day of school, students can expect to meet their Aiken Innovate teachers online or, in some cases, face to face, Dove said.

In the first week, Dove said there will probably be some bumps in the road. The goal is for students to learn how to navigate their virtual programs and get to know their teachers and schedules, she said.

Scheduling and attendance requirements vary among different grade levels.

Elementary students will be required to attend live sessions every school day to be considered present, but not all of their school hours will be spent in virtual meetings. They will still have work to complete independently.

At the elementary level, each day will begin with a morning meeting where the teacher explains what is scheduled for the day, Dove said.

Middle and high schoolers will have to attend one live session per course per week to be considered present, and they will have to submit assignments on deadline.

Middle schoolers have a more structured schedule than high schoolers, including specific course times, lunch time and class transitions. Students will attend blocks for math, English language arts, science and social studies.

High school teachers will provide their own schedules with three live sessions available per week, and students are required to attend one of those, Dove said.

Mandatory reading and math pre-assessments for students in second through ninth grade will be administered online for Aiken Innovate students, and the school district will email details about the process to parents this week, Glover said.

Students in kindergarten and 1st grade will have to take assessments on FastBridge at their home-based school, Glover said.

Recommended items

All assignments will be turned in online, but the panel recommended having paper, pencils and pens on hand.

Fowler said a laptop is ideal for Aiken Innovate, but a tablet could work. An app for Schoology, the hub for virtual courses, is available for downloading.

Students will have access to Microsoft Office products, like Word, Teams and PowerPoint, for free through their school email accounts, Fowler said.

Glover said any other supplies will be recommended by students’ teachers.

For more information

Student schedules were released Monday via the Parent Portal, according to the school district.

Parents can expect to receive emails this week regarding attendance, testing and other details. 

For more information about Aiken Innovate, visit the school district website at acpsd.net.