GILES COUNTY, Va. – Since Wednesday, Giles County students have been home participating in virtual classes due to a lack of teachers.
10 News reached out to Giles County Public Schools and they told us that, due to the lack of adequate substitutes and teachers out, the best decision was to move to virtual learning.
One mom said while she understands the shift, she thinks it should’ve never gotten this bad.
“It shouldn’t take you know, ‘Hey we don’t have adequate staff,’” said Tiffany Love, a mother of two in Pearisburg. “What about adequate students? Are there enough students here to call this place safe enough to be here?”
She said she’s been hearing how bad illnesses are going around the schools but these past few days have added another layer of stress.
“When it comes to teaching them multiplication, which my daughter is struggling with right now, I don’t know how they teach that in school because the way I learned back then is not the same now,” Love said.
She also said if the school system is going to resort to going virtual, parents should receive a guide or instructions on how to explain material.
“If they were to sit us down, us parents, and be like ‘Hey this is how we walk through this, this is what we do on the daily,’ that would help us out tremendously,” Love said.
We’ve reached out to some other school systems to see if they have a plan set in place in case something similar to this happens.
Leaders from Roanoke County Public Schools said they would take situations like this on a case-by-case basis.
Lynchburg City School leaders said their priority is to keep classroom instruction going. They also said if a certain percentage of staff become ill, the schools are forced to shut down. They would then move to a similar structure as Giles County.
Giles County officials said they anticipate being back in the classroom starting Monday, December 11.