Boys and Girls Clubs on Coast transforming into ‘virtual education hubs’ during COVID-19
This school year, the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Gulf Coast are transforming from providers of after-school care to “virtual education hubs,” offering a safe place for kids to complete their virtual lessons from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
The goal of the program is to make virtual learning an option for families with caregivers who have to work during the school day, or without reliable internet access at home. At six clubs from Bay St. Louis to Biloxi, participants will spend the day in classrooms with no more than 10 to 12 students, to ensure social distancing. At some schools on the Coast, teachers have been told to expect classes of up to 30 students.
“We are offering the virtual education hub because we have single parents, elderly grandparents, children with sensitive immune systems, and parents with sensitive immune systems that have no other options,” said Morgan Bogolin, marketing and communications director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Gulf Coast. “They simply cannot risk their children going into schools or riding buses where there may be a greater chance of exposure to the virus.”
The program costs $150 a month, with scholarships available. Locations are listed on the Boys and Girls Clubs website.
The clubs will not be offering their usual after-school care this semester. That announcement, made yesterday as the clubs introduced the virtual education hub plan, left some parents scrambling to figure out what to do with their children outside of school hours.
The ensuing argument on Facebook showed how education plans created for a pandemic quickly turn into zero-sum games, satisfying some needs while creating new problems for others. The virtual education hubs will expand access to virtual learning for families that need it, but force parents who are sending their kids back to school to make difficult choices about how to balance work and childcare.
Keva Scott, chief executive officer of the clubs, wrote on Facebook that the decision to offer the hubs was separate from the decision to cancel after-school care.
At some of the facilities, students from different schools and even school districts come together for the after-school program, Bogolin said.
The clubs plan to offer one classroom for each grade level, capped at 10 to 12 students. If each club reaches capacity, 400 to 600 students Coast-wide will participate.
Since June, the clubs have offered summer camps with the same cap on participants. Running the camps has given them experience implementing safety protocols, such as mandatory masks and daily temperature checks on arrival.
Just one camper tested positive for COVID-19 this summer, Bogolin said, and the club was able to prevent any transmission at its facility.
“We know that we can do it and control it,” she said.
The Gulf Coast branch of the national organization is among “the very first” in the country to offer the hub, Bogolin said.
Shalena Dailey, director of the Hancock County unit in Bay St. Louis, said her facility’s WiFi is being inspected and upgraded as necessary to ensure it can handle heavy use.
“We wanted to give those parents who are choosing the virtual option a safe place for their children to go,” Dailey said.
