No more snow days? These Midlands students will work at home when weather is poor

When snow falls on the Midlands this year, students in one local school district won’t be outside playing in it. They’ll be at home doing makeup work.

Kershaw County School District students will be required to work from home on days when going to school is impossible due to inclement weather, according to a district statement.

The new program is part of a pilot eLearning program hosted by the Education Oversight Committee,the statement said. Kershaw’s school district is one of five that will be testing out the new program.

The eLearning program will allow students to use Google to work on assignments from home, according to the statement. Students without internet access will be able to do work offline.

The new program is helpful when it comes to one or two days of bad weather, spokeswoman Mary Anne Byrd said. After that, eLearning programs tend to be less effective, and the district will likely use a makeup day instead.

Four makeup days are still built into Kershaw County schools’ schedules. If students use the eLearning program on every day they’re out of school due to weather, those days will not be used as makeup days.

Teachers still have to be trained on the system, Byrd said. If a hurricane or other weather event strikes early in the school year, students will still have to make those days up.

Kershaw County includes Camden, Lugoff-Elgin and North Central high schools.

This story was originally published August 10, 2018 at 11:41 AM.