BYRON, Ga. — Georgia Public Schools received billions of dollars through the American Rescue Plan. At least 20 percent of those funds have to go towards addressing student learning loss. At Kay Road Elementary, they've already gotten started.
Teraji Wheeler is a 5th-grade student at Kay Road Elementary. She says she struggled with learning due to the pandemic. Now, through summer school, she gets to reclaim some of the learning that she lost.
"I think in-person is much better because I get to talk to the teacher myself instead of doing online computers and stuff… I'm not really used to doing it online because I've never done it before, " she says
Like many other districts, Peach County is looking to make up the learning loss before the next school year. All June students have the chance to catch up, a choice Superintendent Lionel Brown says parents got to make.
"It's optional for the parents. I would hope that the parents have been keeping their thumb on the pulse of what their children have been doing at home and recognizing some of the things that their children may have picked up on or did not pick up on," Brown explains.
While summer school isn't a total fix, it's a starting point.
"Well, you know what our children have faced all year and as our way of trying to connect the dots with learning lots that may have taken place throughout the course of the year," he says.
Beyond catching up from a learning loss for Teraji, a part of it is just returning to some normalcy--even if it is at summer school.