UPDATE: After our story first aired, we received an updated Return to Learning plan from district leaders. Read that plan in full here.
As Marshall Public Schools prepares to transition to all online classes for the next two weeks, Superintendent Carol Maher said students and staff needing to quarantine for possible COVID-19 exposure wasn't considered in the district's Return to Learning plan.
"It didn't even occur to me to look at quarantines," Maher, whose district has more than 200 students and staff in quarantine, said. "I guess it should have. My only excuse is that I don't have the credentials of a medical professional."
With online classes beginning Wednesday, some families said they are glad their children stuck to virtual learning from the beginning of the school year.
"I told my husband and my kids, they wouldn't even make it probably three to four weeks," said Amanda Watkins, a parent in the district. "So it was about what I figured it would be."
While the Watkins family has worked out the kinks of distance learning, some students, like Marvin Tresler's five grandchildren, aren't prepared for it.
"They’re not just equipped with computers to do the online [classes], so they can't do the online until they get computers,” Tresler said.
Maher said the district bought and received 1,700 devices so far – for a district made up of 2,500 students.
"Students who need us the most are the ones that had the greatest challenge of being connected," Maher told 41 Action News on Tuesday.
Some working families still are figuring out arrangements as the district is reaching out to community partners like the YMCA to help with childcare.
Maher said she remains hopeful that students can return to in-person classes before the two weeks are up.
"Of course, more people call and express their displeasure with the decision than the ones who have called to support it," Maher said.
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Editor's note: Earlier this week, we reported on Marshall Public Schools transitioning to online classes as hundreds of students and staff needed to quarantine for possible COVID-19 exposure.
We said the district had no plan to switch learning modes when the school year started, but that’s incorrect.
In follow up conversations with the Superintendent Carol Maher, it’s clear there was a 38-page “Return to Learning” plan for many scenarios, including spread of the virus in the community.
The district also added additional safeguards to protect students and staff from the virus, but the plan did not account for widespread quarantines.
