RCA responds to Coronavirus pandemic by delivering student education from a distance
When Rhea County Academy dismissed classes for Spring Break on March 13th, Principal Brian Rentzsch had students take their text books home with them in anticipation that their return to the RCA campus might be delayed for a couple of weeks. During the week following Spring Break it became apparent that students would not be able to return immediately to the RCA campus for in-person classes so a second week of Spring Break was granted to students as RCA teachers prepared to teach their classes over the internet.
On March 30, RCA began delivering class instruction to students by means of a combination of online video instruction and instructional packets picked up by parents from the school office. Due to state recommendations concerning the Covid-19 pandemic, RCA teachers and staff have continued to deliver education in this manner for the rest of the semester.
During the following weeks, RCA teachers recorded volumes of instructional videos, held online video conference calls and continued to instruct their students in a variety of creative ways for the last half of the semester. While this has been a challenge for many of them, Principal Rentzsch has been impressed with the level of teacher commitment to their students and how quickly and effectively they have adapted to this new method of instruction. Due to this commitment, RCA students have been able to keep on pace with their current classes and will finish their coursework for the year on time.
Both Principal Rentzsch and the teachers have missed the personal interaction with students and are looking forward to being back in face-to-face classes in the fall as evidenced by the following videos.
Teacher Video Mr. Rentzsch video