Clarke Central High School Family Engagement Specialist Christian Barner works on emails at his desk on Oct. 26. Through emailing weekly newsletters to the CCHS community and facilitating October parent-teacher conferences, Barner has been helping CCHS families stay informed. “Most of (family engagement) is about trying to create two-way communication (that provides) opportunities for parents and families to communicate with the school (and vice versa),” Barner said. Photo by Emily Couch
Families and students who are interested in the virtual option that CCHS is offering for the second semester of the 2021-22 school year can reach out to CCHS Family Engagement Specialist Christian Barner for more details.
Clarke Central High School Family Engagement Specialist Christian Barner is working to provide important information for families and students who are considering switching to CCHS’ virtual option for the second semester.
The new opportunity takes place over Georgia Virtual School (GAVS), a state-run online schooling system that offers high school and college courses.
“I think that providing (this) option is really good for a lot of our students,” Barner said. “There were students who thrived in (the virtual) option (last year) so providing that for those students who have benefited from it was great.”
Junior Chloe Blum believes that the virtual option is a beneficial choice for students who prefer an online learning environment or are high risk for COVID-19.
“I think (the virtual learning option) is good for students that are more high risk (for COVID-19) or around people who are more high risk, but I feel like it limits them because then they can’t interact with the teachers one-on-one (or) other kids in the classroom and it separates them from the class as a whole,” Blum said.
“I think there’s probably hesitancy about returning to the online school (because) you obviously lose out on that face-to-face instruction, socialization, (and) on the school routine.”
— Christian Barner,
Family Engagement Specialist
Barner strives to ease and inform families and students who are uncertain about the transition by updating them with daily emails, weekly newsletters and other important ways of communicating the expected changes with families.
“I think there’s probably hesitancy about returning to the online school (because) you obviously lose out on that face-to-face instruction, socialization, (and) on the school routine,” Barner said. “(However) it also gives (these families and students) an option to be able to continue learning and continue earning credits towards graduation, but feel like they’re in a safer place,” Barner said.
A screenshot shows the Clarke Central High School Family Engagement Specialist Christian Barner’s weekly email newsletter on Oct. 1. The newsletter was about the new virtual learning option, Georgia Virtual School (GAVS), available for students during the second semester of the 2021-22 school year. “(CCHS is) trying to figure out ways to help ensure that families are engaged with the school and (are) aware of what’s going on, how to support their students, how to have their voices heard,” Barner said. Screenshot by Emily Couch
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