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Survey results: Orange County parents, teachers prefer online learning

Fall semester starts Aug. 21

FILE - In this Tuesday, July 7, 2020 file photo, a teacher holds up a sign while driving by the Orange County Public Schools headquarters as educators protest in a car parade around the administration center in downtown Orlando, Fla. As pressure mounts for teachers to return to their classrooms this fall, concerns about the pandemic are pushing many toward alternatives, including career changes, as some mobilize to delay school reopenings in areas hardest hit by the coronavirus. Teachers unions have begun pushing back on what they see as unnecessarily aggressive timetables for reopening. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP, File) (Joe Burbank, Orlando Sentinel)

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The results from a survey Orange County Public Schools conducted to gauge how teachers and families feel about the upcoming semester are in and they show that online learning is the preferred option among both groups.

The phone survey was conducted in May to determine the general consensus on schools reopening in August amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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Since then, school boards across the region, including in Orange County, have held marathon meetings to devise reopening plans with the overall goal being to keep students and staff safe.

[READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Orange County’s back-to-school plan]

While schools will be opened as of now, the survey shows that most are leaning toward the online options:

  • More than 9,000 teachers responded as of Monday
    • 27.4% prefer face-to-face teaching
    • 46.6% prefer OCPS LaunchED@Home while working from home
    • 17.8% prefer OCPS LaunchED@Home while working from school
    • 3.1% prefer Orange County Virtual School
    • 5.1% say all of the options are fine
  • More than 45,000 families responded as of Monday
    • 30.1% prefer face-to-face learning
    • 64.8% prefer OCPS LaunchED@Home
    • 4.5% prefer OCVS
    • 0.6% list other

Last week, the Orange County School Board met for hours and voted to seek a waiver from the state to allow that the decision about if and when schools reopen be based on the COVID-19 data in Orange County.

Parents have until Friday to decide whether they’d like their child to participate in face-to-face learning, OCVS or LaunchEd, an option that involves students attending live online classes.

The semester is set to begin on Aug. 21.

Click here for more information about the county’s school reopening plan.


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