The idea of "learning pads" would involve small groups of children meeting in a public space for a potentially safer approach to education. | Pixabay
The idea of "learning pads" would involve small groups of children meeting in a public space for a potentially safer approach to education. | Pixabay
State Sen. Lana Theis (R-Brighton) shared her thoughts on safely reopening schools amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and the idea of "learning pads" on the MiSenateGOP website.
Theis said that families will be faced with a number of decisions, as will school administrators, as students head back into the classroom.
“One approach that is being considered around the country for private instruction, and which I am proposing we offer as a public option in Michigan, is the concept of what I call ‘learning pads,’” Theis said, according to MiSenateGOP.
Sen. Lana Theis
| #MiSenateGOP
Combining a small classroom feel with homeschooling capabilities, learning pads provide teachers and students with the ability to continue doing what they need to do to support a quality education.
“First, parents would band together from local communities to form a pad of students and arrange for a local public space, such as a community center, to serve as the classroom,” Theis wrote on MiSenateGOP. “Next, the group would contact their local school district to secure a teacher, curriculum and materials for the learning pad.”
Theis believes that this approach helps to solve some of the challenges of this time while avoiding other issues that may arise.
“It helps students, because they would receive in-person learning with significantly reduced exposure to other children beyond those they are likely already interacting with in their neighborhoods,” Theis explained on the Senate's website. “And by not relying on a school bus for transportation, student exposure would be further mitigated.”
Theis also is in favor of the learning pad style as it allows for school district funding to be maintained, offering the best education possible for students.
“In the end, nothing can truly replace a normal, traditional teacher-classroom-school setting,” Theis said, according to MiSenateGOP. “And while some school districts may begin offering some form of traditional instruction in the fall, there is no way of knowing when we may fully return to what we consider normal K-12 education.”
As teachers, students and school districts attempt to navigate this challenging world, Theis is supporting a new approach.
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