Wood County Schools logo

Hosaflook: Students will be ready for fall classes

PARKERSBURG - Wood County Schools Superintendent Will Hosaflook said Tuesday he is confident educators can make up for instructional time lost due to the pandemic and students will be back on pace by the start of the 2021-22 school year.

Hosaflook spoke at Tuesday’s Wood County Board of Education meeting as part of his superintendent’s update, speaking briefly on the ongoing efforts to bring students back full time to in-person classes.

“This semester has been very difficult for everyone- teachers, students, employees of our school system,” Hosaflook said. “I am here to tell you that I believe in our system, I believe in our teachers, I believe in our employees. The students will be on track when next year rolls around.”

Hosaflook said grades and test scores show distance learning has not worked equally for all students, but said those numbers do not represent an insurmountable challenge. 

“We cannot rely just on the numbers and grade point averages,” he said. “We are resilient. We can look at the data, but I have full faith our students can catch back up.”

Hosaflook said it is not about getting students back to where they should be, but rather making sure they have what they need to succeed.

“What we need to do at this point is to provide the skills that will  enable students to move on to the next grade level,” he said.

In addition to returning to full week in-person classes Feb. 15, officials are working to expand class offerings for summer classes. 

“We are starting to create a robust summer school program for all grade levels,” Hosaflook said. This will mark the first year summer school will be offered to middle school students, he said. 

More details on summer school and other academic programs will be released in the coming weeks.