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With schools closed until at least March 30 to help slow the spread of COVID-19, Beaufort County Schools has rolled out additional resources for parents, students and teachers to keep kids learning during a two-week school closure.

Since Monday, BCS Chief Academic Officer Andrea Lilley says teachers have been reaching out to parents of their homeroom students, asking a variety of questions, including whether they have access to the computers, mobile devices and the internet in their home.

With internet access varying widely based on geography and economics, resources available to individual students during the closure may depend on their ability to get online. According to Lilley, the following measures have been put in place to continue student instruction during the closure:

• For those who can access the internet, the school system has compiled a page of resources, sorted by grade level and class subject. These resources can be accessed here.
• Students who have internet in the home, but no device or computer they can use for instruction, can check out laptops from their school for the duration of the closure.
• Finally, those who have no access to the internet or devices at home are being provided with paper packets prepared by their teachers. These packets can be picked up at the student’s school or in the drive-thru lines set up at the local elementary schools.

When the two-week closure for all N.C. K-12 schools was announced this weekend, Lilly says the school system began working to pull together the online resources for kids during the closure.

“We wanted this to be a one-stop place for parents and students so they didn’t have to search through all the school websites to find information,” Lilley said.

Meal services for kids ages birth to 18 will continue in coming weeks from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, at Northeast Elementary School, Eastern Elementary School, John Cotton Tayloe Elementary School, Chocowinity Primary School and S.W. Snowden Elementary School, The Salvation Army of Washington and the Belhaven Civic Center.