Metro Nashville Schools: Some parents reporting issues logging into virtual learning

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    Nashville, TN (WSMV) — It’s the first day of school for students in Metro Nashville Public Schools, but instead of a classroom, this year kids will be learning online for the first few weeks.

However, officials with Metro Nashville Public Schools admitted that some parents have had trouble logging into the system on Tuesday morning.

“Metro Schools is aware that some families have experienced issues logging in to district platforms on MNPS provided devices due to network problems. Our technology team is actively working to address the problem and we will update as soon as the issue has been resolved. Students will not be penalized if they are unable to access their platforms at this time. We know that many students are able to login and engage in the content, and we would encourage you to continue to do so,” Metro Nashville Public Schools told News 4 on Tuesday morning.

The school system said teachers won’t be diving into lessons for the first few days. Instead, MNPS says the first few days will be used to ease families into virtual learning and to make sure everything runs smoothly.

“What we’ve tried to provide as a district was access to devices and hot spots to all of our families as well as appropriate support to help them really engage with the virtual environment,” said MNPS Director of Schools Dr. Adrienne Battle. “We’re really excited to have all of our students return for the first day of school today. We’re doing so today in a very unique fashion in that we’re in the virtual learning environment.”

To prepare for today, educators are advising students to get their workspace ready and make sure their computers and log-ins are all working.

Nashville PROPEL, which is a coalition of parents and grandparents of K-12 students, is voicing its concerns with thousands of low-income and Black and brown students are still without devices, chargers, and internet access.

The parent-led group has created a document calling “on MNPS leaders to take decisive action on behalf of children who need it most during the COVID-19 crisis and deliver commonsense solutions to the challenges facing families and students.”

The group “calls for a comprehensive action plan to improve remote learning, close the digital divide, and develop an individualized plan for each student’s academic growth.”

“There are words, and there are actions. The reality is that despite so many promises from elected leaders, the school year is about to start, and our children lack the tools they need to participate in remote learning. This crisis is urgent, and it is real. The already considerable inequities across our school system will only continue to worsen by the day, and we need immediate, decisive action from policymakers to address this urgent problem. No child should be forced to start the school year without the tools they need to access a classroom, and every child needs an individualized learning plan that is tailored to their needs. Parents are demanding action,” Sonya Thomas, Executive Director of Nashville PROPEL and education advocate, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Once kids are ready to start the school day, they can log in to Schoology to make sure they are counted as present for the day.

At 9 a.m. there was live, interactive morning meeting for students in all grades. It will be a meeting on Microsoft Teams. It was followed by a social-emotional learning opportunity.

At 11:30 a.m. students can join their classmates on another Teams Live event for what the district is calling a “mindful minute.”

Students can expect to hear from a teacher or staff member at their school at some point during the first week.

Metro is the only major school system in the midstate starting the year completely virtually and plans to stay in a remote-learning model until at least Labor Day.

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