ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County Public Schools says students learning at home are not performing as well as those learning face to face, while data from Seminole County is mixed.

When it comes to sending students back to school, the district says it is seeing growth, a trend that is not likely to slow down.

On Monday, Jennifer Jacoby’s son, Myles, will go back to Blankner Elementary after spending the first semester and part of 2021 learning remotely via the district's LaunchEd system.

“It’s tough,” Jacoby said from the park with her son. “My youngest is a second-grader, and keeping that attention for a whole day on a computer is hard.”

Jacoby said going back to brick-and-mortar class has nothing to do with his performance with LaunchEd but more about ensuring the continuity of his education.

“We were given the option to send our children back to face-to-face (learning) and stay with their current teacher,” Jacoby said. “Or we can keep them at home for LaunchEd, but they would have to transition to a new teacher.” 

According to OCPS, students who are struggling this year can receive extra help.

“We are working to increase tutoring opportunities for those students so they can catch up in some of their learning loss,” OCPS Chief Communications Officer Scott Howat said.

According to the district, 22,000 parents of students in LaunchEd received a letter in the mail that their children were either failing, falling behind, or not attending classes. 

In Seminole County data shows elementary school students in face-to-face learning outperformed students in other learning models by 1%.

For students in grades 6 through 10, there was no difference for English and arts courses, while student in virtual learning outperformed face-to-face student by 9% in math.

With face-to-face learning on the rise this year, parents and guardians say they are also coming to terms with feeling comfortable sending their children back even though the pandemic is far from over.

“It’s maybe five or six phone calls that I've gotten since August (about positive cases),” Jacoby said. “That to me is not a lot, that can be a staff member, teacher or child, but it tells me it’s not spreading through the classroom.”

Orange County Public Schools says 57% of its students are currently in face-to-face learning, compared with 31% at the beginning of the year.

The district says it will continue to provide extra help for students in LaunchEe.

If you are considering sending your child back to school, Orange County school leaders ask that you contact your assigned school and give them time to accommodate the request as well as adjust schedules if needed.