SLC School District: 35% Of Students Staying With Online Only

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – As the Salt Lake City School District welcomes secondary students back to the physical classroom this week, the district is reporting that more than a third of students opted to stay learning at home.

“That number holds pretty steady across the different grade levels,” said Yándary Chatwin with the Salt Lake City School District. “So elementary, middle and high school, about 35% of the kids are online. That means that we do have to take into account those online learners.”

That equals about 7,500 students not returning to in-person learning. In addition to that number, some high school students have the option of a blended schedule of both online and in-person, Chatwin explained.

More than a third of students in the Salt Lake City School District are sticking with online only.

“For the parents who didn't feel didn't feel comfortable sending their students, remote is still a viable learning option"

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The percentage of remote learners is a little less when accounting for only elementary students, with 34% selecting to not return to the classroom.

“For the parents who didn’t feel didn’t feel comfortable sending their students, remote is still a viable learning option in the Salt Lake City School District,” Chatwin said. “We are making sure that the children who are learning online and the kids who are learning in person are getting the same educational experience to the extent that we can.”

For comparison, nearby Granite School District reported around 20% of its students are completely online. The Murray School District told KSL-TV about 25% of students are remote learning and the Alpine School District reported just 9% of students are online only.

Until the end of January when elementary students were allowed to return to school for four days a week, the district was the only one in the state to not have the option of in-person learning.

Secondary students in the district returned this week and will attend in-person two days a week. High school students are required to have a negative COVID-19 test result.

“Every student and every staff member had to get tested for COVID before coming in the building,” Chatwin said. “So that’s been really helpful. We were able to catch a few people that way who had COVID and were maybe asymptomatic and didn’t realize that.”

Emily Snow has three children in the Salt Lake City School District who have returned to in-person learning.

“Right now it feels like a huge relief,” she said.

Snow worked to get schools reopened and said the fact that 65% of students went back shows that the change was needed.

“I think it just shows that the majority of our district wanted an in-person option for a very, very long time,” she said.

But Snow said she’s glad that online learning is still there for those who need it.

“I’m happy there’s that option because families have really different situations,” she said.