Donors go the distance to connect Manassas students and teachers

On “S” day recently, these 4-year-olds got to wear their sunglasses to Morning Zoom Meeting for Ms. McDaniel’s preschool class at Weems Elementary School. Donors funded technology tools like Zoom that help Manassas City Public Schools make the most of distance learning!

Distance learning is thriving in Manassas, thanks in part to the generous donations of several organizations to Manassas City Public Schools through the Manassas City Public Schools Education Foundation (MCPSEF).

The William E. Karlson Charitable Fund, The Micron Foundation, Lockheed Martin and SWIFT contributed a total of $60,000 to fund two technologies that connect students and parents with teachers. The technologies – Zoom and the Remind messaging application – are critical to the current 100% distance learning model.

In one week recently, teachers spent 5.8 million minutes actively instructing students over Zoom. And nearly 10,000 parents communicated with 1,030 teachers using the messaging application Remind. Teachers received 15,391 messages from students and 33,648 from parents in that time.

“We’re so fortunate here in Manassas to have a strong network of organizations willing to help build the bridges we need to connect with our students and their families right now,” said Dr. Kevin Newman, Superintendent of Manassas City Public Schools.

The Manassas City Public Schools Education Foundation unites the community to support education, excellence, leadership, and achievement for Manassas City Public Schools’ students and teachers.