An email sent to parents of Duval County Public Schools virtual students in elementary grades announcing a new, virtual learning option for the 2021-22 school year came only a few hours after the district announced Duval HomeRoom will not be offered in the fall.

While Duval County students enter the homestretch of another difficult, pandemic-laden school year, grading data shows a subtle but apparent deficit in achievement by those students engaged in virtual learning when compared to those in traditional, brick and mortar classrooms.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Citing “multiple cases of COVID-19,″ Fort Caroline Middle School is transitioning entirely to online learning through Duval HomeRoom beginning Thursday, according to a news release from the Duval County School District. A message sent to families of students from Principal Chelvert Wellington states that the school will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. AdAt 10 a.m., there will be laptop and Wi-Fi hotspot distribution at the north end of the parking lot. The principal sent families a bell schedule. As of Wednesday night at 8 p.m., the DCPS dashboard of confirmed COVID-19 cases shows 10 confirmed cases in students and two confirmed cases in staff members at the school.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In the data collected from midyear progress monitoring assessments within Duval County Public Schools, elementary school students -- particularly those in kindergarten through third grade -- appeared to perform better in the district’s virtual learning platform Duval HomeRoom than their counterparts in brick and mortar classrooms. The results were presented to the DCPS board Tuesday morning by Corey Wright, who serves as the district’s assistant superintendent of accountability & assessment. LINK: Midyear test scores from Duval County Public SchoolsAdAccording to the data, students in kindergarten through third grade who were studying in the district’s virtual format Duval HomeRoom outperformed those studying in-person. This screenshot from a DCPS report shows K-3 virtual learners outperformed brick-and-mortar students in reading PMAs. “It’s really evident that our students aren’t performing as well as they have in previous years on the math assessments,” Wright said.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Duval County public school parents who want to take their children out of virtual learning for the third quarter can do that now, the school district announced Friday. Cancellation forms for Duval HomeRoom, the virtual learning option for Duval County Public School students, are available through the Parent Focus Account now through Dec. 4. “If the student is succeeding academically in HomeRoom, and the parents prefer for them to remain on the online platform, then no further action needs to be taken,” the district wrote in a press release. Florida’s education commissioner said this week that the state will allow for virtual learning into next year, but there are still questions about funding. Anyone with questions is asked to contact their school directly.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Duval County Public Schools students spent Thursday attending virtual classes via Duval HomeRoom, the district’s school-based online learning format, due to the predicted impacts of Tropical Storm Eta. And, as several families told News4Jax, the abrupt change of formats did not come without some issues. “Another teacher went off and did his own thing, no communication until [8 a.m.] this morning.”Another parent, Courtney Tompkins, said one of her student’s classes had to deal with technical woes. While the district chose to switch students to virtual learning in this case rather than simply canceling classes for the day, DCPS spokesman Tracy Pierce said it will not be the contingency plan for any weather-related closure. “We had the capacity to handle it this way and it made sense to do it this way today,” Pierce said.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With Duval HomeRoom in its second quarter, Duval County Public Schools has identified five areas where adjustments need to be made to improve learning for students, the school district said in a post Thursday on TeamDuval.org. The school district said those areas are assessments, attendance, cameras, student information and teacher conferences. In the message for Duval HomeRoom students and parents, the school district said there will be times when Duval HomeRoom students must come to campus for an assessment. According to the district, teachers may do attendance checks throughout class to make sure students are there and engaged. And, the district said, if parents need to talk with their child’s teacher, they should request an appointment through the school -- not during learning time.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As the Department of Health tracks multiple cases of coronavirus at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Duval County Public Schools announced Tuesday that the campus will be closed for another week and all students must use Duval HomeRoom. The district said students can return to campus starting on Oct. 30. “All extracurricular activities, including group rehearsals, practices and other events will be suspended during this time,” according to the district. The health department will contact students and staff personally if there they need to quarantine for a longer period. "She texted me, and the school is yet to inform my mom that I was next to someone who has COVID-19.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – One class at J. Allen Axson Elementary has switched to online learning through Duval HomeRoom during a “quarantine period,” according to a message sent to families by the school’s principal. Principal Cecilia Vanhoy told families that the school community was impacted by COVID-19 and that Department of Health has completed contact racing and notified all those who need to quarantine. Vanhoy said it was a 1st-3rd grade class that was affected, though details were unclear about who might have been impacted. According to the Duval County Public Schools COVID-19 dashboard, two students and one staff member were listed among cases at the school that had been reported since Aug. 20.

A 12-year-old girl who attended Mayport Coastal Sciences Middle School died Friday due to complications after contracting the coronavirus, according to an online fundraising account created to help the family. A message that was sent by Chris Koek, the school’s principal, did not confirm the student’s name, but he did confirm that a Mayport Middle School student who was in the Duval HomeRoom program unexpectedly passed away. Duval HomeRoom is the online program that students have been using for remote learning. As of Friday, no positive COVID-19 cases were reported on the DCPS dashboard at Mayport Middle School during the 2020/2021 school year. Kimora Lynum, also known as Kimmie, had no underlying health conditions when she died from COVID-19 complications in July, her family said.

Health department reports consistent rise in new COVID-19 cases throughout Duval County schools week after week. If you need help with WJXT’s or WCWJ's FCC public inspection file, call (904) 393-9801.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – At the start of the school year, more than 40,000 Duval County students were signed up to learn from home. The school district asked parents to choose between two virtual school options — and a hybrid option that would eventually place students back in the classroom. The district has extended the deadline to enroll in Duval HomeRoom for a second time. RELATED: Duval HomeRoom experiences outages on 1st day of schoolOfficials say schools are under pressure to set schedules for the school year. In a statement from Duval County Public Schools, the district said “late applicants for Duval Homeroom are being reviewed on an individual basis.

Many classes and schools are up and running and the rest are coming online. We apologize for the delay and ask for your patience as we launch this across the district. Students are encouraged to fully log out before logging back into the system when they retry. The district said it will send additional information via email if there is any further delay or instructions. Thanks again for your patience, and we hope that you do have a great first day of school once your classrooms do come up online.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Parents who want their Duval County students to start the fall semester with virtual learning have until the end of the day Friday to sign them up for Duval HomeRoom or Duval Virtual Instruction Academy. The original deadline for Duval HomeRoom was last week, but Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene announced it would be extended by one week to July 31. After Sept. 14, all middle school and high school students would then have the option to attend face-to-face classes five days a week, under the plan. Go to the email account you used to create your user account and open the email from FIMservice@duvalschools.org. Click on the Email Validation Link.Your email account must be verified within 7 days using the link from the email.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Duval County parents have until Friday to decide if theyre children will take part in Duval HomeRoom when school starts. To sign up a student up for Duval HomeRoom, parents need to create a Focus Account if they dont already have one. Again, the deadline to sign up for Duval HomeRoom is Friday, July 24. On Wednesday afternoon, Duval County Public Schools told News4Jax that out of more than 139,000 students, 13,551 have signed up for Duval HomeRoom so far. Click on the Email Validation Link.Your email account must be verified within 7 days using the link from the email.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. With three weeks until the first scheduled day of school, Duval County Public Schools are still working on a plan for how students will safely return to class. Public records show less than 10% of Duval County families have signed their children up for virtual learning options. District leaders have been questioning whether all students should be learning online. As of Friday, records showed 6,900 students were enrolled in Duval Countys distance learning program -- Duval HomeRoom. Terrie Brady, president of Duval Teachers United, said its creating a challenge for placing at-risk teachers who want to remain socially distanced.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Under Duval County school district’s current plans for reopening this fall, most students will be attending class only a few days a week depending on their grade level. For elementary school students, there are three options. The other two options include full-time remote learning through the district’s virtual classroom Duval Homeroom -- an option that allows students to return to their school at the end of each grading period. That grade can also choose full-time Duval Homeroom or the virtual academy option. “It just does not make any sense to me that they’re basically closing off these children from interacting with each other,” said Amber Hearman, parent to a Duval County student.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Spring break is officially over for students in Duval County. They won’t be back in the classroom for at least another three weeks. News4Jax viewers sent in photos of their students hard at work Monday morning. Florida schools were ordered closed statewide until April 15, but -- just like a lot of their parents -- Duval County’s 130,000 students will be working from home using a website called Duval HomeRoom. Click here to read more: Schools closed, but it’s back to ‘class’ in Duval County

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With virtual learning set to kick off Monday morning for Duval County students, the Duval HomeRoom website is set to launch Sunday night. Teachers are now preparing plans in innovative ways to virtually reach 130,000 Duval County students. Full interview: https://t.co/wqaWkHhfVt The Duval HomeRoom site is scheduled to launch Sunday evening with links to learning materials, instructions for families. Full interview: https://t.co/lu8kr6ej0x The Duval HomeRoom site is scheduled to launch Sunday evening with links to learning materials, instructions for families. Just go to the district website, find the Duval HomeRoom banner and then go to the grade level of the student.

On Friday, just days before launching, thousands underwent training to help get Duval Homeroom, the name for the district’s new online system, up and running. If there’s something they need,” Greene said. That’s why it’s critical students log into their courses through Duval Homeroom and keep up with their courses. Dr. Greene said the Duval Homeroom website will open Sunday evening and can be found at Dcps.duvalschools.org. Just go to the district website, find the Duval Homeroom banner and then go to the grade level of the student.

Following the announcement, DCPS announced plans to deploy a new home education program starting on Monday — Duval HomeRoom. The district will also use the same bus drivers to help deliver school lunches to students in need. “Saturday and Sunday, we will endeavor to close the technology gap with delivery of laptops and air cards to high school and middle school students who need them. Monday will be an orientation to online learning day and a day for the district to assess where they are with student connectivity. The one thing the remote plan doesn’t address is how parents can supervise their children during the day.