FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — Some Williamson County parents are asking for school officials to suspend the grading of students until tech issues with the virtual platform are resolved.
A petition started Friday is gaining traction in Williamson County. Former school board member Anne McGraw started the petition, asking the school district to consider the number of issues facing students.
McGraw and other parents are reporting falling grades among their kids.
"I kind of got mad on Friday and said okay, I'll do it. Because no one else was doing it," said McGraw.
She noticed many others complaining on Facebook about connection issues or confusion with the new Edgenuity platform the district is using.
McGraw said she created the petition and then shared it with online school social groups that formed recently.
"The students are being held accountable for a platform that is losing their work, that is going down every day," said McGraw. "They don't know these teachers. There's just kind of a lot of craziness going on and we're asking the district, like, hey, pause, get all of this running smoothly and then let's make this count for real."
Other parents with kids who usually excel say they're now receiving emails their kids could be failing.
Laura Miller has two children. Leia is in the 11th grade and Levi is in the 6th grade.
"My daughter has a 4.4 GPA in high school," said Miller. "So, a 50% on a grading assignment for a platform where they send it to us and I get an email saying your daughter has dropped below a certain grade causes a panic. Holding off until they can fix those technology issues is a start but I don't think it's a solution."
Miller said she is not happy with Edgenuity's curriculum. She's hoping the issues can be fixed quickly. And while she doesn't think it's a permanent fix to Williamson County's problems, Mille signed onto the petition.
As of Monday evening, the petition had reached 650 people.
Williamson County School District has taken notice of the petition and released a statement about the issues with online learning.
"We have been receiving feedback from the teachers and parents experiencing issues with different aspects of WCS Online, including issues with the Edgenuity platform being used for some of the secondary courses and content, and our team is working to support those needs while resolving the issues that have surfaced," said Director Kari Miller in the statement.
