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NATCHEZ — The first day of school for Natchez-Adams School District students may be Sept. 9, but the real learning for parents begins Monday.

The school district will be livestreaming a series of learning sessions next week to familiarize parents and students with how virtual learning will be conducted for the 2020-2021 school years.

Called the Virtual Parent Academy Power Hour the district has planned four one-hour sessions — one a night for four nights beginning Monday. Each session will be focused on a particular part of the virtual learning process.

Virtual learning tools will be used by all students in the district, whether they are attending virtual school or using the hybrid option offered by the school district. Using the hybrid options, students will attend school in person on two days of the week. The other two days of the week students will be attending school virtually.

Sessions will begin at 6 p.m. and will be posted on the Natchez-Adams School District website and at www.natchezbulldogslive.org. The broadcast will be recorded and accessed on the district’s website for parents who are unable to watch the sessions each night.

Virtual Learning Coordinator Shemekia Rankin detailed the learning sessions during Tuesday’s meeting of the Natchez-Adams School Board.

“The sessions will address questions parents have about virtual learning in the district,” Rankins said.

Monday evening’s session will cover the basics of virtual learning and will tell parents and students what they can expect this year. Presented by Rankin, the session will discuss attendance, student schedules and grading, among other topics.

Tuesday evening’s session, Rankin said, will discuss how to use the various communication tool available to parents and students. The presentation by Orisha Mims and DeAndra Steele will include a brief orientation about video communications with Zoom and Google Meet.

The third session on Wednesday evening will introduce to parents the CANVAS Learning Management System that the school will use for virtual learning. The session will tell parents how they can access CANVAS, login to the system and other things they need to know for the first day of school.

The final session of the week on Thursday will focus on keeping parents and students connected during the school year. Among the topics discussed will be social and emotional support for students and parents.

Questions that parents want answered about virtual learning can be emailed to nasdcares@natchezschools.org.