LIVINGSTON PARISH - Livingston Parish School District has been ranked by Forbes Magazine as the second-best place to work in Louisiana.

Now, the district is aiming to be the best at teaching amid the ongoing pandemic with its virtual schooling.

The superintendent says that ranking is positive, though it is not the most important thing.

"What's more important is we take care of those kids every day," Superintendent Alan Murphy said.

The school district has dedicated and trained 13 teachers, in addition to hiring 13 technical facilitators, to operate its new all-virtual program.

"We feel really good about this because we feel like we can get a little more uniformity across our parish and make sure we take care of our 100% virtual children," Superintendent Murphy said.

The school district is using the "Edmentum" online teaching program used by other schools across the nation.

Rather than teachers juggling both in-class and online courses, the Edmentum program utilizes one teacher for all subjects and live, one-on-one instruction is available if needed.

This online schooling is dedicated to the 350 K-8th grade students in the district who have valid medical reasons for not being in the classroom.

Superintendent Alan Murphy says the program will become a permanent part of the school district's options for learning at a distance.

"We really feel like virtual learning will never go away again, to be honest with you, because that's a good option for some parents and some children," Murphy said.

The program is all set for students returning to class virtually on Tuesday following their holiday break.