BY SYDNEY HOOVER
Eudora Schools Superintendent Steve Splichal presented an outline Monday evening.of the district’s plan to reopen schools.
The plan included three different levels of learning — in-person, hybrid and online — as well as other safety measures, including requiring masks and temperature checks.
“I am grateful for the tremendous amount of grace that our families and our community have offered to us,” Splichal said during the meeting. “But we have to understand that this situation is going to be fluid. Plans or recommendations could change, and they could do so without much notice.”
Splichal said it is likely the district transitions between the three options, or phases, throughout the fall semester as the pandemic persists. It’s currently unclear whether school will start entirely in-person at the beginning of the year, Splichal told the Eudora Times Tuesday morning. That will be a decision from state and local health departments.
In the green phase, schools would reopen to all students with various safety measures, and extracurriculars could resume depending on the Kansas State High School Activities Association’s recommendations.
Currently, the hybrid plan, or yellow phase, Splichal introduced would include in-person schooling for all students every day except Wednesday, when all students would be online in order to deep clean the school and plan for a potential return to entirely online education.
However, some board members raised concerns about this plan. Board member Mike Kelso suggested his perception of a hybrid plan would look more like alternating days where cohorts of students attend or having morning and afternoon schooling, with other time spent online.
“How is that any safer than back as normal? The way I see it is it’s a normal four days a week but we’re off one,” Kelso said. “How is that any safer?”
Splichal said the plan is changing, as situations within the pandemic continue to be fluid. He said as a whole, the plan is still being developed and more safety measures will likely be put in place as students and staff return to in-person classes.
Additionally, remote learning, or the red phase, will look very different from the continuous learning model in the spring. Though this is also still being developed, it does include allowing teachers in their building so they can use the school’s internet and resources in their classroom while their students watch remotely via Zoom. This phase involves more student time spent on Zoom or other forms of remote learning to meet the Kansas statute of hours required in class. Students would be required to log their attendance at home.
Director of School Improvement and Communication Mark Dodge also provided data from surveys sent to families and staff regarding reopening this fall. The data showed while parents and teachers overall had similar responses, there was not one option more popular than the other for returning to the classroom.
“We did have a great community response and so far a great response from our staff,” Dodge said. “It’s an opportunity to get to hear from the community, it’s an opportunity to hear from the staff on what their feelings are so we can use that information to build a plan that while maybe imperfect it’s going to be one that will be informed.”
Families who choose to keep students home and do remote learning this fall will likely follow the same curriculum as their peers attending in-person class and will be expected to complete similar classwork. Families who choose to be remote will not be permitted to participate in extracurricular activities.
The district plans to follow Kansas Department of Health and Environment and CDC guidelines if a student or someone in close contact with them were to test positive. Those who are experiencing symptoms, have tested positive for the coronavirus, or have been in close contact with someone who has will be expected to quarantine for 14 days and move to entirely online learning.
Teachers will be provided with substitutes if they needed to quarantine and necessary cleaning procedures would be conducted.
Further information about changes to the plan as well as to the district calendar will be communicated to families as decisions are made. The district is considering making changes to the current calendar to start school on Aug. 20 rather than Aug. 13. Many other districts in the area have pushed the start of school to after Labor Day.
“We can’t reasonably plan for every possibility,” Splichal said. “To the greatest extent possible, we are trying to be proactive where humanly possible and responsive to the situations as they arise.”
The School Board will have a second special meeting on Thursday. Anyone interested in providing input to the board should submit the form by 5 p.m. Wednesday and will be provided a Zoom link to speak during the meeting for a maximum of three minutes.
Reach reporter Sydney Hoover at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
We rely on donations to be able to cover the city of Eudora. Please email us at eudoratimes@gmail.com if you are willing to show your support to continue our journalism.
Kommentare