BY SYDNEY HOOVER
Eudora Elementary and Middle School will move into the A/B hybrid learning model starting Wednesday until after Thanksgiving in an effort to mitigate the spread of coronavirus.
The School Board approved Superintendent Steve Splichal’s recommendation to move into the hybrid model Thursday at a regular meeting. Splichal said he felt this was the best option to ensure students can be in the classroom as much as possible through the end of this semester.
“I think that obviously the goal for us is that by working through this process and capitalizing on the timing of things, that we have an opportunity hopefully as a county and as a city to reset where we are,” Splichal said.
The schools will still be full in-person Monday and Tuesday, and the remote day on Wednesday will allow staff the chance to prepare for hybrid learning until Thanksgiving break starts. The HYPE program at West Resource Center will not be available due to staffing issues.
This comes as Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health announced it will prohibit gatherings of more than 15 starting Friday. Based on recent coronavirus numbers, health officials also moved gating criteria into the orange phase, recommending schools move into either remote or hybrid learning.
The county's positivity rate started trending upward recently, with its 14-day moving average increasing to nearly 14%. In Eudora, that’s reached over 16%.
“I think that we have instances within our own community where groups get together and sometimes those gatherings have a very important purpose and a very important role,” Splichal said. “We’ve got to make sure that at a minimum, if we’re sick, we’re staying home … if we’re not wearing a mask, we’ve got to be.”
Eudora High School moved into remote learning until after Thanksgiving break beginning Wednesday, and has reported 12 new active cases in the school this week. Of those, 10 are students, which Splichal said is linked to a non-school related gathering around Halloween.
Eudora Elementary and Eudora Middle School also each have one active case, both students.
Douglas County officials are also aiming to start doing COVID-19 surveillance testing throughout the community until a vaccine is found. Health officials hope to start it by the end of the month, with a priority toward those in K-12 schools throughout the county.
The surveillance test would be a saliva test, similar to the test distributed to University of Kansas students prior to the fall semester, according to George Diepenbrock, a spokesperson for Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health. The testing is funded through the CARES Act.
The School Board will meet again at 6 p.m. Nov. 24 break to discuss a plan of action for after Thanksgiving. Splichal said while A/B hybrid learning will work temporarily, it is not sustainable, and district administrators are working to develop a new hybrid model. It’s unclear what that model will look like.
Board member Samantha Arredondo said she worried returning from Thanksgiving break will only exacerbate current cases, as many families travel out of town to visit relatives.
“I know a lot of people are not advising groups and families to get together, those types of things,” Arredondo said. “The likelihood of that happening, though, and those groups getting together, has there been any thought about going remote the week before or the week after, kind of around that interim time?”
Currently, North Dakota and South Dakota are the only two U.S. states on the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s quarantine list.
Splichal said families must be as diligent outside of school as staff and students are in school to continue limiting the spread of the virus and keep students in school as much as possible.
“I can’t implore enough, I want my kids here,” Splichal said. “I don’t live in your homes and monitor those groups and gatherings ... at that point we’re left to react to those circumstances, to the consequences of that behavior.”
Nicole Asbury contributed to this report.
Reach reporter Sydney Hoover at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
To donate to support our community journalism, please go to this link: tinyurl.com/y4u7stxj
Comments