The district will offer two options to families: In-school learning or remote learning.
Those that choose in-school learning will attend school for a full day, every weekday with strategies in place to reduce the risk of spread of the coronavirus, Kuhn said. These strategies include social distancing, masks or face coverings, hand washing and sanitizing, and cleaning and disinfecting.
Those that choose remote learning will learn from home with support from district teachers, and attendance and grades will be impacted by participation, Kuhn said. Students in K-6 will receive instruction on the Google Classroom virtual learning platform and 7-12 will work on the Edmentum virtual learning platform.
The district will try to provide a device for each household based on supply, but some students may be asked to share a device within the same household, Kuhn said. The district will also try to support families without WiFi access.
Kuhn said families should plan for their selected learning model for the entire school year, with the possibility of re-evaluating at the end of the semester.
One parent said she is sending her kindergartner back to school. However, she will wait to decide on her son who will be a freshman.
“My kindergartner will go to school because he needs someone other than me to teach him. He has autism and did not do any of the work they sent home for him last year. To him, home is not where school happens,” said Julie Blasberg. “My eighth-grader did not do well with the online system last year. He needs structure and organization. If the new plan has that, I may let him choose whatever he wants to do,” she said.
If at any time during the school year the district has to operate at reduced capacity, they may utilize hybrid learning, Kuhn said. Half of the students would attend Monday and Tuesday, the other half would attend Thursday and Friday, and Wednesday would be a virtual/remote learning day for all students while the schools implement cleaning protocols.
For families that choose to learn in-school, multiple face covering guidelines will be in place, according to Kuhn.
Wearing face coverings is strongly recommended for students in grades K-2 but it’s not mandatory. Students in grades 3-12 are required to wear face coverings when outside of the learning environment, Kuhn said. Face coverings are also strongly recommended at all other times, and they may be required for students in any grade during certain situations such as working one-on-one with a teacher or small group.
“Families should send a face covering with every child, every day,” Kuhn said.
In addition to those, face coverings are also required for all students when riding a bus, and exceptions will be made on a case-by-case basis, Kuhn said. He also said that policy and procedures for staff face coverings are being developed based on Gov. Mike DeWine’s guidelines.
Blasberg said she does not “personally think the masks will do much.”
“I don’t think my six-year-old will wear one. My ninth grader won’t care either way if he goes back,” she said. “I think they [the district] will need to be more vigilant with sending coughing, feverish kids home from school.”
Other guidelines include screening a child before school each day, routine sanitizing of school property such as restroom surfaces and water fountains, instituting hand washing practices throughout the day, and installing hand sanitization.
Kuhn said other procedures being developed include classroom social distancing, food service, transportation, athletics, extra-curricular activities, field trips and assembles, recess, latchkey and visitors.
Kuhn said he anticipates releasing additional details by July 30.
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