By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
ASHWAUBENON – School board meetings are usually sparsely attended, but several people were physically present and online Wednesday, Aug. 12, when the board unanimously approved a plan to reopen schools for 2020-21.
The plan to reopen includes options to allow students to return this fall after district schools have been closed to in-person instruction since the middle of March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The district’s plan to reopen presently calls from having all 4K-5 students return Sept. 1 for in-person instruction, five days a week, with safety precautions and physical distancing put in place.
Students in grades 6-12 will be divided in two groups to alternate every other day school is in session between in-school and at-home instruction.
Superintendent Kurt Weyers said idealy all students would be in school five days a week, but space limitations don’t allow being able to have all 6-12 students in attendance at one time because of social distancing.
Because teacher preparation time will be affected by having students go directly to their classrooms upon arriving on school grounds in the morning to reduce contact between students in different classes, Weyers said the plan includes a later start Wednesdays, beginning Sept. 9, when classes will start an hour and a half later to accommodate additional planning, professional development and collaboration for teachers.
The plan to reopen also allows students and families uncomfortable about coming back to school to choose a virtual learning option.
“We wanted to provide a plan that gave everyone options, and we think that this plan has provided options for parents, either in person or virtual at 4K-5, and either blended or virtual in grades 6-12,” Weyers said.
Though it will be possible to switch instructional options during the school year, he said when classes begin elementary students are being asked to commit to an option for at least a quarter with students in grades 6-12 asked to commit to an option for a semester.
Based on the feedback the district received when 60 percent of parents responded by the end of July with their instruction preferences, Weyers said 85 percent of those favored having their children return in person with 15 percent preferring the virtual option.
He said the district wants to hear from all the parents to plan for this school year as to the number of students who will be attending school in person and virtually, as well as to update contact information.
As the school year progresses, Weyers said online/virtual learning could go into effect districtwide due to the number of positive COVID-19 cases in the community or individual schools, or the guidelines for safety and social distancing could be adjusted with a change in the plan to have all students in class five days a week.
“There are no right answers, right? Just the best of the worst, right?” he said. “I think we all agree that we would certainly love to have this pandemic over and we could be (teaching) in person and doing the great work that we were meant to do.”
Face mask required
The plan to reopen calls for all students, staff and visitors to wear face masks.
However, Weyers said the district will allow exceptions, such as for students with a medical condition, and breaks from wearing masks will be planned with students going outside so they won’t have to wear them continuously during the school day.
In addition, the plan states “it will be necessary to be patient as we begin this new requirement and especially at the elementary level.”
Weyers said masks will also be required for riding buses, which will have assigned seats for students and be no more than half capacity for social distancing.
He said the district will have disposable face masks available on buses and upon entering a building for students not having their own masks.
Other safety measures planned include physical barriers such as Plexiglas dividers, bottle filling stations only for drinking water and hand sanitizing stations.
The plan also calls for having “isolation and wellness rooms at each building to separate children with symptoms to be monitored by a school nurse or assistant until the parent or guardian arrives.”
Weyers said after-school programs are being canceled for grades 4K-5, for which interaction outside of the classroom environment is being limited, and there will be no field trips until further notice.
He said the plan also calls for restricting visitors to student supports services and holding remote meetings with parents.
Concerns about plan
Public comments ranged from problems students face learning remotely to doubts about whether it would be safe for them to return to school.
Concerns raised by those in attendance included being able to circulate air in the buildings to prevent stagnation, putting precautions in place to prevent teachers from getting the virus, helping working parents affected by the later starts on Wednesdays to get their children to school, determining how to respond to someone testing positive for COVID-19 and internet connectivity with remote devices.
Weyers said the district will receive guidance from Brown County Public Health to deal with a positive test of COVID-19 in a classroom.
“It may shut down that classroom, it may not shut down that classroom,” he said.
Weyers said the district will look into what it could do to help parents who might have trouble getting their children to school with the later starting time on Wednesdays.
Business Director Keith Lucius said the district will be increasing the number of times air inside the buildings turns over for additional ventilation.
“From an energy conservation standpoint, you don’t do a lot of those air turns, normally,” he said. “In this situation, we’re more than doubling the number of times the air turns over, and in a lot of cases, tripling. We also have increased the filtration that we have on all our HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning).”
After hearing the pros and cons with having students return for in-person instruction, the board agreed the district’s plan provides options while dealing with the pandemic.
Board member Paul Trondson said the reopening plan was the best one the district could put together under the current circumstances.
“It’s never perfect – we will make adjustments as we go – but it’s the best plan that’s out there,” he said. “I think everyone agrees that keeping kids and staff safe is paramount.”
Board Vice President Brian Van De Kreeke said the district is receiving advice from local medical experts related to how to proceed with reopening the schools, which will have clean environments for students.
“I’m a retired facility management director, and I would tell you that our buildings, and the type of cleaning that we’re going to be doing in our buildings when students are back, is probably going to be a cleaner building than just about any building you walk into, unless it’s a health care or hospital-type setting,” he said. “So, just to alleviate some of the concerns about air quality, there isn’t stagnant air. We have air changing going on in all of our buildings, and we have intense cleaning going on in all of our buildings.”
Board President Jay Van Laanen said the reopening plan is subject to change.
“This is the plan today (at) 8:16 p.m.,” he said. “We don’t know what it’s going to be tomorrow at 8:16 p.m. It could be different. It could be better. It could be worse.”