By Rich Palzewic
Staff Writer

DE PERE – At its Monday, Aug. 17, meeting, the West De Pere school board approved a reopening plan with a 4-1 vote.

Board members Jenni Fuss, Barbara Van Deurzen, Scott Borley and Tom Van De Hei voted in favor of the reopening plan, while Joe Bergner voted against.

The reopening plan calls for in-person learning five days a week for all students 4K-12, with a virtual option available for those who have requested it.

“It was important to get feedback from everyone involved,” said Superintendent Dennis Krueger. “We have people for the plan and people against. We’ve been asked lots of clarifying questions, and we’re updating daily.”

He also said the plan can change in the future based on what is happening with the virus.

Krueger said about 18 percent of the district’s students will be learning remotely.

“That comes out to 665 students,” he said. “Hemlock Creek Elementary has 211, Westwood Elementary has 148, the middle school has 141, the high school has 151 and the Phantom Knight Charter School has 14.”

Krueger said besides the West De Pere school district, Wrightstown and Denmark in Brown County have the same plan.

“There are four Brown County districts where the elementary kids are going full-time, while they have a blended approach for the older kids,” he said. “There is one district (Green Bay) going all virtual. If you look at the Fox Valley region, Freedom, Kimberly, Neenah and Hortonville are all on the same plan as us – five days a week in-person. You will find multiple plans, but more than 50 percent of the districts in the state are having all students go back full-time.”

Krueger said the district is “very lucky” to have its own health department.

“Most districts have to rely on guidance from the county health department, but we have two here – the De Pere Health Department and the county one,” he said. “We’ve been working with our health department, and since early March, the infection rate has been consistent in De Pere. It’s not a perfect science, but focusing on us is the most important thing. The data is showing we’ve not exceeded 5 percent positive COVID-19 cases in regards to testing. We want metrics for decisions, and we’ve been monitoring things daily.”

Krueger said the district will probably have cases, but if that happens it will work with the De Pere Health Department on appropriate reactionary steps.

The district won’t be pre-screening students daily.

“The parents need to be diligent about checking for symptoms daily,” said Krueger. “With fairly recent data, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) doesn’t recommend universal screening for all students. Dr. Fauci also said recently temperature checks are not reliable.”

Other district news

The repaving of the parking lot at the high school is done and fencing will be removed.

Officials said the exterior brick for the high school addition is visible, while the framework inside is taking shape.

At the new intermediate school being built, the pre-cast for the gymnasium has gone up.

Borley gave the board an update on the CARES Act funding the district is receiving due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our district will receive about $200,000,” he said. “The money will be used in a variety of ways – staffing, signage or personal protection equipment.”

Brian Walters, business manager, spoke to the board about changes regarding substitute teaching.

“We decided to raise our substitute teacher pay at the same rate we did for our staff pay,” he said. “We increased it from $160 per day to $163. We have one of the higher rates in the area. We are very competitive. We also changed it so our long-term substitute pay kicks in after 10 consecutive days of subbing. It used to be 20. We’re already struggling to find long-term subs, so we found it prudent to change that language.”