Hybrid plan to reopen schools sparks debate; online Q&A session set for Monday
July 25, 2020 | By Lisa Scagliotti
Students visit Thatcher Brook Primary School in late May to pick up their belongings before the school year ended. Remote learning kept students and teachers out of school buildings from mid-March. Plans for the fall would have students in school one day a week and remote learning the other four. Photo by Gordon Miller.
Families and staff of the Harwood Unified Union School District got their first look at plans for opening schools for the 2020-21 school year in a nine-page memo from the superintendent Thursday afternoon.
It outlines a hybrid schedule of four days at home and one day in school per week as the school year kicks off, starting on Monday, Aug. 31.
The memo from Superintendent Brigid Nease went out to all 367 teachers and staff of the district’s eight schools as well as parents and guardians of the district’s roughly 1,700 students from preK through grade 12.
“We're approaching the most daunting start of school in memory. There are health, logistical, social-emotional, and equity concerns on top of normal hectic summer planning,” Nease wrote. “Developing a ReOpening Plan is a huge challenge for us
because we know from our own data and the news that the guidance changes nearly daily, and people have many differing points of view.”
The memo contains many details and links to state guidance, research articles regarding children and COVID-19 as well as details from recent surveys of parents and staff. It lists pros and cons of the proposed plan and the many concerns overshadowing the process. It also outlines steps involved regarding illness.
The first of four public forums to discuss details on how local schools will reopen for the 2020-21 school year is scheduled for Monday evening online from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The meeting will use both Zoom and YouTube websites and a phone line connection to allow for wide public participation.
Five weeks until opening day
The Aug. 31 start date is a week later than initially scheduled and it will mark the part-time return to classrooms after schools closed in mid-March due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic. Learning shifted to teachers and students working from home through the end of the 2019-20 academic year that ended June 12.
Since then, school administrators have been meeting both with district staff as well as state education officials and counterparts in other school districts in the region to brainstorm plans for fall against the backdrop of the pandemic.
The state Agency of Education has issued some overall guidance but has left it up to each school district to design how to implement the new rules. Many of the guidelines involve daily health checks, increased sanitation, keeping groups small, having students and staff wearing masks at all times, and keeping social distance.
All of these elements aim to keep within public health guidance to prevent the spread of coronavirus which so far has been largely contained in the state. While the number of cases in the nation is nearing 4.2 million with more than 147,000 deaths, Vermont has recorded just 1,385 cases of COVID-19 to date and 56 deaths. Vermont last week became the first state without a coronavirus death in 30 days.
Despite Vermont’s track record, everyone from the governor to state Agency of Education officials to school district leaders, teachers, parents and even many students remain wary of how to resume school in the fall and keep illness at bay.
Nease bluntly points out the risk everyone is aiming to manage: “According to the nation’s science academies, it is likely that staff and students will become infected. Vermont is a standout in managing this virus and our district has been extremely fortunate regarding transmission - but this is the big elephant in the room that none of us want to think about, let alone talk about.”
Yet Nease also acknowledges the desire to return students to classrooms with peers and their teachers. “We have great concerns that since March our students have been largely isolated, without all the positives that school brings, missing their friends, experiencing loss of learning, and know that parents are exhausted and stressed to the max managing child care,” she said.
School districts across the state this past week began announcing their plans with most proposing so-called “hybrid” models that have students attend school part-time and learn at home part-time. Many schools also are preparing for some students to choose to remain home full-time for a variety of reasons and all schools need a full-remote plan should a virus outbreak lead to school closures again.
Education leaders expect to see a variety of approaches emerge. For example, the 16 districts across Addison, Chittenden and Franklin Counties that are in the Champlain Valley Superintendents Association announced their plans for two days of in-person instruction per week for their students and three days at home.
The HUUSD proposal outlined in Nease’s memo puts teachers in the classroom two days a week as classes are split in half order for distancing to be possible with students attending in person once per week. Students in K-6 would be divided alphabetically while other factors will be considered in creating groups for grades 7-12; preschool procedures are not decided yet either.
Nease described the plan as “measured and careful” with a goal of eventually building back to five days in person for all students. “We will watch, listen, and learn from other school districts around the state, and do the same with the transmission of the virus,” she wrote.
Much discussion ahead
The detailed memo in just two days has generated many conversations in the district in person and online. Although Nease had previously announced a hybrid plan was in the works, the design with just one in-person student day per week is getting much discussion.
Feedback began trickling in on Thursday to School Board members who have not been directly involved in the reopening planning so far. The board last met at the end of June and did not intend to meet again until the end of August.
Contacted Friday afternoon, Waterbury School Board member Kelley Hackett said she had received about 10 emails so far from parents and even some high school students, all of whom expressed being “shocked, dismayed, and frustrated” with the proposal.
She said comments were pointing out Vermont’s low rate of coronavirus infection, the need for students to have ample time for social connections, and a desire for the Harwood district to be more in line with other school districts offering more in-school time in their schedules.
On Thursday evening, board chair and Waterbury member Caitlin Hollister called for a special board meeting to be held at 6 p.m. next Wednesday, July 29, “to discuss the HUUSD re-opening plans.” That meeting will be held on Zoom with login information to be posted Monday on the district’s website huusd.org.
“By Wednesday when our board meets, we will have heard from many community members and can have a productive dialogue about where things stand to date,” Hollister said in her message announcing the special meeting. She also encouraged board members to attend Monday’s forum for questions with the public.
Four upcoming public forums on school reopening
School Superintendent Brigid Nease has scheduled four online forums to answer questions about the reopening of our schools this fall. The first one is Monday, July 27.Future meetings will be held the following three Mondays: Aug. 3, 10, and 17. All will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will use the same links listed below. The public may join via Zoom online, by telephone, or YouTube. Zoom is limited, so YouTube will allow for more participants. People are asked to first try the Zoom link and if it is full, use YouTube where the meeting will be streaming live as well. All participants will be able to submit questions during the forum. Those on Zoom may use the chat function on that site. Those on YouTube may send an email to School Board Vice Chair Torrey Smith at tcsmith@huusd.org during the forum. Smith and Board Chair Caitlin Hollister will facilitate the meeting. The session will be recorded and posted on the school district website HUUSD.org for people to view afterward. HOW TO ATTEND
Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87401504765Telephone: Dial 888 788 0099 (Toll Free) or 877 853 5247 (Toll Free). Enter webinar ID: 874 0150 4765YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT269g8MOtbO8dGmOnAWX7g/live