MEDINA, Ohio ---Amid the uncertainty of the nation’s post-COVID-19 world, there has been one thing all school administrators, teachers, parents and students are fairly certain of: school would look much different in the fall of 2020.
Just how different became somewhat clearer this week, as area districts unveiled reopening plans following Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s recommendations July 2.
Brunswick City Schools
“As we continue to develop plans for learning in the fall, student and staff safety remains at the center of every decision,” said Brunswick City Schools Community Relations Coordinator Dawn Allar. “The recommendations Governor DeWine outlined provide guidance and allow us to refine a plan that specifically considers our buildings, transportation, and our learning environments.”
The district was still “finalizing our return to learning plan for the fall,” Allar said, which will incorporate further guidance and best practices provided by the Ohio Department of Health.
DeWine issued five guidelines for districts July 2, including “vigilantly assessing symptoms, including temperature checks; washing and sanitizing hands; cleaning and sanitizing shared surfaces at schools; practicing social distancing; and, the most controversial of the recommendations, face coverings – required for all staff and recommended for students in the third grade and up.
Meanwhile, groups like the Ohio Federation of Teachers have raised concerns about potential additional costs associated with the recommendations, in the face of state budget cuts due to the coronavirus.
In Brunswick, Allar said the district created a task force of teachers, parents, and administrators to analyze three “return to school scenarios” - in-person, hybrid, and online learning only – and how each relates to elementary, middle, and high school.
“The leadership team is currently reviewing the focus groups’ findings and developing a district-wide plan for the fall. We will share these details as soon as the plan has been reviewed by the Medina County Board of Health and the Brunswick City Schools Board of Education,” Allar said.
She added that while the Governor’s guidelines have not greatly changed the district’s plans, they have “provided some additional framework and suggestions for finalizing our plans.”
“The plan we are creating allows us the flexibility to adapt while minimizing the educational disruption to our students and protecting both students and staff’s safety,” she said.
The Brunswick City School district also created a parent survey to solicit insight on learning and the effectiveness of communication during the extended school closure. Allar said that the survey generated more than 1,400 responses with the majority of respondents giving the district positive marks in its remote learning efforts.
Among the survey results, 87 of parents believed that the district handled the emergency remote learning plan for the 4th quarter as effective or highly effective; 69 percent of parents reported that the workload assigned to K-12 students was “just perfect”; 78 percent of parents felt the office hours teachers provided to students effective or very effective; and 80 percent of parents also believed that their students did not struggle with remote learning.
Parents listed student preparedness for next year, social isolation and mental health as the primary concerns during distance learning.
“The responses concerning future planning were more discordant,” Allar said. “While 64 percent of parents indicated they would be willing to send their students to school at the beginning of the school year if there were no vaccine for COVID-19, only 45 percent would be willing if students had to wear a mask all day.”
Moreover, the survey showed 24 percent of parents support continuing remote learning in the fall, 41 percent support a combination of remote and in-person learning, and 49 percent support traditional in-person learning, Allar said.
Highland Local Schools
Highland Local Schools Superintendent Catherine Aukerman said the district has been “carefully studying and reviewing a variety of other scientific, medical and public health research and information to help inform our (school reopening) decision-making,” in light of, and apart from, the Governor’s guidelines.
“Based on the information currently available to us, including the latest COVID data as reported by the Medina County Health Department, we have made the decision that the Highland Local School District will reopen for students, in-person, five days a week - with specific health and safety provisions in place,” Aukerman said in a July 10 letter to parents. “Our collective goal must be to not only simply return students to school, but to do so in a way that is as safe as possible for all students and staff.”
Aukerman said details of the district preliminary reopening plan will be released within the week, “outlining as many specifics as possible.”
“There will also be an opportunity for both parent and staff feedback before the plan is finalized,” Aukerman wrote, noting that “any plans for the reopening of school must include contingency plans for an all-remote learning option for all students, should the Governor issue another stay-at-home order or if local risk levels.”
Aukerman said Highland Local Schools will also offer a remote learning option for families that choose not to send their students back to school.
“As we are all aware, the decision on how, exactly, to safely return to school this fall is an incredibly difficult one and one that is filled with strong opinions, emotions and frankly, conflicting scientific and medical recommendations,” Aukerman wrote. “We are striving to make the best possible decisions we can, in this constantly-evolving situation.”
Medina City Schools
Medina City Schools has provided the most detailed draft plan, with the Ohio’s county risk level guidelines an overall indicator of how much in-person instruction will take place.
If Medina County remains at a Level One or Level Two risk for COVID-19 spread “all students will fully return to school with COVID-19 safety protocols in place as the Health Department has permitted a 3-foot distance between students with masks,” the Medina plan reads.
At Level Three, “students will move to Online Learning 2.0 or a hybrid model should the health department require a 6-foot distance between students and staff, but still allow students and staff to attend school.”
A Level Four designation will require students to “move to full Online Learning 2.0, which will be different from the Medina Digital Academy Online Learning Option as the Health Department has required stay at home/necessary travel only.”
In person instruction will include a number of changes, including daily symptom assessment; social distancing; mandatory mask usage for all staff; student mask usage in kindergarten through fifth-grade students on buses, entering and exiting buildings, in hallways, or gathering in small groups.
Sixth-grade through 12th-graders will be required to wear masks at all times except lunch and “built-in breaks.”
The plan notes that students who refuse to comply with mask requirements will be moved to online learning options.
“This plan is currently in draft format to allow for changes based on the current COVID-19 risk level guidelines,” Medina City Schools Superintendent Aaron Sable, following a July 13 Medina Board of Education work session. “A final plan will be presented to the Board of Education in early August. The safety and well-being of our staff and students is a priority during these unprecedented times and will guide the decisions that are made.
“The plan’s implementation is specifically for the current pandemic. We are looking forward to a ‘normal’ return to society and fully re-engaging our students in school.”
Putting a time table on Sable’s final comment, however, remains perhaps the most difficult plan of all.
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