Trustees take on schooling during COVID, internal tiff
By Eric Valentine
Learning in the Blaine County School District during the 2020-21 school year—at least the start of it—will be a mix of in-person instruction and online learning, school board trustees have unanimously decided.
Influenced by the recommendations of a group of principals and other stakeholders whom trustees charged with developing a school reopening plan, the school board—after hours of discussion and debate—opted to forgo 100 percent in-person instruction and 100 percent online learning for a hybrid approach. The so-called Plan B (or scenario B) requires students to attend school both in-person and virtually, using a staggered schedule where last names A-L go to classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, M-Z on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and learning online the other three days. Fridays would be a universal online learning day, where both students and teachers can play catch-up on assignments and other school tasks.
It’s a way of “easing back into our culture of school,” Wood River Middle School Principal Fritz Peters told trustees at their Aug. 6 session. “I’ve been sold on the idea that we ease into it and gradually work into it, instead of open up big and retract.”
School board trustees also saw it as a compromise approach that would allow for as much normalcy as possible without putting kids and teachers and the community at unnecessary risk for COVID transmission.
“What Plan B does best is promote space,” trustee Lara Stone said during board discussion, noting that health officials have made it clear to the district that wearing masks and keeping social distance are the primary ways to prevent coronavirus spread.
Trustee Amber Larna pushed back the most on the district’s eagerness with opening up on Sept. 8 with the hybrid scenario. Larna pushed for the Plan A approach with an online option available for parents who felt unsafe sending kids to normally packed schools. Larna stressed her concerns for students at home during their off day who have no parental supervision.
“We need to be realistic about what this would really look like, and how it wouldn’t work for a large part of the community,” Larna said.
Although Larna voted against the format of Plan B in one board action, she ultimately voted yes on reopening school under Plan B. The district’s goal is to move toward Plan A as soon as it is considered safe to do so by the public health officials.
Some Specifics
● Safety—Plan B as well as Plan A call for strict mask-wearing, handwashing, and physical distancing protocols.
● Support—Plan B utilizes point persons at each school to help students manage everything from tech issues to assignment troubles during their online days.
● Scheduling—Since school will be in operation contiguous days, things like bus schedules and cafeteria planning are less affected.
None of this is to say anyone in the district believes Plan B is a foolproof solution that won’t come with any hiccups. And the district is well aware that the implementation of school reopening during COVID is happening simultaneously with teachers being expected to learn the new grading system adopted statewide and how to teach most effectively in a virtual environment.
“Let’s just say it’s going to be like drinking out of a firehose. It is going to be a real challenge,” Peters said.
In other school district news, the board has less than 90 days to replace trustee Kelly Green who resigned from her position last week citing a “bullying” environment from board president Keith Roark. Roark has taken a significantly more strong handed approach to running school board sessions compared to recent years. Most notably, Roark does not allow input from Superintendent GwenCarol Holmes during board discussion on action items, unless of course a trustee calls on her for specific information.
The four trustees currently sitting on the school board are now entirely new from 2018 and 2019 during the height of districtwide controversy over its superintendent and what some stakeholders felt was her excessive control of the board.
BCSD administration is planning for three scenarios this school year:
Scenario A: All students attend school with safety precautions in place (e.g., face coverings, hand washing, physical distancing)
Scenario B: Students attend school both in-person and virtually, using a staggered schedule: Last names A-L on Monday and Wednesday, M-Z on Tuesday and Thursdays.* Learning online the other three days.
Scenario C: Students engage in 100% virtual learning.
*Families with children with different last names, will attend school on the days that correspond to the last name of the oldest child enrolled in BCSD so that all siblings are attending on the same days.