Shawano Decides How School Will Open - tchdailynews.com

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SHAWANO, WI- The Shawano School Board has approved how they intend to open on September 1st, giving families direction of how to proceed with less than two weeks before the start of school.

The approved plan is for a newly created “Orange Model” that will replace two of the situations that would call for an all virtual model.

With the new model:

-Pre-K through 5-grade students would be in school five days a week with social distancing and mask-wearing requirements in place.

-Middle School students would be face-to-face two days a week and virtual three days a week.

-High school students would be face-to-face one day a week and virtual for the rest of the week.

-The model is effective through September and will be looked at on a weekly basis.

Superintendent Randi Anderson said there was one important component to the new model.

“How can we keep our kids six-feet apart?”

She says that is what she asked each of her principals to figure out and report on.

HILLCREST PRIMARY/ LEADS CHARTER SCHOOL

Principal Troy Edwards said administration added some tables into the classrooms to allow for more distancing in all classrooms.

“We are going to make sure we keep our students a minimum of six-feet apart.”

Edwards said they will have students eat in two different locations to allow for that distance and also attempted to reduce contact in other common areas.

“We are going to be utilizing both of our playgrounds for recess.”

He says class size will need to be reduced from their typical size.

“We are going to be keeping to around 12 kids per classroom.”

OLGA BRENER

Principal Terri Schultz said the first thing they needed to adjust was overall class sizes.

“We are decreasing the number of students in a classroom and reassigning staff in the intervention area to classroom teachers, taking students from their original classroom and creating another classroom to allow students to maintain a six-foot distance between them and other students.”

Schultz says she is redoing the schedules and will have instructional platforms built to be online at the start of the year and no matter what model school is in, they will be using the same instructional methods.”

“This will help students transition when needed.”

The cafeteria will also be used for class time and recess time will be increased.

“We want the students to have time outside and that includes class outside when the weather is nice,” Schultz said. “I don’t want to see the school become a place where there is only rules and no enjoyment.”

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Principal Stuart Russ said they did not have to adjust too much from the approved plan because their blended model already took care of a lot of the social distancing, including the overall class changing concept.

“Our staff will be moving class-to-class as opposed to our students doing the moving.”

He said they did make a change to lunches.

“The biggest change is adding some tables for lunch to keep students at six-feet, which in blended, we would have not quite been at 6 feet apart.”

HIGH SCHOOL

The biggest change may be at the high school level with students only being in the building one day a week. Principal Scott Zwirschitz says there was no way to cohort in high school.

“I can’t guarantee that students will be able to keep students physically distanced at all times.”

He told the board that the only way to ensure distance was to go one day a week for each student. He says there will be four face-to-face days each week.

“That would be 25 percent of the population each day and that would allow for that distance needed.”

The high school may see the most significant change when it comes to individual class size.

“It is generally 23 to 24 kids in a class, but now were are looking at between 6 and 7.”

Zwirschitz says the number of students each day also addresses their lunch schedule issues.

“If we would have half of our students here, that creates issues due to the number of tables that we would have to have out, and that would take a long time to clean those tables in between each lunch period.”

He said 100 kids signed up for E-learning in the high school.

Families will find out on Tuesday what day their students will attend school each week.

After the principals, all spoke, board member Bruce Milivitz said he had some concerns with students only being in one day a week.

“We were very satisfied with our blended model and I feel we should go back to that blended model for our high school and middle school. I am so concerned that if we go one day a week, there will be a lot of kids left behind.”

Once again, concerns of the county fair were brought up, this time by board member Chuck Dallas.

“We are going to come back to school for a few days and then have a county fair. We are going to have students going to the fair and so what is that exposure during that time period, that is what worries me.”

One comment that was made was to wait longer to start school, but board member Michael Sleeper said he fully supports the “Orange Model”

“We had more red options, so this allows to remain blended and if we don’t have that, we are virtual on day one, Sleeper said. “We need to accept this plan or we are not face-to-face and we do not want that. “When we start to double every two weeks, that is really dangerous, then we put the county fair on top of that and not distance our kids, we have the stick of dynamite and the match.”

Sleeper said the plan to keep the model in place through September gives time for the impact of the county fair to take its course.

“I look at is as a marginal swimmer jumping into the deep water and now I find out I can’t swim well enough, but if I go to the shallow end, now there is a better chance of success. If it is overly cautious, we will win.”

Board member Mart Grams said he still thinks that too many kids are home too much, even with the new plan and is unsure that it is necessary.

“Dozens of working parents who cannot be home with children and until we have real numbers, we have no clue what is going on.”

A motion by Sleeper and a second to the motion by Dallas set up the issue for vote. Grams, frustrated that his concerns were not being addressed called for an amendment, calling the plan “wrong”.

“We need to vote on this one,” Schmidt said.

The vote was 6-3 with Milivitz, Grams and Gull voting no.

With the vote, the “Orange Model” goes into effect for day one. Anderson said after the meeting that parents are now able to plan what their kid’s start of school should look like.

“Unless we had to go 100 percent virtual, we will open in this model,” she said. “We will be having all hands on deck to bring those class sizes down.”

Based on the registrations that were collected,  30 percent of the population that rode the bus last year, are planning on doing it in the fall and the district has about 400 students who signed up for E-Learning.

“It’s a new world that we are in.”

LISTEN TO COMMENTS FROM THE SCHOOL BOARD MEETING MONDAY- (We have broken the meeting up into segments to make it easier to hear what you want from the meeting.)

Chuck Dallas on the outcome of the Re-Entry Committee Meeting

School Board discussion on the issue of data

Superintendent Randi Anderson Describes The Orange Plan

Hillcrest Principal Troy Edwards describes the Orange Plan for Pre-K- 2nd Grade Students

Olga-Brener Principal Terri Schultz describes the Orange Plan for 3-5th Grade Students

Middle School Principal Stuart Russ describes the Orange Plan for Middle School Students

High School Principal Scott Zwirschitz describes the Orange Plan for High School Grade Students

Board Member Bruce Milivitz Addresses Concerns With Orange Plan

The Shawano County Fair is discussed

Board Member Michael Sleeper’s thoughts on the Orange Plan

A second discussion on the lack of data

Milivitz says High School kids need more than one day

Board Member Mart Grams disagrees with the plan and the board takes a vote

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