When the 2020-2021 school year for the Northwest R-1 School District starts Aug. 26, school officials expect to offer two options for students in sixth through 12th grade – either strictly at-home, online instruction, or a hybrid model that offers in-person, classroom learning two days a week and at-home, online instruction the other three days, Superintendent Desi Kirchhofer said.
Students in kindergarten through fifth grade also have two options – entirely at-home, online instruction, or in-person, classroom learning five days a week, Kirchhofer said.
He said the Board of Education was expected to vote at a special meeting on Monday night, after Leader deadline, to approve the plan.
Kirchhofer said Aug. 14 he expected the board would vote in favor of the plan, which is designed to reduce the number of students in buildings in an effort to protect against the spread of COVID-19.
“They understand the need to reduce our numbers (of students in the buildings),” he said.
The board also has a regular board meeting scheduled at 7 p.m. Thursday night at the Administration Center.
Kirchhofer said about 400 of the approximately 3,250 secondary students are signed up for the virtual-only instruction.
Students who are signed up for the hybrid model would be placed in group A or group B. Group A students would attend in-person classes on Mondays and Thursdays and group B students would attend on Tuesdays and Fridays. All students would have online instruction on Wednesdays, as well as the days they are not in the classroom.
“In addition to helping reduce contact in the classroom, this model will reduce numbers of students in hallways during passing times, in community locations such as cafeterias, and reduce the number of students on school buses,” Kirchhofer said in an Aug. 12 written statement. “The more contact is reduced, the more we can help control the spread of the virus.”
Kirchhofer said the district is working to divide the secondary students into the two groups.
“That’s actually quite a challenge to keep the same families together and split the schedule,” he said.
Kirchhofer said the secondary students need to be divided into two groups to keep the number of students down in the schools, particularly at Northwest High School.
If everyone except the students who are signed up for 100 percent online instruction showed up to the high school, he said, that would be around 1,500 people with students and staff.
“I think people generally understand that it would be hard to adhere to the distancing protocols with that many people,” he said.
He said about 700 of the 2,650 kindergarten through sixth-grade students are signed up for strictly online instruction.
“In terms of numbers, this essentially makes the virtual option a new school,” Kirchhofer said in the written statement. “In order to continue a five days a week, in-person learning option at the elementary level, we need to invest in more staff to reduce the number of students in classrooms and to cover our virtual learning community.”
He said on Monday that the district needed to hire another eight to 10 teachers to make the plan work, and he believed the district would be able to get them in place before the start of school. However, if enough teachers couldn’t be hired by then, the start day for the elementary students who will receive 100 percent online instruction might have to be pushed back.
Kirchhofer said parents have been “pretty supportive” of the plan.
“The concerns that I’m hearing mostly are about when are we going to know this is for sure the plan,” he said.
Kirchhofer said the district plan is designed to avoid having to shut down school buildings again.
“We are fighting hard to not have to go (strictly) online,” he said.
Part of the district’s back-to-school plan involves students and staff wearing masks whenever social distancing is not possible.
Chief operating officer Geoffrey Macy said masks and face shields have been purchased for students and staff.
Kirchhofer said the district will enforce the wearing of masks just like it enforces its dress code.
“We understand there may be medical considerations or other circumstances that may exempt some from this requirement,” Kirchhofer said in an August 4 written statement. “We also recognize this could be more challenging for our elementary students (especially 9 years and under), and we will work to accommodate younger students and individuals on a case-by-case basis. I understand that not everyone agrees with the concept of face coverings, but we need to do everything we can to have our students safely return to our schools.”
Macy said the district also has purchased gloves, buckets with wipes, study carrels, hand sanitizer and other items to help keep the schools clean.
He said bathrooms in the schools will be cleaned three times a day.
Macy also said every school will have two water bottle fillers to reduce the need for students to touch and drink from a water fountain.
In addition, hand sanitizer pumps have been installed near entrances and exits.