Despite lots of challenges along the way, Jefferson County educators completed the last school year with a feeling of optimism for the next one.
The 2020-2021 school year closed with the number of COVID-19 cases steadily declining and the number of students attending classes in person rising, contributing to the belief that when school resumes in August, there will be a return to traditional schedules and practices.
“This year was about the little victories,” Grandview R-2 Superintendent Matt Zoph said. “We made it the first week; then we made it a quarter; then we got to quit eating in the classroom and began eating in the cafeteria; then there was a vaccine; then we had prom, then graduation; then we completed the school year. It was milestones like these that we celebrated. It reminded people what was important.”
County school officials said they were proud of how students, staff and parents handled ever-changing schedules for learning that mixed traditional, in-classroom learning with online instruction. Officials also commended the school community for adapting to the evolving regulations put in place to stem the spread of a virus that wiped out the last quarter of the 2019-2020 school year.
In light of those difficult circumstances, school officials said they believe students received the best education possible during an unprecedented event.
“This year, as everyone knows, was challenging, but what it showed me over and over again was what one can accomplish when everyone works together to accomplish a goal,” said Fox C-6 Superintendent Nisha Patel, who will leave at the end of this month to become the superintendent at the School District of Clayton.
She will be replaced by Paul Fregeau, the superintendent at the Decatur (Ill.) Public Schools for the 2021-2022 school year.
“We had moments when we were taking it one day at a time and then moments where we could see the light at the end of the tunnel, but then another curveball came our way. Overall, it was a year where we all worked feverishly no matter what role we had, but the focus always remained on what was best for students.”
School officials from every public district in the county, except the Sunrise R-9 district, as well as the principal at St. Pius X High School discussed this school year and what they hope to see during the 2021-2022 school year.
Crystal City
Students from the Crystal City School District had the option to learn in classrooms for 140 days this past school year. Crystal City, which has a four-day-a-week schedule, had just eight days when only remote learning was offered, Superintendent Matt Holdinghausen said.
He said Crystal City began the year with 509 students enrolled, and about 20 percent of those students received instruction at home online. At the end of the school year, the district had 520 students, and about 10 percent of those students were learning solely from home.
“I feel we succeeded,” Holdinghausen said. “We went to school using our full-time calendar and made it work successfully. I am proud of what we accomplished this year. I think the students and staff did a great job of adjusting to the rules and being content as we went through the year.”
Holdinghausen said he does not believe many students fell behind last school year since most attended class in person, but the district will monitor students’ progress to make sure they are not behind.
“We feel while there has been a small amount of learning loss, it has not been significant,” he said.
Holdinghausen said the district plans to continue with its four-day-a-week schedule for the 2021-2022 school year, and the district has not finalized plans of what measures will be taken to limit the spread of COVID-19 when school resumes Aug. 24.
“We will see how cases are in our area before we discuss mitigation strategies,” he said.
De Soto
The De Soto School District had in-person classes five days a week last school year, and the district’s 2,673 students had the opportunity to attend class in person for all but six days. Remote learning only was offered those six days, Superintendent Josh Isaacson said.
When the past school year began,
De Soto had 578 students opt to attend school through the distance-learning program and that number dropped to 283 by the end of the school year, he said.
“Students, parents, staff, community members and the Board of Education really worked as a team to make decisions in the best interest of all of our students and overcome matters relating to the pandemic,” Isaacson said.
He said the district sent surveys to students, parents and staff members looking for suggestions on how to address learning gaps that developed because of the pandemic, and the leadership cabinet will team up with a community task force to address the situation.
“As a district, we work to address individual learning gaps every school year through accelerated learning in the classroom, before- and after-school programming, as well as summer school, just to name a few,” Isaacson said.
He said the Board of Education is expected to decide on a re-entry plan for the 2021-2022 school year at the July 15 meeting. The school year is scheduled to begin Aug. 25.
Dunklin
The Dunklin R-5 School District’s kindergarten through eighth-grade students attended class in person, if they chose to, five days a week, and high school students attended classes in person every day except for 14 scheduled virtual-learning Mondays during the second semester, Superintendent Clint Freeman said.
Dunklin had 1,789 students this past school year, and at the start of the year, about 30 percent of them opted to learn through the virtual-learning program. The number of students learning remotely dropped to about 10 percent at the end of the year, Freeman said.
“It was a year of constant change and constant planning and revisiting with multiple groups within our organization and also within the county – other school districts, the Health Department – and just making sure we were doing the best job for kids,” Freeman said. “That’s how we got through the year; it was just constant collaboration.”
Assistant Superintendent Joe Willis said students who were struggling while not attending class in person were asked to return to classrooms, and the district saw those students’ performances improve. He said Dunklin will continue to monitor students’ progress to make sure no one falls behind.
“We will assess kids to find out where they are at and then adjust our instruction to hit those main points they need to get to the next level,” Willis said.
Freeman said the district will offer a distance-learning model for students next school year, and as of June 1, only 19 students planned to learn strictly from home for the 2021-2022 school year. He also said masks will only be required on school buses, but the district will highly recommend students and staff wear masks in buildings, although it will not be mandatory when school begins Aug. 25.
Festus
The Festus R-6 School District’s student body grew from 3,135 at the start of the last school year to 3,150 at the end, and as the year progressed, students who chose to learn virtually dropped, said Kevin Pope, the district’s coordinator of communications and special projects.
Pope said 674 students opted to learn online when the year began, and that number rose to 689 at one point during the year. However, only 250 students were learning entirely online at home at the end of the year.
Festus held in-person classes for 168 days, and it had strictly online instruction for two days because of the number of absences due to COVID-19 cases or quarantines and another two online-only days because of snow, Pope said.
“Through the hard work and dedication of everyone, including teachers, staff, parents and students, the Festus R-6 School District was able to successfully complete the school year,” said Nicki Ruess, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning.”
Ruess said district officials spoke with families before the end of the school year to determine if their children were at risk of failing or falling behind and would benefit from attending summer school. She said the district will continue to assess students’ progress when they return to class for the 2021-2022 school year on Aug. 23.
“The district will use the results from the state-mandated MAP test, pre-testing and formative assessments of students when they return to school, to first, understand how big or small that learning gap truly is,” Ruess said. “Then, through the professional learning communities, teachers at every grade level and subject area will assess what changes need to be made in the curriculum to address those areas that need added attention.”
Ruess said the district will not offer a distance-learning option for students for the 2021-2022 school year.
She also said masks are optional during summer school, and that will likely continue during the upcoming school year.
Fox
Fox C-6 students transitioned from a hybrid learning schedule that at the start of the past school year offered in-person classes two days a week and remote learning the other days, and then the district upped that to four days a week, finishing the year with elementary students learning in classrooms five days a week and students in grades six through 12 in buildings four days a week.
The Fox district offered in-person instruction for elementary students for 133 days and remote learning only for 32 days. Secondary students had 124 in-person learning days and 41 strictly remote-learning days, officials said.
When the year began, 2,433 of the Fox district’s 11,840 students opted not to attend class in person and that number fell to 2,029 at the end of the school year.
Patel said a key for everyone to get through the school year was constant communication.
“Even if we didn’t have the answer, being transparent with the community, telling them where we were and where we were heading was important,” Patel said. “Even though it may have not been ideal news anyone wanted to hear, we still felt it was imperative to keep the constant communication going.”
Patel said the district will monitor students’ performance through summer school and the next school year to make sure they catch up if they had fallen behind because of the pandemic.
“Our focus for the summer and upcoming year will be to look at data from common formative assessments to guide our instruction to help address any learning losses,” Patel said. “Our teachers have done an outstanding job helping our students with the learning and getting them to where they need to be.”
Fox made masks optional for its summer school programs, and that practice is expected to continue during the 2021-2022 school year, Patel said.
She also said the district plans to have students attend classes in person five days a week next school year.
“We will follow the guidance of our local health department as we have this entire time and make decisions accordingly, including the wearing of masks,” Patel said. “We continue to encourage everyone who is able to get fully vaccinated and are hoping more and more individuals will be immunized by the start of the school year.”
Grandview
The Grandview R-2 School District began the year with 193 of its 730 students learning from home, and that number fell to 47 by the end of the school year when Grandview offered in-person instruction four days a week, Zoph said.
He said middle school students had the option of attending classes in person all 151 days last school year. He said elementary students had the chance to be in the classroom for 147 days, and high school students had 141 in-person instruction days.
“Getting through this school year was like playing a game where the rules are being made up as you go and everyone playing thinks their rules are the right ones,” Zoph said.
He said Grandview staff members were “rock stars,” working with students to help them from falling behind.
“They made education happen for kids,” Zoph said. “They were the bright spot in a year like no other.”
Grandview recommended that students and staff wear masks in buildings during summer school, and that recommendation will remain in place when school resumes Aug. 24, he said.
“We will only offer virtual education through the state Missouri Course Access and Virtual School Program (MOCAP) next year and will try to have as few Grandview teachers teaching virtually as possible,” Zoph said.
Hillsboro
The Hillsboro R-3 School District’s 3,053 students had 170 instruction days this past school year with families having the option to send their child to school two out of five days from Aug. 31 through Jan. 15. In the second semester, which ran from Jan. 19 through June 1, students could attend class in person four days a week with Wednesday being a virtual learning day, Superintendent Jon Isaacson said.
Hillsboro had 850 students opt for the distance-learning model when the year began, and that number fell to 725 by the end of the school year.
“It took a tremendous amount of modification on everyone’s part to be successful,” Isaacson said. “We are fortunate to have a tremendously supportive group of parents, staff and community members. They have shown an inordinate amount of flexibility and grace. Decisions and changes happened almost overnight in some instances, and they were able to adapt and adjust for the benefit of our students.”
Isaacson said teachers will continue to adjust strategies based on students’ needs to make sure no one falls behind because of the pandemic.
“Our teachers are masterful in monitoring student progress, analyzing data, and making modifications to teaching and learning,” he said.
Isaacson said the district will return to a traditional, five-day-a-week class schedule when school resumes Aug. 25. He said the district will recommend students and staff wear masks in buildings, but it will not be required.
Isaacson also said staff and students will not be required to get COVID-19 vaccinations.
“The district will not provide in-house virtual learning, rather the district will utilize an outside vendor through MOCAP to provide instruction for those not returning to in-person learning,” he said.
Jefferson R-7
The school year began with the Jefferson R-7 School District giving its 1,070 students the option to learn in classrooms two days a week and remotely the other three days for the first 43 days. For the last 125 days, in-class instruction increased to four days a week.
Superintendent Clint Johnston said 20 percent of the district’s students opted to learn remotely from home when school began, but fewer than 1 percent of the students finished the year learning only from home.
“We had a very solid school year,” Johnston said. “People talked about surviving, I felt like we thrived. We had a lot of things we had to change in terms of models of instruction because of the full virtual days when we started out. When you look at what we were able to accomplish in spite of things that none of us could have anticipated with COVID, I felt like we had a great year.”
Jefferson R-7 extended its summer school program through July to help students who struggled this past school year, and it will offer summer and mid-year graduations for students.
“We are doing that simply because we know there has got to be some learning recovery and some learning acceleration that we need to do,” Johnston said.
Johnston said when school resumes on Aug. 23, Jefferson R-7 plans to provide in-class instruction five days a week, although a distance-learning option will be available for students whose families do not feel comfortable with them returning to classrooms.
He also said masks will be recommended in buildings but not required.
“We will continue to utilize strategies to restrict the spread of COVID,” Johnston said. “The new COVID handbook has been reviewed and approved by the Board of Education.”
Northwest
The Northwest R-1 School District had 1,871 of its 5,916 students opt for remote learning when the 2020-2021 school year began, but at the end of the year, 972 of the district’s 4,893 students were remotely learning, officials said.
Elementary school students had the option of attending class five days a week when the year began, and secondary students started with the option to attend class in person two days a week and remotely the remaining days before transitioning to a four-day in-person learning schedule.
“Throughout the year it was difficult to make decisions because almost every decision disrupted and/or created unintended or unforeseen consequences in a new direction,” Superintendent Desi Kirchhofer said. “It was as if schools had to make the least, worst decision they could each day. There were not necessarily ‘right’ decisions, but every effort was made to make the decision right. Ultimately, each decision was made to try to give our students an opportunity to be safe in school and learn.”
Kirchhofer said Northwest plans to return to having students attend class in person five days a week when the 2021-2022 school year starts on Aug. 24. He said a distance-only learning option will be offered to students, but that program likely will be handled by a service and not district staff.
“A decision on mitigation strategies, such as masks, could be dependent on the most recent information and restrictions we face,” Kirchhofer said. “Recently, a decision was made to allow masks to be optional for summer school. I think we will learn from this experience. Our desire would be to keep masks optional. If we still think we keep students safe and in school without mandating masks, we will do so. Although readily available, vaccines will not be required for students or staff.”
Windsor
Windsor C-1 Assistant Superintendent Jeff Buscher said students had the choice of attending class in person for 140 of the 168 days last school year. He also said the district offered remote learning only on Wednesdays. It also had remote learning only for two days before Thanksgiving break because of bus driver and teacher shortage due to quarantines, Buscher said.
He said about 35 percent of the district’s nearly 3,000 students started the year learning entirely from home, but those numbers dropped to about 10 percent of elementary students and about 20 percent of secondary students by the time the school year ended.
“It was a challenge. It was frustrating, but in the end, I think we got through it the best we could and did the best we could by our kids,” Buscher said. “We are hopeful that next year will be closer to normal.”
Buscher said the district’s assessment tests show students tested well in reading comprehension, but there is concern that some students may have fallen behind with math skills. He also said the district will constantly monitor students’ growth and assess the best ways to eliminate learning gaps.
“I would love to give you a timeline and say by the end of this first semester with us returning to five days a week that we will be caught up,” Buscher said. “There is no way to do that. The only thing I can say is we will monitor where our kids are at and figure out how we can support them. You will burn kids out if you try to jam in what was lost on top of what you want them to learn now. You have to take a very measured approach and constantly check and see where your kids’ mastery level is at and build on that.”
Buscher said the district plans to return to a traditional school year model when classes resume Aug. 23. He said masks will not be required when school begins.
“We will follow guidelines we are asked to follow in August,” Buscher said. “Right now, the plan is to create the safest situation we can and have the most normal school year that we can.”
St. Pius
St. Pius X Catholic High School in Crystal City had all 277 of its students attend class in person five days a week when the past school year began.
Principal Karen DeCosty said the school only had distance learning six days last school year – three of those because of the number of quarantined students those days, two days because of snow and one for building maintenance.
“This year was challenging because we were balancing the plethora of information with our mission – the mission of providing extraordinary education,” DeCosty said. “We were constantly prepared to adapt to necessary changes while continuing to provide the best education possible.”
DeCosty said the school will use a placement test to gauge incoming students’ skills and collect data on returning students to assure no one falls behind.
“Teachers can see which skills the students are behind in and use class time to get them caught up,” DeCosty said. “This was extremely successful this year. Our current freshmen took this test in the spring of their 8th grade year. They took it again in February of this year. We saw growth in all areas. Not to mention our ACT scores, practice and official, are not being impacted and the average student GPA is consistent to years past.”
DeCosty said the school plans to have in-person classes five days a week when the 2021-2022 school year begins on Aug. 16.
“We plan to continue serving Jefferson County students in the best possible way, in person,” DeCosty said.