Windsor C-1 School District officials plan to have students who currently attend classes on a hybrid schedule of two-days of in-person classes at school and three days of virtual learning at home switch to four days of in-person classes by the end of November.
Students in kindergarten through fifth grade will make the switch first, changing on Oct. 26 from the current system to in-school classes on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with Wednesday classes still designated for virtual classes.
Students in grades six through 12 will switch to the same four-day, in-school schedule on Nov. 30.
The Windsor Board of Education voted 6-0 Oct. 7 to switch to the new schedule. Board member Steve Meinberg was absent from the meeting.
“I think the feeling was it’s time to get kids to go back into schools on a regular basis, with the hope of going to five days a week in school in second semester, which starts Jan. 4, after winter break,” Assistant Superintendent Jeff Buscher said Monday.
He said the district will still offer all virtual learning for families who do not wish to send their children to in-person classes.
“If someone wants to remain 100-percent virtual, the option remains if they don’t feel confident coming back,” Buscher said.
Since the start of school in August, about 80 percent of Windsor’s students have been attending in-person classes, with about half of those in school on Mondays and Tuesdays and the other half on Thursdays and Fridays, with all taking classes virtually on Wednesdays, which have been set aside for deep cleaning of facilities.
The other approximately 20 percent of Windsor’s student population received all their instruction online at home.