Take two: Peninsula schools will try again to bring back in-person learning for 2nd-graders.
The Peninsula School District will try once more to bring back 2nd grade in-person teaching on Jan. 19 despite a continuing rise in COVID-19 cases.
Students will be taught in-person for four out of the five days of the week and learn remotely on Wednesdays.
The district had previously delayed the planned return of 2nd graders in November due to rising cases. Now officials say they “recently received guidance from the Governor’s Office which allows for more students to return for in-person learning.”
The state released more defined recommendations, like defining “small groups” as groups of 15 or less and updated guidelines on reopening schools by relaxing metrics.
The guidelines previously recommended schools within counties that have 75 or more COVID-19 cases per 100,000 over a 14-day period stay in remote learning. The update in November changes that to 200 cases per 100,000 residents.
In an email to parents Wednesday, the district hailed information from a testing pilot program that caught multiple cases as having “demonstrated that when safety countermeasures are followed” they “can control virus spread on campus while in-person learning is occurring.”The program had been funded by CARES Act funding that is no longer available.
A separate email also said they are developing “a a hybrid model that will best serve the interests of our 6-12 grade students, families, and staff.”
The model would split students into two groups with one being in-person on Mondays and Thursdays with the other being in-person on Tuesdays and Fridays.
The district also called for families to parents to fill out a survey to indicate whether they would want their child to return for in-person learning or continue learning remotely. The survey can be filled out at https://forms.gle/dSDvMADVi2fCCmz59 with a deadline of end of day on Jan. 10.
The email says the “selection will apply until the end of the school year on June 22, 2021.”
The email provided no official date for when this hybrid program would start but said it would be “as soon as COVID-19 rates allow a return to in-person learning for secondary students..”
In an interview with The Gateway, assistant superintendent John Hellwich said that there are hopes to bring back some sort of testing program without the funding, but 2nd graders will return no matter what.
“We’re in talks with the health department about some way to continue a testing program, but it’s much more challenging without the CARES funding,” Hellwich said. “That testing period was very informative and it was helpful but it’s not something that we have to have in order to bring in our students.”
The district has reported 24 confirmed COVID-19 cases on its campuses since Sept. 8, all but four of them originating outside the school system.
The decision comes against the backdrop of a bargaining session Wednesday with the teachers’ union, Peninsula Education Association, over safety concerns about resuming in-person learning.
On Dec. 17, the union voted “no confidence” in the performance of district superintendent Art Jarvis in responding to the pandemic. Carol Rivera, President of the union, said the decision to bring back more in-person learning it is “not a surprise to the association.”
Rivera said the union remains committed to “ensure safety of the staff, students, and the community.”
“There is concern, as always, with the increasing numbers and the status of covid transmission in our community,” Rivera said. “Teachers want to be back into the classroom with their students safely. That has been the focus of our work: to ensure our employer, the district, is meeting all of the requirements from the state.”
Hellwich declined to comment on the bargaining and the no confidence vote in the superintendent.
Hellwich said that 84 percent of 2nd grade parents surveyed have said they would have their children attend school in-person.
Parents who wish to have their children continue to learn remotely can continue to do so.
The email also said that the returning2nd-graders would rely on the same bus system as Kindergarten and 1st grade.
“We’re able to space on the buses fairly well,” Hellwich said. “We can’t always keep six feet distancing but we do the best we can.”
Parents can find information about bus routes at www.psd401.net/departments/transportation.
Reach Chase Hutchinson at chase.hutchinson@thenewstribune.com
This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 7:15 PM.
