Peninsula schools to bring back grades 3-5 in February, citing new state guidance
Children in grades 3 through 5 in the Peninsula School District will return for in-person education four days a week, beginning Feb. 4, the district announced last week. They’ll join Kindergartners, first- and second-graders who have already returned.
The system outlined on the district website will divide students into three “cohorts” split into in-person morning learning, in-person afternoon learning, and fully remote learning. The morning cohort will learn from 9 to 11:30 a.m. and the afternoon cohort will learn from 1 to 3:30 p.m. All students will learn remotely on Wednesday.
This is on top of the return of second graders, who came back to school on Jan. 19 and the early opening of Pioneer Elementary, where additional students will learn. Kindergartners and 1st-graders returned to school in October.
‘Beyond thrilled’
At Voyager Elementary School on Friday, returning second-graders were “beyond thrilled to be back in school,” said teacher Jen Kuehnle, standing at her classroom door in a “Vikings Strong” sweatshirt.
“I had this one group of kids come straight through here on the first day, just screaming and showing and just so excited to be back,” she said.
Mandy Wheelus, a parent, dropped off her son, Jason, in the parking lot.
“It’s so awesome,” she said. “He was getting so frustrated with being at home and just this constant being on the screen. He’s so glad to be back here.”
In Ms. Kuehnle’s classroom, second-grader Marlow Burby was already looking forward to recess.
“Now at recess, you can play with lots of people and make new friends,” she said, through a mask decorated with playful panda bears.
Ms. Kuehnle said she was delighted to be back with her students.
“School was meant to be in-person,” she said. “We did our best virtually, but it’s just so exciting to be back in person. It’s so much easier, I would say more than anything, to connect with them, to know that they’re with you and engaged and learning and happy.”
In response to questions, assistant superintendent John Hellwich said in an email that the district is bringing back approximately 1,250 students for in-person learning with approximately 350 remaining in full remote.
Relaxed state guidance
The email to parents Jan. 21 said that “although we are still in the high COVID-19 activity level” district leaders “believe the current metrics” support an eventual return for all elementary students based on relaxed state guidance.
“The guidance from the state says, even in the high COVID activity range which we’re still in, you should be looking to bring elementary students back,” Hellwich said in an interview with The Gateway.
Hellwich said the current case rates are reaching a near-plateau and he predicts they will begin to drop.
“The average case rates over the last fourteen days, as of yesterday, was 261. If you go back to Jan. 8 it was 258. That seems pretty flat,” Hellwich said.
Hellwich said that while the state does not give guidance on how much of a “trend” districts should see before bringing back students, district leaders believe they are ready.
“The state tells us that in a hybrid, with following our countermeasures, we should be bringing back elementary students. We shouldn’t be waiting for it to drop into the moderate range,” Hellwich said. “That’s different for secondary students, but we haven’t announced the return of our secondary students.”
Hellwich said the district is working on plans for return of secondary students — high school and middle schoolers — but “won’t announce the return until we are confident we meet the metrics for that return.”
Some staff still unsure
Carol Rivera, president of the Peninsula Education Association, the teachers’ union, said there is still work going on behind the scenes to adjust staff and student schedules.
“With the announcement for three through five, there is a lot of shifts of staff and students and other things that are underway,” Rivera said. “There is some anxiety about that especially if you’re one of the staff members that has been notified that you may not be teaching your group of students and you may be transferred to a new position.”
Rivera said staff is working hard to make it all come together over the next two weeks but that, as of today, some staff still don’t know where they will be teaching.
“The goal for the district and for teachers is to provide as much continuity of services to our students,” Rivera said. “It really takes a lot of time, attention and care. The district understands how complex it is but I would just like our community to understand that there may be a lot of hiccups to ensure that we are providing the educational services to our students.”
Bus stops increase
In a followup email, Hellwich said they will be moving from using hub bus stops to regular bus stops to accommodate increased in-person students. “This would involve adding significantly more bus routes and more bus stops to better serve our community as we add more students on campus,” Hellwich said. “An example of the increase would be Peninsula HS going from 3 hub routes to 21 regular routes.”
Pickoff and dropoff times will be made available on Jan. 26 at the district’s website: www.psd401.net/departments/transportation. The increase in routes will take effect on Feb. 1.
The district said that additional information on student/teacher assignments will be “announced soon.” The district will also be attempting to conduct its own in-house COVID testing in the future though plans on returning are not contingent on that program as it will only be testing select students.
Remote learning changes
Meanwhile the district on Friday, Jan 22, released some specifics on what remote learning will look like for those secondary students — junior and senior high school students — who chose to continue to learn remotely when secondary in-person learning is resumed. No date has been set for that change.
Highlights for secondary remote learning:
▪ Most remote students will continue to attend 3 class periods a day. Some students who take classes where specific teaching certification is required may have more than 3 classes per day.
▪ Class sessions will be shortened to approximately 50 minutes with periods 1, 2, and 3 occurring in the morning every Monday and Thursday, while periods 4, 5, and 6 will be held every Tuesday and Friday afternoon.
▪ Remote students will receive essentially the same number of instructional minutes per week as they currently do.
▪ On Wednesdays, students will follow the 1 hour late start schedule.
A sample class template can be found on the district website: www.psd401.net. Search for “Secondary Remote Learners Schedule Template.”
The president of the school board, David Olson, said he shares in the desire to bring back students and hopes it can continue beyond elementary school.
“We’re hopeful we’ll be able to bring everybody back shortly thereafter if the COVID numbers go down,” Olson said. “We’re just really happy that we’re able to bring more kids back. We just believe it’s better for the kids to be in-person with their teachers.”
Reach Chase Hutchinson at chase.hutchinson@thenewstribune.com
This story was originally published January 21, 2021 at 6:50 PM.
