Looks like it will be some in-person learning, some online for Puyallup schools in ’20-21
The Puyallup School District likely will have students rotate between in-class and online learning next fall.
Staff presented the school board with four options in a school board meeting recently, recommending the “A/B alternate schedule.”
The board voted unanimously July 1 to approve a plan for students to alternate between in-class and digital days throughout the week.
Board president Kathy Yang said everyone wants school to be normal, but there have to be changes to comply with state guidance.
“The A/B schedule seems the most feasible,” Yang said. “We are not picking the best model— we are picking the model we hate the least.”
In the A/B schedule, students would get two full days of in-class instruction. A class would be divided into two to abide by social distancing measures: half would meet on Wednesdays and Fridays and the other half on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Mondays would be online for all students, allowing for teachers to prepare lesson plans and have staff meetings.
There is a possibility that kindergarten to third grade could resume class four days a week, Tuesday through Friday. The state mandates school districts have class sizes of 17 or fewer students for the lower grades.
“Because we already meet the standards of primary classrooms being small, deep analysis will be conducted on our ability to provide in-person instruction to younger learners with required safety measures in place (face coverings, symptom checks, social distancing, cleaning protocols),” district spokesperson Sarah Gillispie said.
The state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction released guidance on reopening schools for the fall. To reopen classrooms, a district needs to meet health and safety requirements like face coverings, symptom checks, physical distancing, proper hygiene practices and cleaning/disinfecting procedures.
The plans approved by the Puyallup School Board on Wednesday will not necessarily mean the fall schedule will be an A/B rotation. The vote allows staff to make lesson plans and classroom changes for one possibility rather than three.
“It isn’t fair to ask the district to plan for three different models of learning,” board member Maddie Names said in the Wednesday board meeting. “I’d rather us do one thing really well than three things not so well.”
In August, the board will approve the reopening plan before submitting it to OSPI for approval, Gillispie said.
“If the board does not vote in favor of this plan, or any modified version of this plan, we would have to return to planning for adjustments,” she said in an email. “Therein delaying our process of submitting a recommendation to the state to open.”
Other hybrid models considered included a two-week rotation of in-classroom teaching and online learning between two sections or a morning and afternoon split.
The two-week plan was deemed too long a time for students to be away from a teacher, who would be unable to check in frequently with the students at home. The students would be more likely to forget material while away from direct instruction and require reteaching, staff told the board.
The “A.M. and P.M.” schedule was a split-day model allowing four days of in-person teaching for all students. Class A would learn in the morning with half its class loads on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the other half on Wednesdays and Fridays. Class B would have the same schedule but during the afternoon.
Staff felt it was next to impossible to do the required cleaning between classes, and bus drivers would have to make twice the number of trips.
A fourth option considers continuing all-virtual school.
Two task forces were created, an Instructional Taskforce to evaluate instructional models and a Health and Safety Taskforce to consider operational aspects of reopening safely in the fall. They both recommended the “A/B schedule.”
The district is asking parents for feedback in an online survey. As of last week, more than 3,000 responses were submitted.
The vast majority of respondents were concerned about the cleanliness of the schools, ensuring that common areas were wiped down or disinfected frequently, and there were sufficient cleaning supplies.
More than half said they preferred a hybrid learning model, where school fluctuates between online and in-person instruction.
The Sumner-Bonney Lake School District is giving parents options for next school year.
Staff presented a plan to the school board on July 1 that would have in-class instruction for kindergarten to third grade four days a week, and fourth to 12th grades would alternate between in-class and online learning throughout the week.
All-virtual classes also would be an option. The school district plans to email parents to ask if they are interested in the Online Learning Academy, rather than sending their children to school.
The district needs to gauge the interest in fully online classes to determine how many students would be returning to class.
Superintendent Laurie Dent said it’s been an incredibly tough journey.
“I’d be lying if I said this didn’t keep me up at night,” Dent told the board.
As of current state orders, masks would be required for students who attend in-person. Cleaning procedures would be more rigorous. The district would add custodial staff, purchase screening equipment, provide more hand sanitizer or more time to wash hands.
