School ready for ‘in and out’ educating
BY SUZANNE WERRE, EDITOR
The Underwood School Board members were updated on the tentative plans for starting the 2020-21 school year July 28 at its regular July board meeting. While the Health and Safety Planning and the district Learning Planning Committees are still working on finalizing how the school will conduct the upcoming school year, the plan at this point is to bring students back to the classrooms this fall.
Student/parents who are hesitant or unwilling to come back on-site for school will have the option to sign up for distance learning instead, according to Supt. Brandt Dick. Students will be asked to register for a full semester for one of the options, he noted, adding that there will undoubtedly be some times when even the students who opt for on-site learning will find themselves doing some distance learning as well.
“I think the most likely scenario is we will be in and out, or groups will be in and out,” said Dick, noting that during there will invariably be times of two-week quarantines when positives are identified. “We want that education to continue during those 14 days.”
Once there is a positive case, said Dick, contact tracing will be done, and anyone who has been in close contact with that positive case for 15 minutes or more (cumulative) will need to quarantine for 14 days.
Dick informed the board that it’s likely the Central Regional Education Association, which serves 57 school districts in central North Dakota, will be providing distance learning for the schools. This will provide opportunities for teachers who don’t feel comfortable going back into the schools to continue educating students, as well as an opportunity for quality distance learning for students.
The Underwood teachers will not be doing the distance teaching to the students who choose distance-ed for the full semester. However, the teachers at the Underwood School will probably find themselves doing some distance educating off and on during the school year, but it will be for the students who find themselves quarantined.
“It will be different than what we did this past spring. We want our teachers to concentrate on the kids that we have in the classroom,” said Dick. “We’re hoping and pushing and planning and asking that our teachers try to continue to work with those kids and have a plan where education can continue.”
There will be times when students are home in quarantine and they feel just fine. Those students should be able to continue to attend their classes through Google Meets and other services, said Dick. The on-site teachers are being asked to be prepared for when they have to do a sort of hybrid of on-site and distance learning.
The planning committees will be releasing its preliminary plan to parents later this week, and parents will be asked to have a decision regarding how their student/students will attend school by Aug. 14.
“By Friday, Aug. 14, is when we’re asking for final decisions from parents on whether they want their students to distance learn,” said Dick.
According to results from a recent survey, only 17 of the more than 190 students answering the survey indicated they would like to do distance education.
