Schools are going to have an extreme challenge if they are following guidelines from the Mississippi State Department of Education.
Following the Covid-19 Pandemic which plagued the entire globe and caused markets to crash has the Simpson County School Board facing a lot of new challenges on how schools are to operate in the fall.
The State Department of Education made available a set of options on their website of alternate plans as to how schools could be operated in the fall.
The options are primarily this: continue classes as they have been done in the past; utilize a comprehensive distance learning program; use a hybrid model that has students assembling in a smaller group with extended school days to allow for educating everyone but in smaller groups. This is of course a brief summary of what the actual plan is going to be as suggested by the state.
From the budget workshop Simpson County will receive $1.4 million from the state to assist in educating our children. The caveat is that how those funds can be used has yet to be determined. There is discussion that it may only be spent on COVID related supplies and needs. That includes things like masks and cleaning supplies and on down the list.
There is currently discussion as to whether these funds can be used to offset reoccurring expenses. If they cannot be used for that according to Duane Fewell, director of finance, the district will be ok next year but the following two years will require reduction in staff in order to meet budget requirements.
There is also discussion about the monies being made available for technology for students for example student may be issued a computer so they can access the internet and stay up with classwork.
One problem with that is internet accessibility in rural parts of the county. Another issue is accountability of the actual equipment. What if a student needs technical assistance with their computer? What if the computer gets lost or stolen? What if the computer is damaged?
So here are the options the state department came up with. The plan was from a workgroup of nine superintendents as well as the state department. Because the pandemic is changing so rapidly the plan will be updated every three months.
Traditional Plan
The primary plans include considerations for the following from the district perspective. This will include daily screening of students, staff and faculty. Transportation will have to be considered so as to not have students in too close proximity. There will have to be a plan for disinfecting equipment and facilities.
Discussion included keeping student in the same location and moving teachers. All of this and more is expected while maintaining social distancing guidelines.
Hybrid Plan
This is a combination plan which includes face to face instruction as well as including distance learning.
It would work something like this the population of students would be divided into to two groups and A/B group with different groups attending school on alternating days. That would be Monday through Thursday and Fridays would be used for remediation, tutorials, professional development or whatever the district decided was needed.
Elementary may look something like this where students attend all four days. However, the classes would be broken into smaller sub groups to allow for better social distancing. Secondary or high school students would work through social distancing process. The third is a process which combines the two programs above.
Virtual Schedule
This may be the most difficult option because of infrastructure. First of all you must have enough bandwidth to utilize to provide information that is needed to disseminate. Additionally, families must have equipment in order to be able to communicate. There must also be the implementation of programs to allow staff/faculty the ability to manage the process. This will also require training in order to achieve goals.
So here is what must happen during the month of June. Facilities must be cleaned thoroughly, a plan on how classrooms will be cleaned daily as well as public areas like bathrooms. There are a host of other requirements like if parents can have access to facility.
Transportation is going to be a big issue. If there is an A-B schedule exactly how will it work? There needs to be a determination if the county has enough buses and drivers to make the alternating plan work. A determination has to be done what will happen if someone tests positive of Covid-19. Sanitation of the actual buses and how that is done between routes must be established.
Food service will be a challenging option. Can meals be provided observing social distancing standards? Another option is having meals delivered to classrooms rather than students going to cafeteria.
The district is going to be faced with many issues when it is time to open back up in August. First of all they will need to keep families abreast of what the plan is and how it is going to operate but most importantly is what role they will play in the process of safely educating their children. This could include items like social media, printed media, website management, text messaging, phone calls, videos as well as printed materials and the newspaper. This not only applies to student but also families of students as well as staff and faculty.
The district will be faced with real-time tech support and this is a real issue. If internet is not available there will need to be pre-determined locations of where it will be available. The list goes on and on and will be a great challenge to our leadership as well as the community.
