Lowndes County School District plans to start the school year with a hybrid learning method, then return to a fully in-person traditional method after two weeks.
The district’s board on Friday unanimously approved the return to school plan with hopes in-person learning could continue through the remainder of the school year.
“We have to teach these kids,” LCSD Superintendent Sam Allison said. “If we stay out of the classroom any longer, those learning gaps get bigger. Some students will be able to recover and some won’t. … For those that can’t, whether they can’t get it because of retention or falling behind, at the end, they’re going to drop out. We’ve got to get back to teaching the kids, the best way to do that is in the classroom.”
The hybrid method of schooling will start Aug. 6 for the district of more than 5,000 students, with each school separating students into two groups. Each group will receive five total days of in-person learning (attending every other weekday) in the hybrid period.
All students will begin attending in-person daily starting Aug. 20, according to the plan.
In the hybrid weeks, classrooms will operate at half capacity, which Allison estimates will be between 10 and 15 students per room. Classrooms will return to full capacity after Aug. 20, with spacing of desks and hand sanitizer in each room.
While Allison said a virtual learning schedule is a “last case scenario,” he said accommodations will be made when necessary.
“We’re going to have that option for medically fragile kids or kids that have some issues within their families,” Allison said. “We’re going to review those.”
Allison said the hybrid start gives the school district an opportunity to teach kids best practices for social distancing to maintain a productive in-person learning environment.
“We know that the virus will come through our school doors,” Allison said. “It’s naive to think that’s not going to happen. But what we want to do is teach our kids the things they need to do to not catch it.”
The learning curve also applies for the teachers, too.
“Our teachers have to take care of themselves because I don’t think subs will be beating the door down,” Allison said.
Face coverings will be required for both students and faculty on school grounds, and Allison said the district has supplied masks to teachers. He added they will be necessary to ensure the learning model succeeds, but that there will be opportunities for kids to take breaks when properly social distanced.
“We’re going to have to wear masks,” Allison said. “It’s not realistic for a kid to wear a mask eight hours a day, but they’re gonna have to be commonplace in our school because we know that masks eliminate exposure to some extent.”
Because of the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, other districts in the area have already adopted a hybrid plan to last at least for the fall semester, with Columbus Municipal, Starkville-Oktibbeha and West Point-Clay school districts all allowing students to learn entirely online if they choose.
Before the vote was taken Friday, LCSD board member Brian Clark commended Allison and his staff for the work on the reopening plan, voicing his support.
“I know these are times we’ve never experienced before,” Clark said. “I know there’s some hard calls that have to be made. I want to commend your efforts in trying to get back to normal as fast as possible.”
Clark said he thinks two weeks may be a little too fast to get back to a traditional setting but lauded the attempt nevertheless.
“The unknown is the unknown, but I really think we can do it within that time period,” Allison responded. “If it doesn’t work and we’re not able to do it, I’ll have the reason why. That’s the big thing. This is what we want; who knows what’s going to happen. If I felt like it was going to be terrible, I wouldn’t be doing it this way.”
Allison said depending on positive test results, some classrooms or buildings could move to virtual learning while others remain in the traditional setting. He was unsure Friday of a specific number of confirmed cases that would necessitate a shutdown, but he said the district would follow CDC guidelines.
“We may have to shut different buildings or different classrooms down,” Allison said. “I hope not; I hope we limit the spread to where we don’t have to do that. We’ll use those CDC guidelines the best we can and make the best decision for kids. If we feel like we have an outbreak, we’re going to close that classroom down and go to virtual learning.”
Allison said the district conducted a survey of parents, with about 50 percent of the responses opting for a traditional learning setting and the other 50 percent preferring either a hybrid method or complete virtual learning.
“Unless the governor shuts us down, or some other unforeseen thing, we want to get back and work through this pandemic,” Allison said. “Because we have to get back to school. … Our goal is that when we go back, we want to stay back.”
Registration for school starts next week, with the dates varying depending on the school.
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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