School Reopening Survey
June 15, 2020
THE RESULTS ARE IN!
Over the last couple of weeks, we sent out a staff and parent survey to help gather some information as the district begins developing plans for reopening next school year. Thank you very much to all of you who participated as the information gathered was very useful. So today, I wanted to take a moment to share the survey results with you and let you know some of the basic plans we have in place for reopening in the Fall.
Although the surveys were intentionally limited in scope to help increase participation, we were able to glean some very important information with the limited questioning. The following is some of that information as we had a little over 50% of our student population represented in the parent/guardian survey.
- Almost 60% of our parents/guardians and a little over 70% of our staff reported that we should resume school next year without any changes to the educational process or district calendar.
- Over 80% of our parents/guardians and 90% of our staff reported that we should resume school in-person in August and NOT begin the school year providing educational services in a remote/virtual format.
- Under 10% of our parents/guardians reported that they DO NOT plan on sending their child to school for in-person classes in the Fall and will be looking for a remote/virtual educational opportunity due to COVID-19 concerns.
- 35% of our parents/guardians and 40% of our staff were in favor of resuming school in August with select groups being on a rotating schedule of in-person classes on select days and being remote/virtual on the other days.
- When asked about what calendar adjustment is most desired to provide flexibility for any potential intermittent closures of school;
- 26% of our parents/guardians and 30% of our staff supported an early school year start date and a later end date.
- 33% of our parents/guardians and 28% of our staff supported a normal start date but extending the school year end date.
- 41% of our parents/guardians and 42% of our staff supported the established school year start and end dates of Aug. 13 and May 13th and the adding of minutes to our daily schedule to allow for flexibility in making up missed time due to shut down of school operations.
So in response to this information, it's important that we plan on reopening school next Fall with in-person, on-campus classes. With that in mind, we plan to start school on time on August 13th barring any emergency orders from state and/or local leaders. Based on current COVID-19 information and anticipated spikes in virus exposure, we do believe that it's necessary to build-in some flexibility in our school calendar to be able to accommodate school closure and/or prepare for the transition to remote learning. Consequently, we will be planning to add 10 minutes to our daily school schedule creating an 8:20 am start and a 3:25 pm close to each school day. This increased time, along with our annual built in snow days, should provide us with an ample amount of flexibility to adjust to possible intermittent school closures and allow us to finish the school year on May 13th. Additionally, while we know we must plan for strategies that allow us to seamlessly continue with a robust education in a remote setting, I think survey results prove that many parents and staff members prefer in-person, on-campus learning experiences. So as an added advantage, we believe increased calendar flexibility may also allow us the ability to limit the amount of remote learning days we may have to initiate during the school year.
As the planning process continues through June and some of July, we'll be focusing discussions on items such as;
- How can we replicate in-class learning experiences so that learning can be delivered somewhat seamlessly and efficiently in a remote setting to meet many of the needs that will arise.
- How do we provide a full-time remote/virtual learning option for students who are not able to physically attend school in the Fall.
- How can we logistically provide all typical school opportunities and experiences while providing as many protective layers as possible for students and staff.
- What training and resources will need to be procured in order to execute the reopening plans.
The next few weeks are critical in our planning process. As we have learned over the last few months, our most important resource will be maintaining flexibility in all things. While we all desire to return to some sense of normalcy, we are fully aware that many aspects of our school operations must be looked at with a fresh perspective. Above all else, we will doing our very best to develop plans with the safety and health of our students and staff at the forefront. As the planning process takes further shape, we'll keep you updated as more information becomes available.
Have a great Summer!
Sincerely,
Vince Vincent
Superintendent