WHEELING, W.Va. — Schools districts all over West Virginia are starting to analyze options for reopening buildings safely come next academic year in the fall.
The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) laid out three scenarios during the state school board meeting on Wednesday that included four school days a week, lunch inside classrooms and masks on school buses.
State schools Superintendent Clayton Burch said during the meeting that plans will be up to the county but it’s unlikely students will return to the classrooms for five days a week.
Dr. Kim Miller, the superintendent of Ohio County Schools told MetroNews on Thursday that her district will have ongoing discussions with the WVDE and make adjustments closer to August.
“In a perfect world, we start ready to go in August back to normal. But we know we are going to have a lot of measures put into place to keep our students and staff safe,” Miller said.
“We will err on the side of caution, however, we know what is best for our students is to get them in the classroom with their teachers. We know we have missed a lot of that time teaching in the classroom.”
For all school districts in the state, students would return to the classrooms in August after five months of being away due to the shutdown in March with COVID-19.
Miller said while her county finished the current school year strong with services and has hundreds of students participating in a summer enrichment program, there will be struggles upon arrivals.
“We know there is a summer slip that always takes place we and we know that slide will be larger,” Miller said.
“We know that now and we’ve already begun preparations so that our teachers know that. They’ve already looked at objectives that are priorities and things that will have to be revisited when we are back one-to-one.”
The three outlines laid out by Burch and the board on Wednesday included a “Safer at Home/Safer at School” plan with in-person classes happening four days a week aimed at circumstances of elementary school children and cleaning happening the fifth day. The second scenario is a “blended learning delivery model” balancing in-person and online learning for five days a week.
The third outline would be for a second wave of COVID-19 with no in-person courses.
“We want our youngest learners, Pre-K through 5th grade to be there four to five days a week. They are the most vulnerable, they are the group that really struggles with independent learning on their own. They need the consistency,” Burch said on Thursday’s MetroNews ‘Talkline.’
“However, we also want to give the districts flexibility in middle school and high school we want to let them think of creative scheduling if you do have the ability to do virtual school.”
Burch added that school superintendents have already called his office with more ideas following Wednesday’s meetings and districts may consider starting earlier than normal to take advantage of August.
Miller said Ohio County will work with the state board, its board, teachers, staff, parents, and students to select the right model.
“I think that everybody would like to see us back to school after a traditional setting,” she said.
“Ideally they lift the state of emergency and ideally we have an opportunity to get back into the classroom. We know we are going to have rigorous cleaning that takes place to keep our kids safe and social distancing as much as possible, but we know the best method of education is face-to-face.”
Ohio County Schools, one of the state’s largest districts and home of Wheeling Park High School, held a senior salute for those students in May but Miller said plans remain for an in-person graduation August 2 at WesBanco Arena with a backup plan of Wheeling Island Stadium.
The WVDE announced on Wednesday that in-person graduations in West Virginia may occur beginning June 22 with strict guidelines.
Dr. Eddie Campbell, the Monongalia County Schools superintendent told MetroNews affiliate WAJR that his district is putting together an internal team to start analyzing the state plan and firm up plans.
“One of the options is blended learning where we can create our schedule of what we think in-person lessons combine with remote learning so we cut down on the amount of time we are actually in the schools,” he said.