Warsaw Schools Reopens With Safety Measures In Place
August 18, 2020 at 3:34 a.m.
Warsaw Schools Reopens With Safety Measures In Place
By Jackie [email protected]
Warsaw School Board learned Monday where the school corporation was at in various different aspects of the school district’s reopening plan.
Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education Dr. David Robertson said that WCS understands that in-person learning is not going to be for everyone.
The in-person option meets five days a week and works to meet the state-required instruction time and state standards.
Robertson said about 5% of elementary school students are signed up for eLearning. This option also meets five days a week and focuses specifically on reading, language arts and math.
eLearning is for students who have at-risk health conditions or have unique needs due to COVID. Students are expected to work on lessons and assignments every day following the regular WCS school calendar.
“We do expect students to learn their lessons and do their assignments every day,” Robertson said.
WCS asks parents to commit to 18 weeks of eLearning, he said.
Class size for eLearning will range from 33 in second grade to 50 in sixth grade. Content will be designed to handle larger class sizes than traditional classrooms, Robertson said. Teachers will be uploading content that’s prerecorded, but teachers will be meeting with those students or groups of students as well.
Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education Dani Barkey said 5% of WCS’ overall secondary students are registered for eLearning.
Barkey said WCS designed a program that “we think will work very well.” Secondary students will attend using Apex learning. Teachers will be using Apex blended with supplemental learning and remediation options.
“We will be checking in weekly and we will meeting during the designated time when that period meets,” Barkey said.
“Our class sections will range from 30 to 50. It sounds like a big number, but you have to remember that our students are taking such a diverse case load,” the classes varies, she said.
Google Meet office hours will be offered throughout the week.
The middle schools have eight total core content teachers – four for seventh grade and four for eighth grade – who will have one distance learning class in their schedules. The high school will have four core content teachers who will have one period of eLearning in their schedules due to having a lower percentage of students doing eLearning.
Director of Transportation Mark Fick said each bus will be sprayed after each route.
Each bus also will have a seating chart, “which is mandatory the way we did it,” he said. Starting Monday, students will have an assigned seat.
“Masks and face shields - we have a ton,” Fick said. Students need to wear a mask or face shield while on the bus and drivers can give out face shields if students ask for them.
Fick said he lost 10 drivers and had to modify routes due to that. A dry run of routes was done Friday.
Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert said he was joking about the buses doing figure eights because of how well-coordinated everything was Friday.
The board also approved a sexual harassment policy.
“It’s Title IX. It is a very long policy and deals with sexual harassment,” said Director of Human Resources Sheila Howe. “And this policy is creating the guidelines for us to be able to hold an informal or formal type” of resolution if there is a case that is brought up.
Howe said WCS would have to have two coordinators - a man and woman - and they would be Howe and Robertson. There would also have to be two investigators. Howe and Robertson can not hold both positions.
The policy indicates the processes of how cases go as well as “the days in which we have to respond any time there’s a Title IX case,” Howe said. “We have to respond within three to five days and it could take up to 90 days to fulfill a complaint.”
“You’ve probably seen the rules have changed for Title IX investigations as of this past week,” Robertson said. “So this policy is just a reflection of an updated process with that. And again, typically in a small situation where we have any kind of harassment, there are often times criminal aspects in place as well and that’s where we will begin” and work through that process as well.
Any type of harassment is included in the policy and includes both students and staff of the corporation.
Warsaw School Board learned Monday where the school corporation was at in various different aspects of the school district’s reopening plan.
Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education Dr. David Robertson said that WCS understands that in-person learning is not going to be for everyone.
The in-person option meets five days a week and works to meet the state-required instruction time and state standards.
Robertson said about 5% of elementary school students are signed up for eLearning. This option also meets five days a week and focuses specifically on reading, language arts and math.
eLearning is for students who have at-risk health conditions or have unique needs due to COVID. Students are expected to work on lessons and assignments every day following the regular WCS school calendar.
“We do expect students to learn their lessons and do their assignments every day,” Robertson said.
WCS asks parents to commit to 18 weeks of eLearning, he said.
Class size for eLearning will range from 33 in second grade to 50 in sixth grade. Content will be designed to handle larger class sizes than traditional classrooms, Robertson said. Teachers will be uploading content that’s prerecorded, but teachers will be meeting with those students or groups of students as well.
Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education Dani Barkey said 5% of WCS’ overall secondary students are registered for eLearning.
Barkey said WCS designed a program that “we think will work very well.” Secondary students will attend using Apex learning. Teachers will be using Apex blended with supplemental learning and remediation options.
“We will be checking in weekly and we will meeting during the designated time when that period meets,” Barkey said.
“Our class sections will range from 30 to 50. It sounds like a big number, but you have to remember that our students are taking such a diverse case load,” the classes varies, she said.
Google Meet office hours will be offered throughout the week.
The middle schools have eight total core content teachers – four for seventh grade and four for eighth grade – who will have one distance learning class in their schedules. The high school will have four core content teachers who will have one period of eLearning in their schedules due to having a lower percentage of students doing eLearning.
Director of Transportation Mark Fick said each bus will be sprayed after each route.
Each bus also will have a seating chart, “which is mandatory the way we did it,” he said. Starting Monday, students will have an assigned seat.
“Masks and face shields - we have a ton,” Fick said. Students need to wear a mask or face shield while on the bus and drivers can give out face shields if students ask for them.
Fick said he lost 10 drivers and had to modify routes due to that. A dry run of routes was done Friday.
Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert said he was joking about the buses doing figure eights because of how well-coordinated everything was Friday.
The board also approved a sexual harassment policy.
“It’s Title IX. It is a very long policy and deals with sexual harassment,” said Director of Human Resources Sheila Howe. “And this policy is creating the guidelines for us to be able to hold an informal or formal type” of resolution if there is a case that is brought up.
Howe said WCS would have to have two coordinators - a man and woman - and they would be Howe and Robertson. There would also have to be two investigators. Howe and Robertson can not hold both positions.
The policy indicates the processes of how cases go as well as “the days in which we have to respond any time there’s a Title IX case,” Howe said. “We have to respond within three to five days and it could take up to 90 days to fulfill a complaint.”
“You’ve probably seen the rules have changed for Title IX investigations as of this past week,” Robertson said. “So this policy is just a reflection of an updated process with that. And again, typically in a small situation where we have any kind of harassment, there are often times criminal aspects in place as well and that’s where we will begin” and work through that process as well.
Any type of harassment is included in the policy and includes both students and staff of the corporation.
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