Wawasee Schools Will Start School Days A Half Hour Later
July 16, 2020 at 2:15 a.m.
Wawasee Schools Will Start School Days A Half Hour Later
By David [email protected]
Wawasee Superintendent Dr. Tom Edington and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Stephen Troyer provided the school district’s list of changes for this upcoming school at the weekly coronavirus press conference Wednesday at Warsaw City Hall.
Edington said Wawasee has a student enrollment of about 3,000 students in five schools, with the high school having about 1,000 of those students. It encompasses the communities of Milford, North Webster and Syracuse. During this summer, he said the school corporation has been providing about 9,000 meals to hundreds of students per week under federal guidelines.
Troyer said Wawasee has two sessions of summer school this year, with about 110 at the beginning of June and 60 continuing into the second session. They are online classes.
Edington said the kindergarten to eighth grade summer school begins July 20, and County Public Health Officer Dr. William Remington looked over Wawasee’s plan for that. Students who are not being dropped off by parents are being bussed in, and students on buses are wearing masks. Students must wear masks going into the school buildings.
Troyer said there’s over 150 students in the elementary and middle schools’ summer programs, but there’s a kindergarten jumpstart program. Wawasee also is partnering with United Way for its Start United program.
Edington said the Wawasee School Board approved the school reopening plan at its meeting Tuesday. Troyer hit the highlights of the plan.
He said Wawasee has three different models of instruction: face-to-face, involving students in buildings; a distance learning model that doesn’t involve students coming into buildings; and numerous hybrid possibilities.
Wawasee established four district response levels “that we could put our district in that would kind of dictate what model or models we’re working in,” Troyer said. District status with a level 0 would be “completely normal operations,” though Troyer said they probably wouldn’t be there in the immediate future. Level 3 is on the other end and would include some type of stay-at-home order. Levels 1 and 2 are aligned heavily with the state’s Back On Track plan, he said. Level 1 would be if the state was at Phase 5 (it’s currently at Phase 4.5), and level 2 would be anything less than Phase 5 of the state’s reopening plan. Troyer said the main difference between 1 and 2 are the enhanced safety protocols, and Wawasee is planning to be at Level 1 by Aug. 13.
Wawasee presented two documents to the school board Tuesday night. The first was for on-campus learning. Wawasee is planning for five days per week of on-campus learning, with some minor tweaks to the daily schedules.
Troyer said Wawasee developed an at-home screening protocol it will be asking families to work through. The school district will not be collecting that data because that would be an “overwhelming” project, he said.
“Our vision for the screening protocol is that we’d put that in the hands of every family and ask them and educate them to be really intentional about examining the health of their children and what they potentially could have been exposed to prior to sending kids into facilities,” Troyer said.
Wawasee is looking at some enhanced sanitization, cleaning protocols and hand-washing opportunities and “really being intentional about keeping our buildings clean and sanitary,” he said.
Custodial teams will be adjusted to make sure high-traffic areas and high points of contact and classrooms, common areas, etc. are focused on throughout the day, evenings, weekends and school days off.
As for masks and face coverings, Troyer said Wawasee will be similarly aligned to what Warsaw schools are doing. Wawasee will recommend students and staff wear masks, but will allow them to remove the masks in classrooms once they are seated.
“We are strongly encouraging that students wear masks in hallways, restrooms and other common areas. And then, at this point, again operating in Level 1, making that assumption, we would only require a mask on school buses, and in health clinics and potentially where spaces would be very limited where you would have a lot of kids or staff close together,” Troyer said.
Wawasee will provide at least two cloth masks to all students and staff.
One of the big changes Wawasee is making to the school year, Troyer said, is the school start time. If a school starts at 8:15 a.m., it will now start at about 8:45, he gave as an example.
“We plan to have targeted cleaning and allocating our custodial resources in each building during that time,” he said, while providing teachers extra time to prepare for in-class and virtual learning lessons. Individual buildings will communicate their start times with their families. If things ever go back to “normal,” he said that later start time will end and school start time will return to what it was. The school day will end at the same time as before.
Visitors into the buildings will be restricted. Troyer said Wawasee is not looking at doing field trips and big group convocations. Public events and programs that happen in schools and are a big part of schools and the community will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis but may have to look different or not happen at all.
Troyer said Wawasee will encourage outdoor learning whenever possible.
As for the online only option for student learning, Troyer said there’s an online enrollment form for families posted on Wawasee’s website. The district is asking families that if they choose that, that they commit to at least a trimester. The deadline to sign up is July 31 so that Wawasee can prepare.
Asked if students can participate in extracurricular activities and sports at Wawasee if they take classes virtually only, Edington said no.
Edington said graduation for the class of 2020 is at 10 a.m. this Saturday and is a ticket-only event.
Wawasee Superintendent Dr. Tom Edington and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Stephen Troyer provided the school district’s list of changes for this upcoming school at the weekly coronavirus press conference Wednesday at Warsaw City Hall.
Edington said Wawasee has a student enrollment of about 3,000 students in five schools, with the high school having about 1,000 of those students. It encompasses the communities of Milford, North Webster and Syracuse. During this summer, he said the school corporation has been providing about 9,000 meals to hundreds of students per week under federal guidelines.
Troyer said Wawasee has two sessions of summer school this year, with about 110 at the beginning of June and 60 continuing into the second session. They are online classes.
Edington said the kindergarten to eighth grade summer school begins July 20, and County Public Health Officer Dr. William Remington looked over Wawasee’s plan for that. Students who are not being dropped off by parents are being bussed in, and students on buses are wearing masks. Students must wear masks going into the school buildings.
Troyer said there’s over 150 students in the elementary and middle schools’ summer programs, but there’s a kindergarten jumpstart program. Wawasee also is partnering with United Way for its Start United program.
Edington said the Wawasee School Board approved the school reopening plan at its meeting Tuesday. Troyer hit the highlights of the plan.
He said Wawasee has three different models of instruction: face-to-face, involving students in buildings; a distance learning model that doesn’t involve students coming into buildings; and numerous hybrid possibilities.
Wawasee established four district response levels “that we could put our district in that would kind of dictate what model or models we’re working in,” Troyer said. District status with a level 0 would be “completely normal operations,” though Troyer said they probably wouldn’t be there in the immediate future. Level 3 is on the other end and would include some type of stay-at-home order. Levels 1 and 2 are aligned heavily with the state’s Back On Track plan, he said. Level 1 would be if the state was at Phase 5 (it’s currently at Phase 4.5), and level 2 would be anything less than Phase 5 of the state’s reopening plan. Troyer said the main difference between 1 and 2 are the enhanced safety protocols, and Wawasee is planning to be at Level 1 by Aug. 13.
Wawasee presented two documents to the school board Tuesday night. The first was for on-campus learning. Wawasee is planning for five days per week of on-campus learning, with some minor tweaks to the daily schedules.
Troyer said Wawasee developed an at-home screening protocol it will be asking families to work through. The school district will not be collecting that data because that would be an “overwhelming” project, he said.
“Our vision for the screening protocol is that we’d put that in the hands of every family and ask them and educate them to be really intentional about examining the health of their children and what they potentially could have been exposed to prior to sending kids into facilities,” Troyer said.
Wawasee is looking at some enhanced sanitization, cleaning protocols and hand-washing opportunities and “really being intentional about keeping our buildings clean and sanitary,” he said.
Custodial teams will be adjusted to make sure high-traffic areas and high points of contact and classrooms, common areas, etc. are focused on throughout the day, evenings, weekends and school days off.
As for masks and face coverings, Troyer said Wawasee will be similarly aligned to what Warsaw schools are doing. Wawasee will recommend students and staff wear masks, but will allow them to remove the masks in classrooms once they are seated.
“We are strongly encouraging that students wear masks in hallways, restrooms and other common areas. And then, at this point, again operating in Level 1, making that assumption, we would only require a mask on school buses, and in health clinics and potentially where spaces would be very limited where you would have a lot of kids or staff close together,” Troyer said.
Wawasee will provide at least two cloth masks to all students and staff.
One of the big changes Wawasee is making to the school year, Troyer said, is the school start time. If a school starts at 8:15 a.m., it will now start at about 8:45, he gave as an example.
“We plan to have targeted cleaning and allocating our custodial resources in each building during that time,” he said, while providing teachers extra time to prepare for in-class and virtual learning lessons. Individual buildings will communicate their start times with their families. If things ever go back to “normal,” he said that later start time will end and school start time will return to what it was. The school day will end at the same time as before.
Visitors into the buildings will be restricted. Troyer said Wawasee is not looking at doing field trips and big group convocations. Public events and programs that happen in schools and are a big part of schools and the community will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis but may have to look different or not happen at all.
Troyer said Wawasee will encourage outdoor learning whenever possible.
As for the online only option for student learning, Troyer said there’s an online enrollment form for families posted on Wawasee’s website. The district is asking families that if they choose that, that they commit to at least a trimester. The deadline to sign up is July 31 so that Wawasee can prepare.
Asked if students can participate in extracurricular activities and sports at Wawasee if they take classes virtually only, Edington said no.
Edington said graduation for the class of 2020 is at 10 a.m. this Saturday and is a ticket-only event.
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