BEREA, Ohio -- The Berea City School District is preparing to bring back students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade for in-person, five-days-a-week instruction beginning sometime in January.
Superintendent Tracy Wheeler conveyed that message to the Berea Board of Education at the Dec. 7 meeting. She emphasized, however, “Plans are always in the moment.”
Grades 6 through 12 will remain in hybrid learning, which combines in-person and remote instruction. Students attend classes in the buildings on alternating days to keep numbers at half the normal population.
“The schools are not the major source of COVID-19 transmission, and it’s not spreading in school due to our strict cleaning protocols, our distancing, and our mask-wearing requirements,” Wheeler said.
“When the (state’s coronavirus) threat level goes back down to the lowest level, all students in Pre-K through grade 12 would return to in-person learning five days a week,” she said. “Over the past two months, we learned (in hybrid mode) that we can bring kids back in person and do it responsibly.”
If staff absences become an issue, the district would revert to remote learning, she said. Wheeler noted that since Nov. 20, a total of 42 certified, classified, and coaching staff were quarantined because of personal infection or close contact with someone infected.
Students will continue to wear masks at school, and social distancing will be maintained.
“There will be, as much as we can, distancing of 6 feet, but there are going to be situations where we only will be able to distance at 3 feet,” Wheeler said. “The American Academy of Pediatrics has said that that is OK.”
The middle school and high school populations will remain in hybrid learning because proper hallway distancing cannot be maintained during class changes if all students return to in-person instruction. They also could not properly distance on the bus or at lunchtime, Wheeler explained.
“It’s busy when we’re hybrid with just half our kids, but to bring all kids back in person in grades 6 through 12 would be hard to do,” she said.
Discussions will continue at the Dec. 21 board meeting. Winter break begins Dec. 23.
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