School districts across Vermont are beginning to release information about whether they will open this fall, and if so, what school days might look like amidst a pandemic.
But school administrators stress that because Vermont’s infection levels may change, so too might their plans, which is little comfort to anxious parents.
In Rutland, officials hope to offer a combination of in-person and remote learning.
Class in the gym?
Rutland High School has about 800 students, so figuring out how they can all learn, eat, mingle and circulate while maintaining social distance is complicated.
Bill Olsen was principal of the high school for 11 years before being named the city’s school superintendent this summer. During a recent visit with VPR, Olsen and assistant principal Steve Sampson walked through the high school and explained tentative plans for the fall.
In the gym, Sampson pointed to the spot in the rafters where two curtains can drop down and divide the space into three sections. While crowded basketball games seem unlikely, Olsen and Sampson said the dividers may allow them to use the gym for larger classes, special projects or even band practice.
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“We're thinking about using the library as classroom space," Sampson said. “The cafeteria, which is now not going to be used for breakfast or lunch, as classroom space."
He added: “We're even considering using temporary structures outside, in the nice-weather time of the year, at the beginning of the year."
Through a doorway just off the gymnasium, Sampson and Olsen ducked into a small locker room. Benches and lockers line two walls, and there’s a door that leads outside, which means this out-of-the way room could come in very handy.
“The plan is to perhaps use this as a quarantine area for students who are sick, because there's a direct access exit right here,” Sampson said. “So we don't have to have kids go through the entire building to leave for the day.”
"Big giant checklist"
This is the type of creative thinking needed if you’re going to bring hundreds of people together every day during a pandemic.
Bill Olsen says a team of teachers, administrators, school psychologists and building supervisors have been mapping out a strategy since early June, and there’s a lot at stake.
“You've got this big giant checklist of topics that you have to address," he said. "And like we've said all along, there's still pieces that you don't realize until you kind of get into it.”
Olsen says he wants families to have options. Those who want their kids to stay home and learn remotely can do that, he said. But the high school will also provide in-person learning. It just won’t be for every student at the same time.
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Steve Sampson says ninth graders will be allowed into the building every day since they’re new and may need more time to adjust. But sophomores, juniors and seniors will alternate days.
“We're looking at a hybrid schedule that will have about half of our students in the building each day," Sampson said.
So, during any given class, half the kids will be sitting at their desks, while the other half are home learning remotely. It’s not ideal, both men concede, but crucial for maintaining social distancing.
How exactly that’s going to work for teachers who will have to teach kids in a classroom at the same time they’re instructing kids at home remains to be seen. Sampson says their IT department has been holding trial runs to get some of the kinks out.
Classes, which traditionally run 70 minutes, will be shortened slightly to provide more transition time so that students can move in waves from one class to another instead of all at once.
"Another kind of detail that we'll need to focus on is, to not share materials,” Sampson said.
They’re still trying to figure out protocols for the library, he says, but the computer lab with its rows of desk top keyboards?
“We’re in the process of breaking those down," Sampson said. “And all of our students now have Chromebooks.”
Anyone in the building will have to wear a mask, and there will be hand sanitizer at every door. Students will use different entrances when they arrive, and there will be check-in protocols for daily health screenings, details of which are still being worked out.
Kids who get breakfast at school will pick theirs up as they walk in and eat in their first classroom. And since the cafeteria will no longer serve food, lunches will be delivered and also eaten in classrooms.
A survey the Rutland City school district sent out indicated 34% of families plan to use a bus at least some of the time, another thing to be worked out.
Having a plan A, B and C
Sampson says prepping for the upcoming school year has been like putting together a giant puzzle.
"Fortunately, we’ve had the gift of time over the summer," he said.
But, he added,“If there's one thing that's constantly in the back of my mind, is that time is sifting through our fingers every day. So we're getting closer and closer to the beginning of the year, and still have a lot of work to do on some of those details."
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Bill Olsen says they’re getting a lot of good information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Vermont’s Agency of Education, and other states like Maryland and Ohio.
"We're hoping to make sure every family feels comfortable with the plan that they want their kid to take part in,” Olsen said.
In the end, however, he admits they need to have contingency plans. Because once school starts and plan A isn’t working, or things change (and they probably will), they want to have a plan B and a plan C ready to go.
