Marshfield (OnFocus) – The School District of Marshfield provided an update regarding the school district’s instructional approach for the 2020-21 school year, which is scheduled to start on September 1. Find the full presentation here.
At a special meeting Monday night, the school board voted to approve three different potential options, giving the power to the superintendent to implement each respective plan when appropriate. That way, as the situation changes, Superintendent Ryan Christianson will be able to decide between in-person, cohort schedule, and 100% online – depending on the progression of COVID-19 at any particular time. Basically, all plans are approved and he has the power to decide which one is most appropriate at any given time.
The current forecast for the September 1 start-up of schools includes “traditional” in-person instruction in elementary schools and 4K Community Sites (grades 4K-6), while the middle and high schools (grades 7-12) are projected to start the school year on blended model with cohorts.
Parents will be receiving an email this evening outlining the decision, but here is a brief overview of the newly introduced cohort model. (Note: this is not officially the model, but the Superintendent has the power to implement this model if appropriate at the time when school is scheduled to begin.)
The plan the School Board spoke the most in length about was a “cohort” schedule. The schedule would place kids in a 5-class day every 4 days. There would be a “0” hour that would be for students to speak with a teacher from one of the classes that is not in their normal 4-class day. Each student will be attending school in person once every 4 days, and on the days they are not in school they would be attending their classes virtually.
So, for example if a student has Math on day 1, they would not see their math teacher in person for 8 days. They will rotate which classes they are in person for every 4 days. If day 1 is Algebra, Chemistry, English, & Programming, Day 5 for that student might be Spanish, History, Orchestra, & Geology. For parents who are uncomfortable with this option, they are offering a fully virtual option. Exceptions may also be considered for students who may require more than one in-person school day every 4 days.
Marshfield Middle School is looking to have an every other day cohort schedule. Elementary is similar to the Middle School’s cohort schedule. A group would coincide with the A & B group at the high school. The B group would coincide with the C & D group at the high school.
Utilizing a document released by the American Academy of Pediatrics, called COVID-19 Planning Considerations: Guidance for School Re-entry, two district-level committees in the areas of “Teaching and Learning” and “Operations and Safety” have met recently to fine tune the greater details of the district’s reopening plans.
Planning had heretofore been based on three possible scenarios for the upcoming school year; traditional in-person instruction, blended approach (i.e., Cohort model), and 100% remote online learning.
In a parent survey conducted earlier this year, the school district received 2,319 responses, with respondents’ choosing the following:
“Traditional” in-person instruction = 65%
Blended approach (partially online and partially in-person) = 27%
100% remote online learning = 8%
Approximately 9% of parents indicated on the survey they were “not at all comfortable” with having their child(ren) return to their school(s) in the fall.
“Rest assured, we intend to provide a 100% remote online learning option for those families who prefer to keep their child(ren) home and want to stay with virtual learning for the entire 2020-21 school year,” said Christianson earlier this year.
Regarding a blended approach (this would involve dividing students into cohorts and having students attend school intermittently on separate days in their cohort groupings), the bulk of the district’s recent planning has been focused on devising the type of “cohort model” they believe will best suit the school district.
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Author: News Desk
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