Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home School District staff are starting to imagine how school will look in September, when the next school year starts.
Supt. Tom Yahraes outlined preliminary discussions about that during the School Board’s regular meeting, held virtually Monday night. Oregon schools have been closed since March, when Gov. Kate Brown ordered them closed to help slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“At this point,” Yahraes said. “We do not know exactly what re-opening will look like next year. ODE has not given guidance as of yet. We will follow Oregon Health Authority guidance in how to reopen.”
Before the next school year, the district has its summer school program, Yahraes said. “Currently, ODE is wrestling with summer provisions for staff and potential summertime students. No information is available yet.”
The governor’s orders still permit summer school, he said. How that looks is up to ODE, and district officials are awaiting guidance.
“What we can do now is predict scenarios, understand the data and understand where the science is at to develop a plan,” Yahraes said. “With no possibility of a vaccine reportedly for 8 to 20 months, we know we will be dealing with COVID-19 operationally next year. We don’t want to squander time.”
To get a handle on how to deal with it, he and his staff are looking at what they can learn from other countries, what they’ve done to ensure physical distancing in the classroom, and other states to position the district to go back to school.
“We’ve begun to assemble a team to examine what teaching might look like next year,” Yahraes told The New Era. No particular solution is on tap, but among concepts, schools could have rotating classrooms, with 15 students physically distanced and swapping attendance every other day, with a mix of distance learning.
“We can assume current social distancing practices and cleaning protocols and apply these concepts to next year,” Yahraes said. The district is trying to get ahead when it comes to safety and hygiene before ODE gives out its directions.
Every school will start with a double supply of masks, disinfectant, face shields, thermometers and cleaning supply for staff and students, he said. Every school will have a sprayer to help keep the schools disinfected.
District staff is proposing an increase in nursing staff, from 1.5 full-time equivalents to 2 FTE, in the budget for 2020-21, Yahraes said. “We’re anticipating this is going to be front and center.
The nursing staff will be available to counsel staff and work with students, he said.
The district is ordering everything it can now, Yahraes said. “We are predicting that in August, ODE will place their guidelines, and there will be a surge in orders.”
“We will, of course, follow all ODE and the OHA and CDC guidelines,” Yahraes said. It behooves us to think ahead. Reopening will not mean everything is back to normal. We have the highest responsibility to keep our students, staff, families, and community safe and healthy. In Sweet Home, we’re not about waiting, we’re about planning and preparing so that when we reopen we have the equipment, materials and safety protocols.”
Present at the meeting were Joe Kennedy, Jim Gourley, Jason Van Eck, Chanz Keeney, Mike Reynolds, Chairman Jason Redick, Angela Clegg, Debra K. Brown and Jenny Daniels.
In other business, the board:
– Approved the hiring of Amanda Sciscioli, .5 FTE Holley Elementary teacher and .25 TAG coordinator for 2020-21.
– Approved the retirement of Mary Cascio, first-grade teacher at Foster Elementary.
– Approved the hiring of Whitney Grizzle, Sweet Home Junior High math teacher for 2020-21.
– Student Autumn Spellman won a drawing for an iPad. The drawing was from among all ESPY Award winners this year.