For schools to fully reopen, Rush Henrietta Central School District Superintendent Lawrence Bo Wright said Thursday that social distancing restrictions will have to be reconsidered.
He was one of six superintendents on a panel organized by advocacy group ACT for Education, a group of leaders from various Monroe County School districts that collaborate to “encourage community support for public education.” This panel was titled: “Continuity of Learning.”
Wright told his colleagues that many parents in his district want to know when schools will fully reopen. He says his district is using a hybrid plan, with students taking turns in school buildings for now.
But he said restrictions like how many students can be on each bus and in each classroom make it far-fetched for now.
“If you can only put 21 kids on a bus, max 30, but one per seat if you’re not from the same household, the conversation, to put it bluntly, ends there,” said Wright.
Other superintendents including Wheatland Chili’s Lynda Quick agreed that the restrictions shaped how they structured in-person learning for students. She said it was a priority in her district.
She said students returned to school buildings four days a week in September largely because her district is small, and a large number of families opted to receive remote education only for their children.
Quick said Wednesdays are used as a day for teachers to get all students the extra help they need.
“We are striving to maximize the opportunities for in-person learning as much as we can within those guidelines, we’ve all just had to do it a little differently based on our size and capacity,” said Quick.
While every district will move forward differently, they won’t do it alone.
“When we look at these guidelines and what we’d want to happen for kids going forward, it really needs to be a collaborative effort as we work through these things,” said Wright.
He expects to work with the health department, the state and confer with colleagues for best practices.
Wright said bringing kids back into buildings full time may take a while in his district. He says recent state decisions like allowing high-risk sports, signal that restrictions could loosen for other parts of school life.
https://vimeo.com/510499893">Public Schools in ACTion S1E8 - Continuity of Learning from https://vimeo.com/user25975226">Andrew Soucier on Vimeo.
