FREDERICKTOWN — The board of education at Fredericktown Local Schools heard the district’s reopening plan for the 2020-21 school year at their meeting Tuesday.
Superintendent Susan Hayward, along with high school Principal Brent Garee, gave a PowerPoint presentation with all three plans for the reopening of schools. Plan A reopens the schools 5 days a week with social distancing and a face covering policy in place; Plan B has students attending two days in person and three days virtually with social distancing and face coverings in place during school hours; and Plan C has all students attending school virtually through an online format. Any student who wishes to learn remotely through the school’s Online Academy may do so.
The district will use the Ohio Public Health Advisory System to determine which plan to implement for the safety of students. Garee explained that for Levels 1 and 2 of the state’s tracking system, students would report to school five days a week. Knox County currently sits as a Level 1, or yellow, county.
If the county would move to the red level, Level 3, the school would move to the hybrid model. If the county would move to Level 4, the highest level on the state model, the schools would move completely to the distance learning plan. Other circumstances, Garee mentioned, such as teachers and substitutes coming down with the virus, may result in the superintendent modifying the plans.
“The reason we decided this is you can track it,” Garee said. “You can see if there’s an upward trend so you could start to make plans as you need as a family. ... So we might jump a level or two, and it’s so fluid this year that we just won’t know that but we will try to give you as much notice as possible with things like that coming forward.”
From that plan, Hayward said the district will start the school year out with Plan A, all students in school five days a week. This plan would include social distancing measures of 3 feet or more as per the American Association of Pediatrics guidelines, which students and staff will try to maintain in classrooms, common areas and other spaces. When that distance cannot be maintained, a mask will be required by all students. Face masks will also be required on the bus, entering and exiting the building and during class transitions. But they are not required to be worn in class when social distancing can be met.
“This is everyone’s guidelines,” Garee said in regards to the face mask policy. “If you want to go back to school, we’ve got to compromise here and play together, work together on this.”
The school will also be asking parents to conduct their safety checks at home with their children before they go to school. They are also working on putting together daily disinfecting protocols and disinfecting routines for buses. These guidelines will also be in place during the hybrid model of school — Plan B — if they were to move to that level. Hayward said what days students will come to school is still being determined but a plan should be released before the school moving to Plan B.
They are also in the process of figuring out how their Online Academy will work but have set a deadline of Aug. 7 for enrollment for the virtual school. Students who attend virtually will still be able to participate in extra-curricular.
“We’re still at the very early stages so today is really just defining our framework,” Hayward said. “And then we will begin the process of really working with our staff on what are things we need to consider and really working as a team... So we will now begin the process of really looking at every course and thinking about what adjustments do we need to make.”
The plans for an opening for the 2020-21 school year were approved by the board. The board also:
•Approved a memorandum of understanding with the Knox County Health Department for the implementation of a community garden.
•Approved the resignation of Nate Bellman, athletic director, effective at the end of the 2019-2020 school year.
•Approved the bid of $100,000 from DuraSeal for paving of the K-12 parking lot and bus loop.
•Approved a memorandum of understanding with the Fredericktown Education Association regarding supplemental contracts for coaches.
•Approved several contacts, various other resignations and the employment of personnel, supplementals and volunteers.