The spring of 2020 was unlike any semester for school districts around the country.

And while plans for the upcoming school year are still in flux, many expect the return to classes to be just as different as educators deal with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and experience gleaned from an unexpected shutdown.

“We learned a lot of lessons from the spring, for sure,” said Michael Ginestre, superintendent of the Sherman Central School District in Chautauqua County, N.Y.

In adapting to sudden, school-wide distance learning, an emphasis was placed on engaging with students a couple times a week via phone and video-conferencing, Ginestre said. While the hope is to have its 440 students back in the single pre-K through 12th-grade building as much as possible, it’s expected in-person learning will be part of a hybrid model that also utilizes online components.

Whatever form it takes will be much more organized, Ginestre said – with grading, accountability and a schedule.

“Our goal, at Sherman anyway, is to make it look and feel as much like school as it was prior to the pandemic … whether we’re in person or not,” he said.

Sept. 8 is expected to be the first day for in-person instruction in New York, Ginestre said, but a final announcement from Gov. Andrew Cuomo is anticipated during the first week in August.

Around the country, districts large and small, rural and urban, are preparing for the start of classes, knowing their circumstances could change quickly, as they did in the spring.

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Florida

The end of the spring term gave officials with the School District of Lee County in Florida a clearer direction of what parents want from a virtual platform, said Rob Spicker, assistant director of media relations and public information for the district.

“It prepared our teachers and our students for virtual learning,” Spicker said. “It gave us confidence that if we have to quickly pivot from the models we are offering to distance learning for everyone, we know what to do and how to do it, Health and safety has changed. We are requiring masks on the bus and in the hallways during class change when social distancing is hardest to maintain. We are recommending masks during the rest of the day.”

Spicker said the Florida Department of Education is requiring schools be open for students five days a week. The district, which serves more than 95,000 students in 120 schools, has developed four instructional models for students, who are slated to return to class Aug. 31.

In the first, students come to school five days a week for face-to-face instruction.

Spicker said the schools have separated desks as far as possible in every classroom and are designating hallways and stairs for one-way traffic and doors for either entry or exit.

“We are increasing our cleaning protocols and adjusting custodial schedules so high-traffic areas can be disinfected more often during the day,” Spicker said. “We are increasing the cleaning of our buses to between every route. We are using higher standard filters in our air and heating systems and changing them out more frequently. We are establishing more outdoor and indoor areas where students can eat lunch. We are establishing isolation rooms should a student demonstrate the symptoms of COVID-19.”

He said they are trying to create the safest environment possible and are checking temperatures of every student as they arrive on campus.

The second option is Lee Home Connect, in which students will be assigned a teacher for full-time online learning that includes a daily schedule that is more structured than the digital model used last school year.

“Students will be required to log on to Google Classroom or Google Meet at specified times during the day for different subjects with their teachers and peers,” Spicker said.

The third option is Lee Virtual School, one of Florida’s top virtual schools.

“Students choosing this model are self-paced and have flexibility around when they log on to complete assignments,” he said.

Students have the option of returning to face-to-face instruction at certain times, depending on the model.

The fourth choice for students is homeschooling, where they will be placed in the district’s full-time Home Education Program and a parent or guardian will teach the student at home.

“Flexibility is going to be key this coming school year,” Spicker said. “Our schools and teachers need to be flexible should the need arise to change the way we provide instruction. And our families are going to need to be flexible should there be a temporary or long-term change to their child’s learning environment.”

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Michigan

In Iron Mountain, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, students will have three options when classes resume Aug. 26: in-person, a combination of in-person and distance learning or taking all their courses online.

The traditional classroom setting will look a little different this year. Because COVID-19 cases in the Upper Peninsula have remained lower than the downstate areas, they are currently in Phase 5 of the state’s six-phase plan.

Even so, schools are prepping for the possibility that if cases rise, they could be downgraded back to a lower phase.

“We have plans for Phase 4 and Phase 3 with some additional safety protocols,” said William Traber, grades five through 12 principal for Iron Mountain Public Schools, which served 918 students in the 2019-20 school year.

He said the schools are aligning with the recommendations, but “in some instances, we are going above and beyond with cleaning procedures.”

The hybrid model for students will involve the use of Zoom “or video recording of lectures, and posting that on a learning management system like Google Classroom,” Traber said.

The district has been offering online courses for four years for students, so those will continue.

“It’s the same standards, but it’s a different curriculum than what our in-building teachers use,” Traber said. “The rigor is still there; the content is still there; it’s just that the delivery method is a little bit different.”

When schools closed in the spring, in-building teachers began teaching their curriculum online as well.

Traber expects most students to return to the classroom, but he noted that all students would have the same access to school resources, including career counseling and guidance counseling, regardless of which learning option they choose.

Many teachers have been coming up with ideas to implement in the classroom in response to the new setup. Many have learned how to use new online programs since going fully virtual in the spring.

“It’s definitely going to be improved,” Traber said of the learning platforms going forwardl. “The teachers are preparing their curriculum for in-person instruction, and what does that rigor look like if we have to go online, or if we have a certain portion of their students that have to be out of the classroom.”

He said there is a level of anxiety that goes along with all the new procedures and the unknowns, but the district is ready to adjust as needed and teachers are ready to get back in the classroom.

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New Hampshire

Nashua School District Superintendent Jahmal Mosley stated in a recent letter to the community that local health officials said returning to in-person schooling is not safe. The school is looking to a combination of remote and in-person learning and a fully remote learning model.

“It is our goal to work toward a hybrid model; however, should science and data dictate otherwise, we will be fully prepared to shift to remote learning,” Mosley said. “Gov. (Chris) Sununu released reopening guidelines. Essentially the guidelines allow school districts to create their own guidelines, tailored to local epidemiology.”

He said they are taking a nimble approach and are continuing to look at the issues through the lens of health and safety for students and staff.

“Our COVID-19 pandemic reentry plan will be deliberate, pragmatic and systematic in order to maintain the safety of all our students and staff,” Mosley said. “With continued understanding and collaboration, we will balance our mission to teach our students with the realities of navigating a pandemic.”

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