Whenever school starts, Great Bend USD 428 and the Kansas State Department of Education will have some guidelines in place, Superintendent Khris Thexton told the school board on Monday. He described a tentative School Restart Plan that anticipated Aug. 20 as the first day of school. Then on Wednesday, Gov. Laura Kelly announced that classes shouldn’t resume until after Labor Day.

“Initial information indicates that the school year will be delayed until after Labor Day and additional health precautions will be required,” USD 428 families were advised after the governor’s announcement. 

“We will know more early next week once the details are provided and reviewed by the Kansas State Board of Education. While this may adjust our start date and some daily operations, our priority to protect the health and safety of our students and staff remains. 

“Our Restart Plan will continue to flex, but the guiding principles still apply to our students’ success in On-Site or Remote Learning this Fall. Learn more at https://www.greatbendschools.net/restart

https://www.greatbendschools.net/restart

The plan described Monday outlined strategies to reduce health risks and provide a safe learning environment. Key actions are designed to reduce exposure and limit transmission of COVID-19 in the schools as plans are made to open in the fall.  

Parents will have the option of sending their students back to physical classrooms or having them receive remote education. 

Assistant Superintendent John Popp said the district wants to minimize risk, but no plan is risk-free – even leaving students at home.

“We fully understand that there will be people who show up in our schools at some point in the fall with the virus and there will be people who will get the virus, maybe potentially through school contact. ... That’s a very real part of the situation,” Popp said.

“(Safety) protocols include things like having all of our staff wear masks, maximizing the distance between student chairs ... and frequent hand washing. I can tell you for a fact that 6 feet between student chairs is not possible in our classrooms,” Popp said. “So we’re going to get them as far apart as possible. ... We should definitely be able to get over 3 feet.”

Students will have less direct contact with drinking fountains, instead using water bottle fill stations, Popp said as another example.

“The other option, if a family chooses complete remote learning, would be more technology driven with teacher input.”

Board member Deanna Essmiller asked if remote learning students will be doing the same things that students in the classroom are doing.

“It depends on the age level,” Popp said. Secondary students will most likely use a program designed for an online curriculum, with staff support. “But they will be covering the same content, the same standards.” 

A hybrid situation might look more like the old GBHS block schedule, Popp said, “where half the kids are in the building one day and the other half the other day. So on day one, (the first group of) kids get instruction and then on day two, when they’re home, they would be completing homework, watching videos about additional lessons or whatever, and then, flip flop. So essentially, the teacher’s teaching the same lesson two days in a row, and then the kids are doing the homework and things while they’re on their ‘off day’ or ‘home day.’” 

Essmiller said she’s heard other districts have considered dividing school into morning and afternoon groups. “Have you had any input from parents (about) which would work easier? Because I think that the childcare is going to be a big deal.”

Superintendent Thexton said discussions with school administrators led to the conclusion that it might be even more difficult for parents to schedule half-days of daycare than staggered full days. But it would be helpful to keep siblings on similar schedules. “If we can continue to keep brothers and sisters ... in the same days, ... that way the older siblings can watch the younger siblings (when they are at home)."

Keeping it clean

Disinfecting classrooms is another challenge and it was considered in the discussion of scheduling, Thexton said. “We even talked about two days with one group, an off day to clean and two days (for the next group), but I didn’t feel comfortable losing that whole day. (Also) we can adjust our custodial staff to work in the evenings to clean things up.”

Thexton said the district bought some high powered electrostatic cleaners, which are on order.

Popp added that the district has already purchased and received some reusable masks from Great Bend company Identifications. 

“I do want to say a word on part of the rationale for having our staff wear masks, both in protecting students but also in keeping our staff on hand with us,” Popp said. “Because if they’re wearing a mask, there’s much lower likelihood that they’re going to be asked to quarantine even if a kid in the classroom does come up positive for the virus. Having that mask on means that they get to come back tomorrow versus potentially being quarantined for 14 days.”

Cleaning becomes more difficult at the high school and middle school level, where students move from room to room. It’s easier when students can stay in one classroom and teachers come to them. “We’ll have to disinfect every classroom and wipe down everything after each session. Kids will have wipes to wipe down their desks,” Popp added.

Shorter school year

The board approved a 1,116-hour school year Monday, and a shortened year could create problems. This past school year, districts were excused from completing the full amount of instruction time.

“Shortening of days would put us in jeopardy of not hitting our mark,” Thexton said. “There has been no discussion at the legislative level about shortening that timeframe, where you receive another waiver. But we’ve heard that’s not going to happen.”

That also means that remote students, to count as full-time students, will have to log the same amount of hours remotely as they would in the building, he added.

Flexibility

Thexton said there would be some flexibility for parents who change their minds. In response to a follow-up question from the Great Bend Tribune on Thursday, USD 428 Public Information Director Andrea Bauer said, “For USD 428 Remote Learning, we are asking families to commit to nine weeks on the remote platform. There will be flexibility, but as we work to keep static groups in classroom, bringing students in and out of remote learning defeats the efforts.”

Bauer also added some information about the 1,116-hour calendar. If school starts on Sept. 9 instead of Aug. 20, that could add 11 days to the end of the school year, she said. However, that could be shortened by adding more instruction time to each school day.

Smart Thermometers

Earlier this year, Great Bend USD 428 applied for a Kinsa Smart Thermometer grant. At Monday’s school board meeting, Assistant Superintendent Popp said the grant application has been approved and will allow families in the district to receive free smart thermometers once they arrive. This could be helpful in keeping students safe from the spread of COVID-19. Administrators said they expect to be flexible in attendance because they don’t want children coming to school if they are ill.

Popp said he did not know whether the thermometers would be available before school starts.

For more information about the Kinsa Smart Thermometers, see the June 10 Tribune story or read it online at https://gbtribune.com/news/local-news/usd-428-applies-smart-thermometer-food-grants/.

Other grants and contributions approved by the school board on Monday include:

• Golden Belt Community Foundation/KHF Children’s Health Endowment grant for $680 for the Park Elementary School garden.

• A Feed Kansas Kids Grant from the Center for Learning Tree Institute for $12,078, to USD 428 Food Service.

• $300 to the Jefferson Elementary School Physical Education department from the American Heart Association.

• $35.08 in sales incentives to the district from Identifications Co.

• Donations totaling $41.85 to Great Bend High School for student lunch reimbursement.

In other business, the board approved the resignation of Lita Allen, teacher of business at Great Bend High School, and the appointments of Maricela Alonso, teacher of preschool at Riley Elementary, and Ashley Davis, teacher of special education at Jefferson Elementary.