OREGON, Ohio — Oregon City Schools announce the school's restart plan for the 20-21 school year in a letter to parents and staff.
Under this plan, school officials say all students in grades K-6 will return to school under the hybrid model on Oct. 5.
Students in grades 7-12 will remain remote until October 19, 2020.
School officials say the goal with this plan is to allow students in grades K-6 to return before the end of the first quarter, but allow two weeks under the hybrid model to review procedures with students, evaluate the effectiveness of the school's procedures and acclimate everyone back to school before all students return.
Read the full letter below:
We are announcing the next phase of the 20-21 school year restart plan moving forward. There has been a lot of discussion and debate related to next steps which led to the following plan. Working with our board of education, and listening to each member's personal thoughts and ideas, we have tried to meet the various needs of all our stakeholders to have a seamless transition from remote learning. The goal is to balance the needs of our families, educational needs of our students, working conditions of our staff, and the overall safety of everyone.
Understand, this plan is subject to change at any time if/when conditions change, and conditions may change.
Our goal with this plan is to allow students in grades K-6 to return in a timely manner prior to the end of first quarter, but allow two weeks under the hybrid model to review procedures with students, evaluate the effectiveness of our procedures, and acclimate everyone back to school before all students return.
Students in grades 7-12 will remain remote until October 19, 2020. We want a consistent educational model for the entire first quarter allowing for consistent grading and accounting. This is why the older students will start back at a later date. For many of these students, grades are directly connected to credits towards graduation, so staying consistent throughout the quarter is a priority.
The following schedule will be implemented beginning Monday, October 5, 2020. The adopted 20-21 school calendar will continue to be followed moving forward.
Monday, October 5, 2020 - All students in grades K-6 will return under our hybrid option for two weeks. Student numbers will be reduced by half. They will attend two days at school and three days remote under the direction of OCS teachers. Students will follow our predetermined GREEN (A-K) & GOLD (L-Z) schedules. GREEN will attend on Mondays & Thursdays, and GOLD will attend on Tuesdays and Fridays. Wednesday will remain a remote learning day. We will follow the hybrid schedule for two weeks.
Monday, October 19, 2020 - All students K-6 return full time, five days per week.
Monday, October 19, 2020 - All students in grades 7-12 will return under our hybrid option for two weeks. Student numbers will be reduced by half. They will attend two days at school and three days remote under the direction of OCS teachers. Students will follow our predetermined GREEN (A-K) & GOLD (L-Z) schedules. GREEN will attend on Mondays & Thursdays, and GOLD will attend on Tuesdays and Fridays. Wednesday will remain a remote learning day. We will follow the hybrid schedule for two weeks.
November 2, 2020 - All students 7-12 return full time, five (5) days per week.
As a school leader, I have the opportunity to listen and participate in weekly calls with our local health department. I receive information on a daily basis outlining the most recent national, state and local recommendations related to COVID-19. I have the opportunity to talk with our educational staff, school administrators, and other area school leaders. I hear from members of the community sharing detailed information about their experiences at home, good and bad. I say all this to share with you, even with all this information I have access too, there continues to be significant uncertainty as to what will happen when we implement this plan and the spread of the virus within OCS.
I want everyone to know this uncertainty may lead to disruptions in student learning moving forward. The Lucas County Health Department is our partner and holds direct oversight when it comes to managing the Coronavirus cases which will eventually affect our students and staff. This plan may result in your child or other students to be quarantined or isolated at home. One infected student may cause a chain reaction of many quarantined students and possibly staff. There continues to be a risk with bringing students back into school, but we believe it is the right educational decision at this time and we will mitigate as much risk of transmission as possible in our schools.
We will minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission by adhering to the mandatory mask order. All students and staff will wear masks at all times unless there is a documented medical reason not to wear a mask. All students who ride the bus will be two per seat wearing masks and using hand sanitizer. All students and staff will have his/her temperature taken upon arrival to school every day. Every student and staff will be expected to use our 24 hour hand sanitizer upon arrival at school. Classrooms, restrooms, cafeterias, and common areas will be disinfected and cleaned daily with increased cleaning and disinfecting schedules along with ongoing evaluation of what is working and what is not.
Appropriate signage will be placed throughout the schools to remind all students and staff about proper health and safety procedures. Social (Physical) distancing will be a challenge in all our schools, especially when all students are attending. The goal for social distancing will always be six feet. The reality is our students will be physically spaced out to the maximum distance allowable given the classroom size or common area usable space. I feel confident our students will be at least three feet apart from each other in the classrooms during both the hybrid plan and when all students attend.
For students in grades 7-12, the most vulnerable times of the day will be during lunch time and in the hallways. We will implement structured traffic patterns, defined seating, and multiple lunch locations to minimize the risk during these times.
We know this plan will not meet the needs of all families. Those who want to remain remote will have the option to enroll in our OCS Digital Academy which is an online, independent, self-paced, and self-guided curriculum. With that said, we will be adding more support to the OCS Digital Academy students than originally planned. If you have any questions about our OCS Digital Academy, please email ocsdigitalacademy@oregoncs.org.
We are excited to get our students back into our buildings allowing everyone some sense of normalcy. We know there will be challenges ahead, but if we continue to work together to solve these challenges, our students will have the opportunity to remain in school and thrive
Respectfully submitted,
Hal D. Gregory
Superintendent
