FOSTORIA, Ohio — In a few weeks, Fostoria City Schools will be starting a new school year.
For students in the Fostoria City Schools district, you had two options; either a full-time online remote learning curriculum, or a five days a week in-person curriculum.
Superintendent Andrew Sprang said feedback from parents showed that a hybrid option was not popular enough to be on the table.
For the online students, elementary teachers will mostly run lessons directly; while at the secondary level, the core specific lessons will be done through a third party site.
Andrew says about 1/3 of their enrolled students are signed up to be entirely online.
"Unfortunately, not having everyone back in the building is a kind of a good thing. Because it gives us the opportunity to spread out in classrooms a little bit more. And in our new junior senior high school building, those classrooms are a little bit bigger, so we have a little bit more space there," said Sprang.
Sprang said Fostoria Schools has been working closely with the Seneca County Health Department to ensure they can maintain distancing in the classroom.
They have designated another isolated area separated from the school's clinic for students to wait in the event they do test positive for COVID-19.
And though it goes against the usual mindset for educators, the district will be much more in favor of students staying home for a sick day.
"Where we always want to push for perfect attendance, we always want to push being here everyday. But you know, if you're not feeling good, it's our recommendation that you stay home this year. And we're going to work with you to get through those issues as well," said Sprang.
Fostoria City Schools is set to begin their classes on Tuesday Sept. 1.