With a SMART Start plan in place, and a beginning to the year scheduled for Sept. 8, the Wrangell School District is now working to decide what risk level they should operate at for the upcoming school year. While the SMART Start plan on the district's website lists "medium risk" as the starting level for next year, a recent announcement by Superintendent Debbe Lancaster made the public aware this might not be the case.
"The district will determine whether the schools will open at a medium or high risk level on August 24," Lancaster's announcement reads, on the district website. "The decision will be based on many factors including the EOC community risk determination data. After the decision is made, a message will be posted on the district web site and sent via email to all staff and families enrolled in Wrangell Public Schools."
According to the SMART Start plan, a set of guidelines for the district to try and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the schools, there is a significant difference between medium risk and high risk levels of operations.
In the secondary schools, the medium risk plan will have a regular school schedule from Monday to Thursday. Fridays will be half-days. There are other guidelines in place regarding social distancing, hand washing, face coverings, and other precautionary measures against COVID-19. A high risk level of operations, however, means that there will be no in-person instruction at all. All classes will be held online, similar to how the district handled the latter part of the previous school year.
At Evergreen Elementary school, the medium risk level of operations will have half of instruction being conducted in the school itself. The other half will be done via distance learning. Again, there are guidelines in place for precautionary measures such as social distancing and hand washing. At high risk, like the secondary schools, there will be no in-class instruction.
"If we do start school with online instruction, we will probably do so for the entire 1st semester," Secondary School Assistant Principal/Lead Teacher Bob Davis wrote in an Aug. 11 newsletter. "After all of the confusion of last spring and this summer, our students need some consistency ... If we open with in-school classes, parents will still have the
option to have their child take classes online. All of our in-class courses will have an online option. Students should be able to move easily and smoothly between the two options."
Comments and questions regarding the SMART Start plan can be sent to smartstart@wpsd.us. A copy of the plan, as well as the school calendar, can be found on the district's website at http://www.wpsd.us.
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