Bonduel schools plan 5 days in classrooms

School days shortened to allow for cleaning, conferencing
By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

Bonduel School District is being bolder than most districts in northeast Wisconsin, pushing for traditional education five days per week despite the ongoing threat of the coronavirus.

While other districts are going with a hybrid model of learning, with a couple planning to do four days per week, Superintendent Joe Dawidziak said families in the Bonduel area are overwhelmingly in support of five days in the regular classrooms.

“Initially, we sent a survey out to our parents, just to gauge their interest,” Dawidziak said. “It was overwhelmingly in favor of traditional, and when we asked parents to choose finally, we had 86% that want to go the traditional route.”

Even though most families are happy to send their kids back to school, Dawidziak pointed out that about 14% are opting to go with a virtual education this year, similar to what schools had to offer after Gov. Tony Evers closed down all schools in March.

Although there are five days in school, the time spent in school will be shorter. Students at Bonduel Elementary School will have 34 minutes less in the classroom compared with last year, while class time will be reduced by an hour in Bonduel’s middle and high schools. Dawidziak said the school days are being shortened to allow cleaning staff to perform a deep cleaning of the facilities at the end of each day, while teachers can meet online with students in virtual learning.

“Outside of that, we’re probably doing the same things that other school districts are doing,” Dawidziak said. “We’re putting steps in place to socially distance during lunch and recess and in the hallways. We’re staggering times and those types of things.”

Busing could even itself out, with Dawidziak noting that one-third of families who usually have their children ride the bus plan to transport them on their own.

Activities will be limited in Bonduel. Dawidziak said the open house the district holds before school starts will not be taking place, and planning for other activities this fall will be “up in the air.”

“I would imagine there are going to be a lot more virtual meetings,” Dawidziak said. “There are going to be a lot more virtual open houses and parent-teacher conferences, those types of things, going forward.”

Even though Bonduel is committed to offering traditional school each day, he noted that changes could come if the pandemic takes a sharp turn for the worse in the area.

“A lot can change between now and Sept. 1,” Dawidziak said, noting that the reopening plan is similar to trying to “build a plane while we fly it.”

Dawidziak said plans are in place to make changes if there is a spike in local coronavirus cases, but any decision to shift to a different learning model will be done only after consulting with the Shawano-Menominee Counties Health Department.

He declined to elaborate, saying, “I don’t think it would be wise on my part to try to answer that now.”

Dawidziak added that, if the district decides to move into a learning model where virtual education is required for all students in some capacity, he believes the district will be in a much better position to help families who are in an area where internet infrastructure is very poor or nonexistent. He noted that having to go to a virtual learning model in the spring helped the school district to work out any quirks.

“I think we’re in a much better position to be able to help families if they have an issue with internet access,” Dawidziak said.

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com