Oconto Falls School Board stands pat on Jan. 4 return date

The Oconto Falls School Board is standing by its decision to have students return to in-person learning on Jan. 4.

The board on Dec. 14 let stand its November decision to return to the schedule that started the school year, with students in class four days a week and virtual instruction on Wednesdays.

After a month-long virtual pause in October because of high COVID-19 numbers, the school district set a schedule in November and December in which students attended school four days a week for two weeks, then spent two weeks in a combination of virtual classes and holidays, built around breaks for Thanksgiving, deer season, Christmas and New Year’s.

The idea was to provide two-week buffers, based on the belief that COVID can gestate up to 14 days before showing symptoms. The board believed by January the metrics would allow a return to the four-day schedule.

Superintendent Dean Hess laid out the option of providing one last virtual buffer week from Jan. 4-8, because of concerns that families will gather for a “normal” Christmas holiday and further spread the disease. He added that he could argue the issue either way.

“Staff members miss their students. They miss being able to have a greater impact on them, a greater ability to ensure that they’re engaged, all those positive things that end up resulting in a higher level of student learning,” Hess said. “With that in mind, they also recognize the fact that we’re dealing with things outside of our control right now.”

Before addressing the matter, the board had heard a parent present concerns about the impact of virtual learning on student grades, absenteeism and mental health, and student council leaders presented results of a high school survey that showed 62.7% of students prefer in-person class and only 19.5% prefer virtual learning, with the rest having no preference.

More telling, the survey found that the general question “How are you, on a scale of 1 to 5,” with 1 being terrible and 5 being great, found that nearly two-thirds were feeling poorly or neutral and only one-third were doing OK to great.

The board declined to take action changing the Jan. 4 return date.

“I haven’t seen enough data to suggest that we’re taking a large risk by coming back to school on the fourth,” board secretary Clint Gardebrecht said. “I would further like to see us in the January meeting, or if not then the February meeting, really starting the discussion of do we need Wednesdays to be virtual and consider going back to five days.”

Board vice president Jan Stranz encouraged the community to help keep metrics down by limiting their Christmas gatherings and practicing social distancing protocols when they do meet.