Schools to utilize job center for online learners

Lease agreement to be voted on at district’s annual meeting next week
By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

The Shawano School District could be utilizing a portion of the Fellman Center that once housed the Shawano County Job Center for students who need help during virtual learning days.

The idea was presented Monday to the Shawano School Board, but final approval will need to come from district residents themselves at next week’s annual meeting — a requirement when the district enters into a lease agreement with another entity for a building not owned by the district.

Superintendent Randi Anderson said the idea came about as a way to help students who are having to learn at home at least part time and did not have the internet infrastructure needed to adequately learn online. Currently, middle school students in Shawano’s public schools are in a virtual environment for three days a week, and high school students are virtual for four days.

Robyn Shingler, Shawano Community Education director, said the space at the job center could accommodate up to 25 students at a time with social distancing measures in place. Therefore the district would need to set up shifts at the facility for which the students would sign up, with a limit of two per week per student.

Shingler said the job center’s board of directors that manages the building is not seeking rent from the district, but it would require the district to set up its own Wi-Fi and provide its own cleaning services.

“We’re trying to think of the best way to help our students who are having trouble with broadband access, and we started thinking of partnerships with the community,” said Shingler, who also serves on the center’s board and had previously been an employee at the center for 18 years.

She added that the proximity of the Fellman Center, a couple of blocks north of Shawano Community Middle School, makes it convenient for students living in Shawano.

The Fellman Center once housed the social services department for Shawano County, but that department has since moved to a new facility on Anderson Avenue in the Town of Wescott, which has left some vacant space that the district can capitalize on, Shingler said.

She noted that the district has a long-standing relationship with the job center.

“They have provided things like job fairs, free busing to attend those job fairs, staff that has come over to the schools and helped the kids with things like interviewing,” Shingler said, citing examples of areas in which the two entities have collaborated.

The space could be available in four to six weeks, according to Shingler, pending the approval of the lease agreement at the annual meeting.

The idea had support from most board members, with the exception of Mart Grams, who questioned why the district didn’t use its own facilities and was concerned it would cost too much to lease.

“Two shifts would be 40 kids, so why can’t we stick those 40 kids in the school?” Grams said. “For one day, that is such a small number.”

Nathan Hanson, assistant principal for Shawano Community High School, pointed out that the current coronavirus numbers prohibit having more students in his school. According to the Shawano-Menominee Counties Health Department, Shawano County had 593 positive cases reported at the time of the board meeting.

“Our first wave will be the e-learners that don’t have the access that they need,” Hanson said. “If it wasn’t for COVID(-19), you could fit a lot more students in there (the job center).”

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com

THE NEXT STEP

WHAT: Shawano School District annual meeting

WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Sept. 28

FYI: The annual meeting will be on Zoom due to COVID-19 concerns. More details can be found at www.shawanoschools.com