Summer school in COVID-19 produces mixed results

Fewer students enrolled as much of the class selections went virtual
By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

The Shawano School District’s summer school program was successful in spite of barriers caused by the coronavirus pandemic, coordinator Rod Watson reported to the school board Monday.

“The summer school 2020 experience was a new one for everybody,” Watson said. “We ran four different COVID(-19) responses to summer school this year.”

The district had planned its traditional curriculum with in-person classes prior to the state closing down all schools in March, Watson said, which required officials to revamp and figure out which classes could be offered virtually.

“We also run a couple of ancillary programs, but because of COVID-19, we kind of had to make it up as we went,” Watson said.

Virtual classes were offered for five weeks, but then the state Department of Public Instruction approved face-to-face programs for two weeks in July once most restrictions on schools had been lifted.

“Then the challenge was who could work and who would work in a COVID-19 environment,” Watson said.

Student enrollment numbers were down substantially. The district has had enrollment numbers hovering around the 1,000 benchmark for the last six years, but 2020 saw only 625 students take advantage of summer school programs.

“Our class size was around 18 for the virtual sessions and 15 for the in-person,” Watson said. “We had to keep the in-person very small to keep it safe.”

Watson noted that, even though there were only 625 students, many of them took multiple classes online — some of them participating in up to six classes for the summer. About half of the enrollment was online students, he said.

With much of the program being online, it resulted in zero behavioral issues reported to Watson and no safety concerns. Also, there were no reported cases of COVID-19 in the summer school classes, he said.

“Usually in September, you hear me reporting about some interesting behavioral cases,” Watson said. “That wasn’t the case this year.”

The issues the summer school program did experience included fading engagement. Watson said students were eager to participate in online classes when they first began, but in later weeks, students were not as interested in answering questions and offering insights.

Watson recommended that virtual classes continue to be provided even after the pandemic ends, but to make those classes shorter in order to combat the fatigue.

On the financial side of things, the district found itself in the black at $45,000 in terms of what it had budgeted for summer school. Watson said that the reduction in the number of students allowed the district to drop its teaching staff from 62 to 37, and support staff was bare bones, dropping from 95 employees to 11, only hiring administrative assistants and special education paraprofessionals to help the teachers.

Watson said he hopes to continue to have summer school enrollment take place online, as it cut down on the district’s paper costs.

Watson also reported that the district received a lot of cooperation from the city of Shawano when it came to providing locations for the in-person programs. He noted that the park and recreation department offered the use of the Eberlein and Franklin parks, even though they ultimately weren’t utilized. There was also help provided by the Shawano County Library.

“Sometimes, it’s really wonderful to live in Shawano,” Watson said.

Watson recommended that summer school in 2021 provide an option to fill in learning gaps during the pandemic. With schools closed for three months in the spring and only operating at partial capacity for the current school year, he feared students could fall behind in terms of learning.

“We’ll have instructional time lost in a year and a half,” Watson said. “We’re seeing the potential for an equity gap rising in students who don’t have the ability to connect (to online classes) and having less education.”

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com