Virtual learning staying in place for schools

With some area schools starting out in a hybrid learning environment or going full throttle with in-person education, many of those schools are now navigating their way through virtual education as a sharp increase in coronavirus cases for Shawano and Menominee counties has required them to close their doors again.

The results are mixed, with schools reporting various reasons for going to virtual learning.

Two more weeks for Shawano schools

Shawano School District had to go to virtual on Sept. 23 after starting the year with its elementary schools in session five days a week, its middle school going two days in person and three days online, and its high school having only one day per week in person. Superintendent Randi Anderson announced last week that the district would need to remain in virtual learning until Oct. 23.

“I was hoping in the first two weeks that we might see a plateau and have our numbers start coming down, but unfortunately, they’re not right now,” Anderson said. “If we do start to see that, we’re going to get our kids back in as soon as possible.”

As of Monday, 1,616 positive cases were reported in Shawano County, seven of them resulting in death, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. The Shawano-Menominee Counties Health Department reported that 762 of those cases took place in the last two weeks.

Anderson noted that principals are working to identify which students lack the internet infrastructure to provide additional support, whether it is through kajeets — or hotspots specifically for schools — or an alternative way of providing education, such as written materials sent to homes. She added that, because the schools are fairly empty at the moment, students without internet capabilities can be brought into the school with their Chromebooks to access classes that way.

“Our staff has done an outstanding job transitioning to the virtual environment, and they continue to work with our parents and our students,” Anderson said. “They have gone above and beyond learning a new platform, new environment, new resources, but we’re leveraging Google Meets at all levels. Our teachers are engaging with their students on a daily basis.”

For some families, though, there are some difficulties transitioning to online learning. Discussion threads on the Concerned Parents for Shawano Schools Facebook page are filled with parents describing issues they’re having with accessing the lessons, school emails and more. One parent even described that her son used to enjoy school and was taking advanced classes, but technical difficulties have put his grades at risk.

Menominee Indian in extended virtual mode

Menominee Indian School District started out its year by delaying the actual start of school until Sept. 14, with the intent of having students in school for two days per week and three online. However, a shutdown of the reservation prompted the district to go to all virtual learning until Nov. 4.

“With the rising number of cases in our area and Shawano, we decided to go virtual,” Assistant Superintendent Karl Morrin said. “Staff was working from school. Then last week, we made the decision to have staff work remotely because of the increasing numbers.”

Office and technical staff are working three days per week, four hours each day, at the schools, but otherwise the schools are empty, Morrin said. He noted that it was important to test the virtual learning environment for a full quarter and then examine what can be done differently.

“We want to make sure that our students are safe, our staff are safe and the community is safe,” Morrin said.

As of Monday, 179 positive cases were reported in Menominee County, but so far there have been no deaths. The health department reported that 99 of those cases took place in the last two weeks.

Menominee Indian has set up some mobile sites throughout the reservation so that students without internet access could get the information they need and use their Chromebooks, with teachers staffing them to help students who are having difficulties.

“We’re still having some problems with Wi-Fi connections in some of the outer regions, so we upped our Wi-Fi capability for all of our data … and we bought extra hotspots,” Morrin said. “We’re checking hotspots out to students so they’re able to get on to their Google classrooms.”

Besides the academic lessons, staff members are trying to teach social and emotional issues, as well.

“We think that’s a high priority so that our students have that person to be in touch with,” Morrin said.

Rising cases in Gresham prompt closure

Gresham School District had planned four days of in-person learning with Wednesdays being online so the district could do some deep cleaning. However, increased cases of COVID-19 prompted the district to switch to all virtual on Sept. 23.

“We had rising COVID in our building, rising COVID all over the place,” Superintendent Newell Haffner said, noting that his district would remain in virtual mode at least until Oct. 23.

Haffner said the change to virtual has gone better than it did last spring when the state shut down all schools for over three months, but virtual learning is no substitute for educating students face to face. Gresham has a particular challenge with internet infrastructure in its boundaries, and Haffner noted that those students are usually a week behind other students in learning.

“Our problem is that we have kids without internet,” Haffner said. “So, if we don’t bring our kids into school and let them sit in the parking lot to download videos and download the lessons from the teachers, we have to send it out to them on a flash drive. We have 25 kids that we’re sending flash drives home to every week.”

Deadlines have to be flexible for students in virtual learning as a result, according to Haffner, which means teachers have to be careful with the end of the quarter coming up.

“When you’re virtual, you lose a lot of control that the school has in helping kids get things done,” Haffner said.

He noted that his middle and high school students seem to be grasping the virtual learning technology, but it’s a little more difficult for his elementary students.

Lack of staff prompts Bonduel closure

Bonduel School District was bold in its back-to-school approach, going all five days in person for all schools. However, the district had to go virtual on Sept. 28, and an Oct. 6 notice to parents said the virtual mode would be in effect through Oct. 16.

“For us, it was mostly an issue of covering staff,” said Superintendent Joe Dawidziak, explaining why his district went to virtual learning. “I believe that it’s going to come to an end soon, but that is still the issue.”

Dawidziak said the transition to virtual learning has been easier this year, but higher expectations are attached regarding attendance and classwork. Regarding when the district might go back to in-person learning, he said, “We’re evaluating that daily.”

“The way things are going, it could change tomorrow,” Dawidziak said. “We’re tracking it pretty closely.”

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com