By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Rewards outweighing the risks. It is a concept that many use in their personal lives and in business. The Great Bend school districtâs plan to restart school Aug. 27 with on-site learning mentions USD 428 wants to provide an environment where the rewards of attending school outweigh the risks.
To make reopening school buildings rewarding during the COVID-19 pandemic, the district formulated a 20-page Restart Plan that the Board of Education examined Monday night. A return to on-site learning with a structure as ânormal as possibleâ is the preferred method, but USD 428 is also offering GB Remote Learning which will offer off-campus education with school staff monitoring.
USD 428 Superintendent Khris Thexton says the hybrid option of on-site
and remote learning would only be used when required by elevated public health
concerns or when social distancing must be strictly enforced.
"This could be one of those situations where the elementary is on-site and secondary goes hybrid," said Thexton. "It is not one size fits all."
As of Monday night, 2,380 students were enrolled for the 2020-2021 school year.
Thexton noted 244 of those students, or roughly 10%, have chosen the
remote learning option. The deadline to choose the GB Remote Learning is Wednesday, Aug. 12.
"We want to keep the elementary kids in school as long as possible and as safely as possible," Thexton said. "The thing that helps the elementary schools is the static groups. That class stays together. When it is music time, the teacher will come to them."
Instructional time will be slightly reduced, especially at the middle school and high school, to have students clean and disinfect high-touch areas before moving to their next class.
Everyone in the buildings
will be required to wear a mask, and all K-12 students and staff will be given
five masks before school starts. Thexton says keeping staff healthy will be
paramount to continue on-site learning.
"We are already low on substitute teachers," Thexton added. "We have subs that won't be able to help us this year. "We are going to use a lot of our classified staff to help us in coverage. We are going to get pretty creative."
Other guidelines and protocols:
- Lockers will not be
used this school year in Great Bend.
- Playing band instruments and singing
during class may be limited.
-Students should be kept in static groups at recess
that remain the same from day to day on the playground and will be assigned
designated areas to play.
The entire Restart Plan can be viewed at greatbendschools.net.
Listen below to the entire Restart Plan discussion from the school board meeting Aug. 10.