COVID-19 may force Highland District 5 schools into off campus learning this fall

Highland school leaders hope to have plans in place soon for the fall semester, but haven’t decided whether classes will be on-campus or not.

The superintendents of Madison County met with Madison County Health Department officials in recent weeks to get recommendations for how to safely hold school in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“They’ve asked us to be prepared for three possibilities,” said Highland Superintendent Mike Sutton

Those include: In-person learning with social distancing and other preventative measures; remote learning via the internet; or a hybrid of the two.

Social distancing has challenges in the existing school buildings.

“There is not enough square footage in a classroom for 25 kids to be socially distanced,” Sutton told the District 5 school board last Monday.

It is also difficult to enforce, he said.

“There will be kids who refuse to wear a mask, and situations where we can’t socially distance,” he said.

The day after the board meeting, the state board of education issued a 60-page list of recommendations, including requirements for social distancing to the extent possible, sanitization of facilities, symptom and temperature checks, fewer than 50 people gathered in any one space, and masks are required.

Madison County districts have flexibility; logistical, financial obstacles

But the guidelines left districts flexibility in how to structure their response. A hybrid model, for example, might involve half the students coming in one day while the others learn at home, and vice versa the next day. Another model might reduce class sizes to 15 students that remain in one room while the teachers rotate from room to room, with lunch served in the individual classrooms.

All the options pose a number of logistical and financial issues, Sutton said. For example, busing recommendations might require only one student per seat. Teachers cannot simultaneously teach in the classroom and online, so the split-day model might require hiring a significant number of additional staff or losing a lot of instruction time.

Another policy that will have to be decided: What if there is a positive case at a school?

“Do we cancel school for that class? For the building? For the district?” Sutton said. “There are all sorts of challenges we’re trying to work through and determine an appropriate plan.”

There are also discussions taking place about what schools can do if the state has to go back to Phase 3 or even Phase 2, about eliminating perfect attendance awards to keep from pressuring students to come to school when sick, flexibility in sick days with employees, and other discussions.

Wanting a consistent model across county; stressing patience

And what is right for Highland may be very different than the plans being discussed in Edwardsville, Alton and Belleville, Sutton said.

“We’d like to be consistent across the county,” Sutton said. “But in reality, we’re all different districts, with different parents and challenges.”

Sutton has sent a letter to all District 5 parents, in which he asked for their patience.

“Right now we don’t have all the answers to those questions, as this document was released to school districts today just as it was released to the public,” Sutton wrote. “We are keenly aware of the urgent need to communicate to families about what to expect next school year, and we anticipate releasing our own transition plan in mid-July.”

School is expected to begin Aug. 11 in Highland.