Reopening plan shifting more toward online

By ANTHONY ZILIS

azilis@news-gazette.com

CHAMPAIGN — The reopening plan put forth by the Champaign school district at Monday’s board meeting was only a starting point, Superintendent Susan Zola said.

The board decided that the goal of 18 students per classroom was too much, so the district is amending its plans to reduce the number of kids attending in person to those who truly need it.

“The plan (Monday) night was our early thinking, and we’ll use that plan to adjust based on feedback from the board,” Zola said Tuesday. “Now that we have some direction from the board, we’ll continue to develop those plans and work to articulate a message out to our families over the next week or so, where we’re at and next steps moving forward.”

Multiple board members suggested Monday that the district “slow-roll” its reopening, and that’s what it is now planning on doing, Zola said Tuesday.

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At the beginning of the year, the district will prioritize students with Individualized Education Programs, those with disabilities who have 504 Plans, English-language Learners, and students who qualify for free and reduced lunch to attend school in-person.

All other students would likely start the year attending Virtual Academy, which will be an online school separate from existing campuses. Zola said individual campuses will reach out to families, beginning with students with the most need, about their interest in the Virtual Academy versus attending in-person.

“This is harder than any educational opportunity we’ve ever had in terms of safety for staff and for students and also trying to find an instructional opportunity for our families,” Zola said. “What I heard (Monday) night is that we want to balance the needs of in-person with the safety for students and for staff.

“As this unfolds over several weeks and we have families reaching out saying, ‘This is a real hardship,’ we can revisit the number of students we can serve in-person.

“Obviously, the (COVID-19) data in our community can give us some guidance as well,” she said. “Our county has been very thoughtful, and if we can see that data continue to trend down, it may open up some in-person opportunities for families that might need that assistance as well.”

In a survey sent to households of district students, 84.6 percent of respondents said they planned on sending their students back to in-person school if that was an option. Around 43 percent of families responded to the survey.

“I think looking at that data, it was encouraging that parents wanted their students back in the educational space, but I think the reality is that the virus is what’s driving the decisions at this point,” board President Amy Armstrong said Tuesday.

The district may be able to make school safer if widespread COVID-19 testing becomes available. Zola said the district is in talks with the University of Illinois about utilizing its saliva test, which can return results in less than 24 hours.

“They’ve reached out, and we have some cabinet-level staff that are working with them,” Zola said. “As a community that’s rich in resources and expertise and technology, we’re excited that we might be able to partner with the university on a very quick and efficient test that would give us more data than we would normally have on staff and student safety if we were actually able to administer that kind of a test.”

Which teachers will teach students in school and which will work for the remote academy is still up in the air. What’s certain, though, is that school will be far different from normal this fall.

“I know that I’ve talked to some teachers who said, ‘I will serve in any way that I need to serve,’ and I have some teachers who have said, ‘If it’s possible, I would like to serve as a Virtual Academy teacher,’ and I have some people who have said, ‘I just want to see my students, so please let me know what you need from me,’” Zola said. “And so that mindset is a mindset that I’m going to move forward with, that school won’t be school as we know it, and as we would have hoped, but it is going to be a place where we can connect with our students again and our staff again.

“We can create safe ways to do that, and that’s going to be the priority right now.”