SPSD hears early draft of in-person schooling plan

The Sauk Prairie School District is exploring the next steps in reopening the school, and the Board discussed a draft proposal from Superintendent Jeff Wright at their Sept. 14 meeting. Wright emphasized that the draft was to “frame a discussion,” and the board took no action on it. The key question of the draft is when will school capacity be increased at different grade levels at each building. Currently, the district is using a hybrid A/B model. The draft--assuming COVID-19 metrics not only improve, but reach sufficient levels as outlined in the District’s plan--is the following: “Increase school capacity slowly by moving to the full in-person model two grade levels at a time, beginning with the youngest students. Add only a few grade levels at a time to allow time to adjust and practice safety protocols.” The draft proposal continued, “Schedule the increases in two-week intervals to allow for health data to be reviewed to determine if increases should continue as planned, be slowed, stopped, or reversed. The opt-in virtual option will remain in place.” Wright noted that he made an informal request to the board that nothing change until at least October 5th. High school would look a little different, as classes are multi-age. All grade levels will have to make the move to fully in-person at the same time.  The draft also notes: “A significant protocol change made by an increase in student capacity is the amount of distance maintained between students. In the reduced capacity model, six feet of social distance is possible. Increasing to full capacity will reduce this distance. Administrators are analyzing instructional spaces and student numbers to determine what distance is able to be maintained and what changes can be made to increase this distance.” The board also held their annual meeting. Information on the next year’s budget will be included in the article.