West Bloomfield School District plans for online, hybrid learning for school year
WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (FOX 2) - As Michigan's fight against COVID-19 continues, school districts are preparing for the impending school year and, unless the state's cases start to trend in the opposite direction, West Blomfield School District is planning to split students into two groups with three days of remote learning and two days in school.
The school district announced the plan for the upcoming school year, which they have been working on since mid-May in preparation for another school year unlike any we've ever seen before.
Following the Governor's Return to School Roadmap, which lines up with the Mi Safe Start Plan, the district is presenting options under each phase.
Some districts begin releasing plans for fall instruction
PHASE 4: K-8
Under Phase 4, which is what most of Michigan is currently in, West Bloomfield students in grades between kindergarten and 8th grade will be split into Cohort A and Cohort B.
On Mondays and Tuesdays, students in A will attend school for in-person lessons while students in B will learn remotely. On Thursdays and Fridays, students in B will attend school for in-person lessons while students in A will learn remotely. Students in both groups will have remote instruction on Wednesdays while the buildings are deep-cleaned and sanitized.
Student cohorts will be 15 students or less for kids in elementary schools and 18 or less at middle schools. The district said this will allow for social distancing, easier management of handwashing and surface sanitizing, and increases mitigation of disease transmission.
Michigan announces 645 new COVID-19 cases and 16 deaths on Thursday
PHASE 4: HIGH SCHOOLS
The district is recommending all high schools to remain in Cloud Learning while in Phase 4. The reason for this recommendation is that there are several requirements in the state's Return to School Roadmap that significantly limited students' movement in the building and interaction with a large number of students.
According to the district, high school students will have continuous, uninterrupted instruction, delivered remotely, by our teachers. The district said the decision to continue remote learning provides the safest quality instruction with the least disruption.
PHASE 5
Should Michigan's cases improve over the next 6 weeks and the school year start with the state is under phase 5, the district said all students will return to five days of in-person instruction, following the plans designated by the Governor's office under the roadmap.
PHASE 1-3
If Michigan takes a step backwards into phase 3 or worse of the Mi Safe Start plan, in-person instruction is not allowed in any way, meaning all students would get lessons done remotely.
The school district said it would have webinars available next week to give more information for parents and community members. Those presentations would be at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. on July 21. For more information on the webinars, check out their site here.
The WBSD said while it wants to return to normal school in the fall, district leaders are prioritizing the health and safety of staff and students it's not feasible to return to face-to-face instruction until we're in phase 5.