On Wednesday thousands of students
in Windham and Raymond will return to classes under a hybrid schedule while
adhering to guidelines put forward last month by the Maine Department of
Education and Maine Center for Disease Control in the wake of the COVID-19
pandemic.
The framework for students returning
to in-person instruction mandated meeting six requirements including symptom
screening at home before the school day; physical distancing at school; wearing
masks and face coverings; hand hygiene and sanitizing; use of personal
protective equipment by teachers and school staff members; and establishing a
policy of home isolation for staff and students until they recover from a
COVID-19 diagnosis.
Last month RSU 14 Superintendent
Christopher Howell recommended that the school district adopt a hybrid model
for the start of the school year. To operate under a hybrid model, Windham and
Raymond students would be grouped alphabetically with last names from A to K
having in-person classes in school on Mondays and Wednesdays and those with
last names from L to Z attending in-person classes in school on Tuesdays and
Thursdays. When RSU 14 students are not in school, they will be following up
online with their teachers to the best extent possible.
“I am proud of the
work that has been completed by RSU 14 staff and administrators over the past
couple of months,” Howell said. “In a short period of time, they have worked
diligently to redefine school programs that meet the safety guidelines that
have been established by the Maine CDC and the Maine Department of Education.”
To help area families screen for
possible COVID-19 symptoms, RSU 14 has made available a pre-screening tool identifying
questions to be asked of children each morning.
It’s been a summer like no other for
RSU 14 administrators and Howell, who have been examining how to best transition
students back to in-person instruction after spending much of the spring months
receiving instruction from teachers online using Zoom after the pandemic struck.
“Our challenges mean every student
and every staff member has to wear a mask,” Howell said. “We’ve also had to
undertake the challenge of managing and ensuring that the district has a
sufficient supply of personal protective equipment ready and available. Like
everyone else this summer, we’ve been thinking about what school will be like
this fall and will students be safe.”
RSU 14 has 3,200 students and 750
staff members at six schools, including Windham High School. Windham Middle
School, Jordan-Small Middle School, Windham Primary School, Manchester School
and Raymond Elementary School.
As of Sept. 1, Maine had the second-lowest
total of COVID-19 cumulative cases in the nation at 340 per 100,000 people and
4,548 since the pandemic began. In the final week of August, Maine also showed
the 16th smallest increase overall among U.S. states for the
seven-day period of Aug. 24 to Aug. 31 at 3.9 percent.
To come up with a plan to safely get
students back into the classroom, RSU 14 administrators had to work around a
number of limitations that restricted the number of students allowed on school
buses to 26 and no more than 50 students allowed in a group together at one
time. They also had to comply with social distancing requirements for desks in
classrooms, create new medical isolation rooms at each school, install new
plexiglass protective barriers in schools, upgrade air filtration systems at
each school, and ensure frequent cleaning of physical surfaces throughout the schools.
“We recognize kids can’t spend all
day in the classroom,” Howell said. “We’ve also looked carefully at classroom
space to keep students 3 to 6 feet apart and only 10 students in a classroom.”
For student and families choosing to
opt out of in-person instruction because of COVID-19 concerns, the district
will provide distance learning and laptops for students. Technology sessions
are available for parents and students to help them navigate the distance
learning process.
“RSU 14 continues to
work to provide a mix of hybrid, distance, and multi day programs for our
students. The staffing of all of the positions that are required for a
mix of programs is monumental,” Howell said. “Through some creative problem
solving and flexibility, we will be able to offer a variety of school
attendance options for families in our district.” <
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