What will ‘Back to School’ look like for BBPS?

BROKEN BOW - COVID-19 will make its way into the Broken Bow school system. “At some point Im sure it will be in the school system,” Superintendent Darren Tobey said. “There’s going to be a student, staff member or parent (with it) eventually.”

Tobey spoke via ZOOM Wednesday, July 9, at the Broken Bow Area Rotary meeting. He said administrators and faculty are working hand-in-hand with the Loup Basin Public Health District as well as the Nebraska Department of Education to formulate a plan to handle the situation when it occurs. They are also working on a three-phase plan to handle the new school year when classes being Aug. 13.

Color-coding days

The plan for the school year would be color-coded.

“Green means all good,” Tobey said. “All students would attend classes in person. Things would be as normal as they can be with proper guidelines in place.”

Yellow would represent “50/50 days,” that is, fifty percent of students would attend classes in person and the other fifty person would attend remotely on a every other day timetable potentially.

“Red is pandemic phase,” Tobey explained. “It would be the same as last

Spring with everything off-campus and online learning.”

The details of the plan are still being finalized. It needs to be determined what each level actually means and what the cut-off is to the next level. The number of community-spread cases of COVID-19 will factor in as well as how they are counted, whether at the county level or district level.

If a student is confirmed to have COVID-19, the student and family members will need to be quarantined. However, asymptomatic yet positive and exposed students still need their education. “The tricky part is education the students during those 14 days” Tobey said.

Tobey hopes that the plan can be shared by Aug. 1 and afterwards, a Facebook Live event will be scheduled to discuss it with parents and community members.

Remote teaching and learning

Internet availability for remote learning is a concern. Some students do not have a quality connection at home and some students don’t have a connection at all. Remote learning might incorporate platforms that don’t need Internet, such as recorded lessons that can be pre-loaded onto student computers.

Remote teaching was put into place rather quickly in the spring and things will be tweaked and changed for the new year.

“It hasn’t been ideal but we are finding different ways to improve. We’re looking into different setups and tech, to make the transition easier,” Tobey said. “I work at the school every day and there are things that I struggled with as a parent duirng the off-campus learing. The amount of different platforms students and partents needed to know was an issue last spring. I don’t want our parents and students struggling with platforms beacuse they have to remember 17 different passwords and user names!”

Changes & transportation

The first day of school for Broken Bow Public Schools is Aug. 13. Teaching staff are to report Aug 7.

There will not be an open house for the new year and there will not be a public reception for new teachers.

The school will do what it can to distance students and provide sanitizing measures. Hand sanitizer will be available in classrooms. Some classrooms are pretty tight on space which poses a challenge on social distancing. Visiting will not be encouraged and parents will be asked to pick-up students outside. Inschool visits for OT and PT therapy will remain the same and medical visits parents have scheduled with students will remian the same.

Transportation is one of the biggest challenges, for both summer camps and the school year.

Vans that normally hold 11 people are limited to six. For school buses, social distancing means one student per seat. When single-seating is not possible, students will need to sit with family members.

Cross-town transportation to and from the bus stop at Custer School/New Discoveries Preschool will also need to be worked out. “Those buses get full. We are looking at some different options,” Tobey said.

Job shadowing and student visits to local business through programs such as CAPABLE may not happen this year. Kaci Johnson with Mid-Plains Community College said high school students taking MPCC will be able to attend in person at the Broken Bow campus. “We do require masks,” she said.

Graduation Aug. 8

Graduation is a “go” for Aug. 8. “We feel really comfortable about graduation,” Tobey said. “Per DHMs, we could fit 1,200 people in the gym. Typically, 700 to 800 attend. We anticipate 600 to 700 this year.” This year’s small graduation class (43) will keep attendance numbers low.

There will be changes to the graduation program. Both the band and the chorus have been eliminated from the program and a slide show has been added.

This year, a valedictorian and a salutatorian will give speeches rather than all seniors with straight As invited to speak.