Schools to join countywide planning discussion

Teachers and administrators from the Amherst Exempted Village Schools are planning to attend a county-wide learning collaborative later this month to reflect on online learning and deliberate best actions for the coming fall.

Mike Molnar, assistant superintendent for Amherst Schools, said the district is among others that will attend a remote, two-day workshop through the Educational Service Center of Lorain County on May 20 and 22.

“Our principals are getting about four to five teachers from each building, about 20 to 25 teachers from the district, to form a group to participate in that teacher reflection session,” Molnar said during a May 11 School Board meeting.

District officials plan to attend the event to assess what worked this year in case similar precautions are needed for the next school year.

“As we look forward to the fall, we have to prepare for this kind of scenario again,” Molnar said.

The first day of the event is for teachers to speak on their experiences, with the second day involving administrators, allowing for all of Lorain County’s school districts to speak to one another about next steps.

“Our county has really great school districts that support each other, work together and share ideas,” Molnar said.

Superintendent Steve Sayers said school districts have not had a lot of guidance thus far on what is required for next school year.

Administrators have discussions with county officials every week, including Lorain County Public Health commissioner Dave Covell, Sayers said.

“He has indicated to us that we probably won’t have any idea until sometime in June in terms of what August might look like,” Sayers said during the meeting.

“We have certainly made it clear that we need to know as soon as possible so we can make the appropriate plans and preparations,” Sayers said.

Board president Rex Engle added that knowing the plan for returning to school early could avoid more difficulties.

Molnar said that the needs for students and staff also will be taken into consideration when making those plans, with technical surveys already collected from the Amherst community.