District plans set for return

‘We’ll do the best we can,’ superintendent says, but safety won’t be compromised

Willoughby-Eastlake Schools Superintendent Steve Thompson feels as ready as he could be to open the doors amid the coronavirus.

With the first day of school for students Aug. 31, purchases of Clorox 360 sprayers, hand sanitizer, masks and face shields have been made, said Thompson. Water fountains have also been retrofitted and there are places for students to get hand sanitizer not only in the classrooms but in the hallways.

Before it was ordered by the governor’s office, the district put a K-12 mask policy in place, said Thompson, and across the district, temperature checks for students and staff first thing in the morning are also a part of the plan.

In addition, spacing stickers and directional arrows have been posted.

“We’ll do the best that we can,” he said. “We have hired an additional eight custodians to help beef up our cleaning. I think we’ve taken as many procedures as we could.”

According to the WilloughbyEastlake City Schools Reopening Guidelines - Revised Aug. 19, 2020, parents are advised to monitor their child or children for symptoms of the coronavirus - cough, sore throat, fever, muscle pain, chills, shortness of breath

or difficulty breathing and new loss of taste or smell. The district will continue to make strong efforts to social distance students and staff as well.

All students riding the bus to school are required to wear masks, and any person showing signs of illness will be immediately quarantined in a designated location in their school building, according to the reopening guidelines.

There’s been solid work, in terms of preparation, for several months, said Thompson. But, with guidance coming from multiple sources, oftentimes contradicting one another and changing rapidly, it has been challenging, he said.

“It’s the fact that nothing seems consistent,” Thompson said. “Most of the guidance has been recommendations and not requirements, so that has further made preparation more challenging.”

Currently, roughly 8,400 students are enrolled in Willoughby-Eastlake Schools and there are just over 1,000 faculty members. With a remote learning plan in place, 2,400 of those students will remain online, Thompson said.

According to the Willoughby-Eastlake Schools Remote Learning Plan, the district is using Schoology, a learning management system. The district moved from Google Classroom to Schoology because of its advanced features that make learning easier for students and faculty members.

Also, according the remote learning plan, parents will be able to sign in to Schoology and will be able to access all courses and assignments for all of their children in one location.

The plan also states that students will not spend their entire school day on the computer. Some of their day will be spent with their teachers who are teaching a lesson and the remaining portion of their school day will be spent completing assignments independently.

In a remote learning environment, flexibility and adjustments are key factors teachers should be cognizant of, according to the plan.

“We’ll do the very best we can to keep our students and staff safe,” said Thompson. “It’s still a barometer to gauge what may or may not happen, so we will do the best we can to stay in school as long as we can, but we will not compromise the safety of our staff or students in that process.”