Bremen school year reaches halfway point still in session

“I would be lying if I said I thought we would still be there, but I’m glad we are and I hope we keep moving ahead,” Bremen Elementary and Middle School Principal Larry Yelaska said as the school system reached the halfway point of the school year.

Both Yelaska and Bremen High School Principal Bruce Jennings said during the school board meeting on Dec. 16 that they appreciated that Bremen Public Schools has recently hired on an additional full-time nurse.

“Having two nurses during this COVID time has been a blessing for everybody,” Jennings said.

The last few months have had “a few bumps in the road,” according to Yelaska, but he also reported that the number of Covid-related absences at the BEMS level were significantly lower right before winter break, even among staff.

This is a relief to BEMS administration, since so many staff personnel had been quarantined earlier this year. “The last couple of weeks have been much, much better,” reported Yelaska.

Even at the high school level, the number of quarantine absences due to contact tracing decreased towards the end of 2020. “We needed that. Hopefully it stays that way,” said Jennings. “We’ve also had some indications that we have some parents who will be transitioning their students to in-person learning in early January.”

As students return to class, BPS will begin preparing for the students’ annual assessments.

At the BEMS level, assessments will begin with NWEA Measures of Academic Progress tests for Kindergarten through 8th grade and dyslexia screenings for Kindergarten through second grade. Once those are complete, the school will gear up for the ILEARN Assessment. “We’ll see how that happens as we get closer to it. At this point, they’re saying that absolutely no students will take it outside of the building. I’m not sure how we’ll handle that,” said Yelaska. “We’ll see as we get closer. We’ll work through it.”

At the high school level, there have been a few challenges regarding the ISTEP test. Normally, the test is administered to only sophomores and older students who need to retake the test for their graduation pathway. However, none of the sophomores took the test last spring due to the Shelter in Place order.

This school year, the state initially gave schools a “winter window” to administer the test to those who were unable to take it last year. However, BHS decided to administer the test to the seniors only last semester. “Even if the [juniors] had passed the test during the winter window, the state was still requiring that all the juniors take the ISTEP again in the spring for accountability purposes,” said Jennings. “We just said, ‘ Lets postpone all the juniors until springtime.’ There’s a little more teeth at that time, a little more accountability… unfortunately, it gives kids a lesser opportunity for them to pass the test. We were hoping for more windows.”

The high school administration is also expecting social event adjustments in the new semester. One in particular is the Winter Formal Dance. At present, the dance is cautiously scheduled for Feb. 27. However, there is no guarantee that it will happen. “It’s very tentative. I just can’t picture a whole group of kids dancing on the dance floor,” said Jennings. “Don’t go out and buy expensive dresses for that dance just yet.”