Virtual or hybrid instruction model?

Crane gives families a choice for fall

Tuesday’s regular meeting of the Crane School District governing board included answers to pressing questions regarding the reopening of schools as Superintendent Laurie Doering presented the district’s final plan for safely beginning the 2020-2021 school year.

“Our north star priorities as we developed this plan revolved around health, education and choice,” Doering said.

According to Doering, a great deal of consideration was given to COVID-19 case trends, which have been on the rise since stay-at-home directives were suspended May 15, with confirmed cases now totaling upwards of 4,000.

“As was discussed last week, schools cannot guarantee the safety of others, yet the responsibility to take precautions is paramount,” she said. “Therefore, our recommendation...considered the

upward trend in COVID-19 cases in our county.”

According to Doering, these factors prohibit Crane schools from opening under a traditional model, as bringing students back to entirely in-person learning given the current landscape of COVID-19 is neither reasonable nor responsible at this time.

“We are charged to make prudent choices to protect the health of our own community and the broader communities we belong to without creating unnecessary disruptions to the normal pursuit of our educational mission,” Doering said. “There is no way for every child in our district to achieve learning and access to curriculum in the same way that they would if they were in school. While we cannot predict the future, we must make informed decisions and plan accordingly to control what we can. It is a painful but necessary decision to make after our community has already undergone such a tremendous amount of upheaval and disappointment as I inform you that I cannot recommend that we bring all of our students back for a traditional, 5-day-per-week opening of school.”

Balancing health and safety with quality education, the district has elected to give families a choice between a virtual instruction model, in which students attend school entirely remotely, and a hybrid model, in which students attend school in-person two days per week and remotely three days per week.

In a virtual setting, students are able to either attend school solely through an Arizona Online Instruction (AOI) platform like the district’s iLearning Academy, or virtually attend the school they are currently enrolled in, receiving instruction from teachers at their own school and continuing to participate in their school community. The latter will depend on principal approval signifying adequate resources are available to learn through this method.

According to Doering, the virtual model currently results in a 5% loss of funding, but the district is hopeful that some form of financial relief is forthcoming.

In a hybrid setting, classes will be split into two cohorts, with each group physically attending its own two set days each week while following CDC guidelines; the two groups will not attend class on the same day. This applies to all grade levels except kindergarten, which will physically attend school for four half-days each week. For all grade levels, the fifth day of each week will be devoted to deep-cleaning the schools as all students learn remotely.

Each day of the week, two of the district’s 10 schools will be physically closed to students as they learn remotely. To maintain consistency for the schools and families, these days will not rotate but rather be set for the duration that hybrid learning is offered.

“This decision to vary all school remote learning days between schools was made to allow us to adjust personnel to meet critical need areas as well as providing individual departments capacity to build the substitute pool and expand our resources,” Doering said.

Currently, the district is evaluating protective measures to promote sanitation and safety among students and staff, including electrostatic sprayers to evenly clean surfaces, water bottle fillers to allow students to safely use water fountains without risk of exposure or spread of sickness, sneeze guards at every front office reception area and setting up hand sanitizer stations around campuses.

The district is currently discussing whether to implement a face mask protocol. If it does, an “opt out” measure will be considered for families who don’t want their children to wear a mask for health, religious or other concerns.

The options, as Doering emphasized, remain fluid and adaptable, with the overarching goal remaining transitioning back to a traditional setting for learning when the district can safely do so. According to Doering, the district will “assess the landscape” twice per quarter to determine when that transition may take place. Throughout this process, the district will communicate with families via social media, newsletters, the district’s mass communication system and craneschools.org.

“Although the recommendation is extremely difficult not to bring children back to a traditional setting when we open school, I want to be clear: our intent is to transition back into a traditional school (setting) when we feel it is safe to offer this as an option,” Doering said. “We would like to proceed instead of speed as we implement a soft, safe opening of our schools. The task ahead of us is not easy, and it depends largely on the resolution of our public health crisis. Along with our entire leadership team, I am grateful for the tremendous sacrifices our staff, family and community already have made, especially as more will be required of us. There is much more for us to do, and we will all be working together to guide our district out of this crisis.”

More information on the district’s reopening plans and learning options can be found online at craneschools.org/safetyplan. aspx.