Digital learning for 1st quarter

District halts sports, band until further notice

Lorain Schools will use entirely digital learning for at least the first quarter of the 20202021 school year due to the possible spread of the novel coronavirus, said CEO/Superintendent Jeff Graham.

Meanwhile, the school district is canceling in-person sports and band practice until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic and how the disease may spread among children.

On July 30, Lorain Schools unveiled a plan that could allow elementary students to return to their schoolhouses for in-person lessons. But new scientific findings show children may carry and transmit the novel coronavirus more than researchers knew, Graham said.

“This may not be the return to school many of us anticipated, but we’re pretty excited about what comes next,” Graham said in an email update published the evening of Aug. 3.

“Yes, we’ll have a lot of learning to do together, but turns out, that’s something we know a little something about,” Graham said.

“We’re just glad we get to do it with some pretty amazing people, right here in the Lorain City Schools,” Graham said.

In the latest plan, the first day of remote learning for all students is Sept. 8, Graham said. All classes for all students will be held remotely for the first quarter, from Sept. 8 to Oct. 16.

“A plan for student computer distribution and internet/ wifi connection will be communicated as soon as possible,” Graham said.

“After the first quarter, if any changes to the learning plan are able to be made — meaning, if any classes will be held inperson — the district will notify staff and families at least one month prior to those changes going into effect,” he said.

“In the upcoming days and weeks we will be releasing the logistics of our remote learning plan,” Graham said. “You can expect remote learning to look much changed from the @ HomeLearning plan used in the spring, as our staff and teachers engage in extended professional learning and collaboration to transform the way we work with each other, our students, and our families.”

The decision came four days after the July 30 joint meeting of the Lorain Schools Academic Distress Commission and Board of Education.

The administration spent several hours outlining the 14-step process to develop the back-to-school plan in pandemic conditions.

That plan was informed by staff and family surveys along with guidance from public health experts, Graham

said.

“And then, just as we readied ourselves Friday morning to begin Step 10, the First Vetting of the Plan, new research was released which contradicted what we thought we knew about COVID-19 and how it is contracted and transmitted by children ages 10 and younger,” Graham said.

Until the end of last week, “it was widely believed that young children did not contract nor transmit COVID-19 at high levels, making the possibility of inperson learning for our elementary students feasible for Level 1 and Level 2 advisories,” Graham said. He referred to Ohio’s scale of COVID-19 risk.

Graham cited a report in The New York Times, which shared “new research that young children may in fact carry the coronavirus at high levels.”

The federal Centers for Disease Control also published an article about coronavirus transmission among youths at an overnight camp in Georgia, Graham said.

The results were “startling,” because it demonstrated that children “that children of all ages are susceptible to the virus and, contrary to early reports, might play an important role in transmission.

“Further, multiple COVID safety measures adopted by the camp were not sufficient to prevent an outbreak of substantial community transmission,” Graham said about the CDC report.

“To ensure full transparency in our process, we moved forward with the vetting of the first draft of our plan by a randomized selection of parents, staff and administrators,” Graham said. “That feedback, combined with the new research available regarding the virus and young children, has informed the decision to start school fully remote in the fall.”