By REED WALLER
Staff Writer
The NRHEG School Board met Tuesday, January 19.
Secondary In-Person Transition Process Update
DALE CARLSON: When we last discussed learning model updates, we were concentrating on the Elementary school. After the first week the Elementary school is going well, but what’s next?
Consultation with our Regional Support Team was held on January 12. There was concern about moving too quickly for grades 6-12. COVID projections for January 3-16, Waseca were in the range of 50-55, Steele 46-52, and Freeborn 110+.
As of today, we have one elementary staff person, and two students, one elementary and one secondary, who are positive; we have one staff in each building who are quarantined, and one Elementary and six Secondary quarantined.
As of today, the other schools in the three counties have moved elementary to in-person like us, but for the middle school and secondary they all have continued to maintain Hybrid Learning.
Our team has proposed a phased approach, following the K-5 process, beginning with Grade 6, and still trying to bring in more of our Seniors, following the Hybrid strategy.
BUNN: 6th grade students would remain in class for the first 5 hours of the day. Hours 4 and 5 the teachers would switch rooms, lunch would be delivered to the 6th grade rooms, and we’d need auxiliary staff to supervise. Hours 6 and 7 students go to special rooms (art, PE, choir, band, and study hall), with 6th grade students just a little behind the rest of the classes. PE would occur with masks as it does now. There is adequate space in the Art Room and the Band Room. Choir will depend on how many students are interested; we may use the gymnasium or other spaces.
We have studied the possibility of the Seniors returning, and there was about 66 percent who were interested in coming back four days a week.
RICK SCHULTZ: Looking at the numbers of Distance Learning now, that really only amounts to adding two more students to each class. That’s not much progress.
CARLSON: We have to monitor closely, and there’s the matter of how many we have space for.
SCHULTZ: How soon can we do this? If you feel that we can do this, and I think we can, what’s to stop us from doing it next week?
CARLSON: I will be speaking with them tomorrow.
SCHULTZ: A lot of what is causing the frustrated tone on the part of the Board, is the constant approving of something and then having the guidelines keep changing. It’s disturbing to both of us.
TRAVIS ROUTH: With things changing, like my wife and some of my family have gotten the vaccine, this might be still an issue now, but somewhat less of an issue in the future.
SCHULTZ: So, if you are approved, you are planning to get the 6th grade and the seniors back on the 26th?
JOANN MALONEY: Could we have a motion that we do this on the 26th, subject to approval?
SCHULTZ: I don’t believe there’s one parent out there who would say we were going too fast. (laughter) Could we get the rest of the grades in stepwise, like with the Elementary, and have some kind of timeline?
MYRON SCHOENROCK: Is the approval of the Regional Support Team required for us to go ahead, or is it just a recommendation?
CARLSON: They are all representatives of the State Board of Health. I’m not a health expert. If they say no, I will follow their guidance.
SCHOENROCK: I think that as a school board we need to look at not only the health side, but the social skills, the educational needs; that’s a balancing act that we have to perform.
SCHULTZ: Can we bring all five of those grades back? Once we have the 6th graders and seniors back, can we bring back the other 5 grades, in two weeks or whatever? And we still have to address the Wednesday problem, getting that last day back in person. I don’t think it’s realistic to try to have a motion to get everyone back by the end of February, but we need to think about what our goal is, what it realistically looks like, instead of leaving those people hanging out there.
ROUTH: I’m not in the position to offer a hard schedule for the rest of the year, but I also think that waiting another month for the next schedule is too far out. I’m glad we can think about getting the 6th grade and seniors back, but I also think we should meet again in two weeks.
MALONEY: Was that figure of how many are in Distance Learling, that was just for the seniors?
CARLSON: Yes.
MALONEY: I don’t think that it’s fair to expect that the 8th grade is the same percentage.
TERRI ENGEL: Dave, do you have a figure for what is the percentage for 8th graders?
BUNN: Last I know was 25, something like that.
SCHULTZ: I think that where we’re at tonight is that we’ll entertain a motion to get the 6th and 12th graders back on the 26th barring any comment that ‘you can’t do that.’ I don’t think that they should have to wait another month, and we owe it to them to respond quicker and bring another decision if we can.
CARLSON: I don’t think that just because another district is thinking about it, that means we can do. If that were the case, we could have done this much earlier.
SCHULTZ: Can we entertain a motion to get the 6th and 12th graders back on the 26th?
CARLSON: I’d feel better if we said ‘no earlier than the 26th’ so that we have leeway if something happens.
A motion by Joann Maloney seconded by Travis Routh was passed, to bring back the 6th grade and 12th grade “as soon as possible” and empowering the administration to do whatever is necessary.
A second motion to bring back the remaining grades on similar terms “as soon as possible” was postponed.
Student Achievement/ Student Support Elementary
DOUG ANDERSON: There are a couple different ways we can provide support and intervention for struggling students in the Elementary. One is that our teachers can differentiate instruction to meet needs. The other is for our students to receive individual and small-group intervention that target the needs of students to accelerate their academic growth.
(Anderson outlined the different programs.)
Ameri-Corp Senior Volunteer priogram suspended
Targeted Services on pause
Student Assistant Team meets every other week to discuss cases.
What are we doing to offset the problems caused by the pandemic?
Title 1 Staff and Reading Corps staff are meeting virtually.
Special Ed students are in school during both Hybrid and Distance Learning.
Daycare continues and we have built in at least a half day of academic support.
ENGEL: When the kids are back, is there a plan to figure out where all the children are at, so that we can get a benchmark?
ANDERSON: Most of our classes are benchmarked in the fall, but we didn’t benchmark all our students. Instead we prioritized, to focus on those who need the most help. But we are benchmarking reading levels right now, and we’ll do it again in May.
ENGEL: Is there a benchmark for math as well?
ANDERSON: Yes, we have a benchmark for Bridges Math as well.
Secondary
BUNN: We have SAT in the secondary as well, and we have gotten an extra day from Brooke Krohn and Robin Eder for REACH.
We were able to get more stuidents back, but we sent out a list of SE students who will come in 4 days a week.
We’ve also started Wraparound Meetings, to happen before or after school, discuss strategy and weaknesses with teachers and come up with a plan.
We can’t, of course, just take in all the students who are struggling and have them all in 4 days a week; we have to juggle how many we can have at one time.
We are looking at expanding summer school right now.
Grade Improvement Days are a new idea, failing students report January 21 and 22 for focusing.
JESSICA WILLIAMS: I’ll be there 4 days, but I won’t be doing the interventions for both schools, just Ellendale.
BUNN: We’ve been working on getting our 6th graders back 4 days a week, and also our seniors. We have enough stiudents doing Disitance Learning that we can get them all back at the same time.
ENGEL: We have students who are failing, but we don’t necessarily know why. How many wraparound meetings have you had?
BUNN: We went for 3 weeks, so that was about 20.
ENGEL: Have you met with all the students who are failing?
BUNN: That’s going to be a slow progression. Eventually it will expand.
ENGEL: It sounds like a basketball team. You’re all doing good, so we’re going to get the kids off the bench some time, and you won’t get to play for a while.
SCHOENROCK: Is there any way to get these kids in?
BUNN: We are working with a list. We are looking at getting some of the older kids to help some of the youngere kids – study-buddies or whatever you want to call that.
SCHULTZ: I think it’s important to point out that we are not the only district suffering from these problems. This is a problem of the situation we are all in now, and it’s not going to be solved next Wednesday. So we should keep that in mind when we talk about this subject.
BUNN: Also we are doing this while in conversation with other districts, so we’re not dealing with this in isolation either.
Winter Coaching Contracts
Shawn Larson – Head Wrestling Coach, Nate Jensen – Assistant Wrestling Coach, Hunter Eustice – Boys JV Basketball Coach, Tyler Schlaak – Boys C Squad Basketball Coach, Marc Kruger – Boys JH Basketball Coach, Aaron Gilliland – Boys JH Basketball Coach, John Schultz – Girls JV Basketball Coach, Miles Otstot – Girls C Squad Basketball Coach, Jake Stork – Girls JH Basketball Coach, Joni Churchill – Cheerleading Advisor
Donations: American Farmers Grow Communities $2,500, Lester Kroeger $250 for Wood Lathe. Total to date: $47,638.85
Activities update
CARLSON: Community Ed has started to work on classes, like Youth Basketball and Early Childhood. We are working with some community organizations on Facilities Youth, but I don’t have a specific timeline on some of that.
Upcoming meetings
Next meetings: Budget work session Monday, January 25, secondary media room, 5:30 p.m.
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Superintendent Resignation and Search Process