The Monmouth-Roseville Board of Education held a special meeting to discuss the school re-opening plan for 2020-2021. As a result of last night’s meeting, the Monmouth-Roseville school district will shift to all remote learning beginning on August 24th for the entire semester. Katy Morrison, principal at Harding Primary, shares some of the thought process that went into the decision making process:
“Honestly, two weeks ago, we felt like we were in a different place. We were comfortable with the decision we made with going back to in-person. We thought we had a plan we could pull off. Obviously a lot changed in two weeks. We had some of our staff members and our team became infected by this virus. I think it came a little bit more real for us. We learned first-hand how the detailed contact tracing had to work. Substitutes have started dropping off and we have known all along that there would be a time where we would need to move to remote learning and so those learning interruptions also became a concern for us of kids moving in and out of learning. There was just a laundry list that started piling up so we came together as a team and with our board and decided we need to reevaluate our plan,” states Morrison.
August 19th – 21st will be remote learning planning days for Monmouth-Roseville teachers.
High school principal Jeff Ewing shares that he knows first-hand how difficult contact tracing has been for him and can’t imagine how difficult it would be for students.
“I had tested positive for this. I was working with Jenna Link. She walked me through it and one of the ladies she works with on how to do the contact tracing. That is not an easy task at all, for a forty something principal to do. I couldn’t imagine doing this with a second grader at Harding. It would be virtually impossible to try and figure out and contact trace where they have been because you go back two days, but you don’t even know you have it until maybe five days after you have been exposed,” Ewing says.
The other variable is the staff safety and having enough staff for in-person learning. Ewing stated that if for instance a large number of teachers in one building are exposed, then there may not be enough substitute teachers to continue in-person instruction.
The district is asking parents to communicate their needs, concerns and/or questions to the building administrators in an effort to work together and help find resources during this transition.
