The graphics above and below were shown to members of the Marysville Board of Education Thursday night to help them visualize the impact of social distancing within a classroom. The graphic above shows a theoretical coronavirus-positive student (in red) in a traditional full classroom, resulting in eight additional students being quarantined because of potential infection. The graphic below illustrates that under the current reduced capacity classroom model, the space between desks allows the surrounding students to remain in class because the potential for spread is reduced. (Graphics submitted)
Marysville officials say it is too soon to explore move from hybrid model
Any decision about Marysville students returning to class full-time will reportedly be based solely on local factors, with no consideration of how other districts are handling the situation.
Marysville district officials and the board of education made it clear at Thursday night’s meeting that local students will return to class five days per week when it is responsible to do so, rather than getting caught up in a wave of other schools making the move. The district is currently operating on a hybrid model where students attend class two days per week and work from home the other three.
“Marysville makes its own path,” board member Dick Smith said Thursday night.
District officials are apparently feeling pressure to make a move after Jonathan Alder announced earlier this week that it would be returning to full-time in class learning. Triad has held class five days per week since the beginning of the year.
At the online meeting, Marysville Superintendent Diane Allen read four letters from local parents with questions about the full-time return to class. She also noted that another 11 letters were received after the 24-hour cutoff to be read at the meeting and will be read next month.
While one letter made an outright request for students to return to class, the others appeared to seek clarity on when a return would be warranted. The parents asked what parameters would be factored into the decision making and asked when a review of the situation could be expected.
Allen stressed that Marysville’s hybrid model is the district’s best chance to keep as many children in class as possible. She said the local district, comprised of 5,100 students cannot be compared with smaller districts because of space constraints.
Allen showed the board graphics of classroom layouts with a 14-student layout compared to a normal 28-student layout created when all students are in school at the same time. Under the hybrid model about half of the students are in class at any particular time.
In the 28-student model, if a child test positive for the virus, all of the people sitting around the child, which could include the teacher, must be quarantined for 14 days. But under the 14-student model, the distance created between desks does not mandate quarantines for the students sitting closest to a affected student.
In essence, Allen said, for a return to full-time school the district would have to ignore the six-foot social distancing mandate.
“There is no way to bring everyone back at six feet distance,” she said.
Despite the fact that 20% of the district’s students have opted to go with a completely remote learning plan for the year, the 80% remaining cannot be spaced out enough, she said.
“The physical space does not allow for six feet of distance,” she said.
Smith said that recent state legislation has absolved districts of liability in civil cases involving the virus except in cases of “gross neglect” of safety measures. He said ignoring mandates on social distancing could open the district to the claim of gross neglect.
Smith and nearly every other board member admitted to hearing from community members who want students to return to school full-time. Parents told the board members of student difficulties in learning from home, as well as the strain the schedule creates on families.
“As frustrating as it is … our school district is facing many, in some ways, the same types of problems – what do we do with our kids all day and how do we take care of them,” Smith said.
Board member Brian Luke said the district must consider that it has to balance a pair of responsibilities during the pandemic.
“We have to balance our commitment to educate with our commitment to be responsible members of our community,” Luke said.
Luke said the district has to do its part to mitigate spread in the schools which could bleed over into the community. He noted that the county has currently registered two deaths attributed to the virus, but if the current mortality rate were extrapolated out it would equate to 400 deaths if every resident of the county was infected.
“What we do now, as a community … will determine if we have two deaths or 400,” Luke said.
Smith said Thursday marked just the 17th day of school for Marysville students, which is not enough to gauge the impact of the hybrid model.
“Have to get a feel for where we are, what we can do, what’s working and what’s not working,” Smith said.
Allen said the previously scheduled full remote learning period from Thanksgiving until mid-January is still planned, but officials would evaluate its need late in October. She stressed, however, that the district’s goal is not to continuously change plans and jump in and out of different schedules.
Smith agreed.
“I think it’s important…to take some time and recognize that whatever decisions we make on the instructional model have to stay in place for a while,” he said.