The Jonathan Alder School District is planning a move back to the hybrid model with the intention of staying that way through the end of the school year.
At this week’s meeting, the Jonathan Alder Board of Education approved a plan for students to return to school in a hybrid model beginning Jan. 4. Madison County Schools are currently using remote learning.
Under the Jonathan Alder plan, students with last names A-K will go to class in person on Mondays and Tuesdays. Students with last names L-Z will go to class on Thursdays and Fridays.
Students will have online learning on days they are not in the school buildings.
For many Jonathan Alder students, the plan is a return to the schedule they had before the Thanksgiving break.
Jonathan Alder has started and stopped the process of returning to full, in-person learning several times. The district was eventually able to start hybrid learning for students in grades five through 12, though elementary school students remained in online learning.
On Nov. 12, Madison County Health Commissioner Chris Cook ordered all Madison County schools to move to a hybrid learning model when they returned from Thanksgiving. On Nov. 23, the health department mandated that starting Nov. 30, all county schools must go fully remote. Eventually, the Madison County Board of Health voted to rescind the orders that closed school buildings and instead issued a health advisory recommending the same actions.
With the recommendation, school buildings were allowed to reopen as long as officials were able to assure social distancing. Citing consistency and safety, Jonathan Alder officials voted at the time to remain in the fully remote model.
District officials say they are confident they can maintain six feet between students.
“We are moving some of the furniture out of the classrooms, that way we have the space for students to be six feet apart without having a desk between them,” district communications coordinator Eloy Pacheco said.
He explained that teachers found if students had a desk between them and another student, they would often use that desk eliminating the required spacing.
Pacheco said the district would continue to monitor the health statistics of both the community and the school. He said district officials believe the Thanksgiving surge will be subsided by January and the COVID-19 numbers will have leveled off or be declining. He said if there is another spike, “as things come, we are going to play it by ear.”
Pacheco said officials are exploring ways to remain in the buildings once the hybrid system is in place.
“We want to be looking into more pathways if more cases come about, but we feel this is the best option for students,” Pacheco said.
He said district officials are trying to be “imaginative and creative about the situation.”
“There has been a lot of conversation about all sorts of paths,” Pacheco said.
The communications coordinator said a return to all day, every day, in-person learning is not one of the options under consideration.
“For now, the hope is that we go hybrid for the remainder of the year,” Pacheco said. We are looking at staying hybrid. That’s the goal.”
He said that regardless of the pathways and options the district uses, “There are a lot of logistics, a lot of technicalities that come with every plan.”
Along with food, transportation, cleaning and technology, one of the biggest hurdles is teachers.
“As of now, we are in a shortage of substitutes,” Pacheco said, noting that every district is in a similar position. “Teachers know that and I think they are cognizant of that.”
He said that knowing there is a shortage of substitutes, teachers are doing their best to stay healthy.
“We are hoping they follow the guidelines that the health department is issuing,” Pacheco said.