In Friday shakeup, three area districts announce accelerated returns to class
Friday brought big changes to the outlook of education in Union County.
With COVID-19 case numbers stabilizing and vaccination clinics planned for area school staff members, three local districts announced changes that would allow older students to return to class sooner than expected. If timelines hold, all students in all area districts should be back in class five days a week by early April.
Marysville, Jonathan Alder and Fairbanks have all accelerated plans toward full reopening. Marysville and Fairbanks will have all students in class four days per week in early March and five days per week in April. Jonathan Alder plans to have all students in class five days per week by early March.
The districts already had plans to move elementary age students back to a more regular class schedule in the coming weeks. Fairbanks K-5 students returned to class four days a week in January, while Alder K-4 students are set to return five days a week on Feb. 16 and Marysville K-4 following on Feb. 18 four days a week.
Triad Local Schools are continuing on the same track, as district students have had a fully in-person learning option since returning from winter break.
The district returned to schools in-person, five days a week at the start of the 2020-21 academic year. Students briefly shifted to a hybrid schedule when cases spiked in November and December.
Reports indicate North Union is also creating a plan to move in the same direction to have all students in the buildings five days a week. North Union students have all been in class four days a week for the last few weeks.
North Union School officials could not be reached by press time to confirm plans for a five-day return.
The catalyst for the moves appear to be the availability of the first round of vaccinations.
Union County Health Department Public Information Officer Jennifer Thrush said all Union County school staff who wish to be vaccinated will receive the first dose on Saturday, Feb. 20. Jonathan Alder staff will receive their first shots in Madison County on Wednesday, Feb. 24.
The Union County Health Department will host a closed, drive-thru clinic for all public district and private school employees that Saturday.
Thrush said the state allocation of vaccines matches the number of school staff members who will receive them, based on surveys from each district.
For that reason, vaccines will not be available to school staff from other counties who would prefer to be vaccinated here.
In Union County, school employees will receive their second dose three weeks later, Saturday, March 13.
Thrush said the UCHD is expecting to receive between 800 and 900 doses for school staff members.
Additionally, the health department has made rapid tests available to the school districts in an effort to help keep teachers in the classroom.
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Marysville
“We are so excited to begin to bring everyone back,” Marysville Superintendent Diane Allen said Friday night. “We have missed having everyone together.”
In an email to parents, Allen said the available vaccine, coupled with on-site testing capabilities have allowed the district to bring students in grades 5-12 back to class on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, beginning March 1. The letter noted that the Union County Health Department approved the planned return.
The district had already approved the four-day return of students in grades K-4 on Thursday, Feb. 18.
“Nearly 500 members of the Marysville school community who work directly with students have chosen to be vaccinated, which is fantastic and allows us to transition all students back to school on a more regular basis,” Allen wrote.
The letter also indicates that safety protocols, including masks and three feet of social distancing in class, will be in place. It also indicates that quarantine rules for older students will come in line with less stringent guidelines adopted for younger students.
With staff set to receive their second vaccination on March 13, school officials have set a full five day per week return for all students for Monday, April 5, following the district’s spring break.
Allen’s letter said the district will continue to operate the virtual academy for families not comfortable with the reopening plans. K-6 students currently learning through the Virtual Academy may transition back to the classroom on March 1. Virtual Academy students in grades 7-12 will need to wait until the end of the semester later in March.
Mirroring numbers across the state, Allen said the district has benefited from stabilized case and quarantine numbers, which are now lower than previous months.
She said in the past week the district has had four staff cases and six quarantines, in addition to six student cases and 44 quaratines.
“It certainly has been a journey over the past year,” Allen wrote. “We appreciate your patience, support, and partnership.
“We recognize life is not back to normal yet, but it is exciting to look forward with optimism.”
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Fairbanks
Fairbanks Superintendent Adham Schirg said that given new guidelines and the availability of the vaccine for teachers, his district has a plan to get all students in the classroom five days a week.
“Our intent is to have all students attending in-person, five days a week, starting that first full week of April,” Schirg said, noting the change will give the district about eight full weeks of in-person learning before graduation on Memorial Day weekend.
In January the district created a phased-in approach to bring students in kindergarten through fifth grade into the buildings Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The district was using Wednesdays for deep cleaning.
Beginning March 1, all students will be able to attend four days a week with Wednesdays being used for deep cleaning.
Schirg said that when students return from Spring Break the first week of April, they will be able to attend all five days.
“This is all positive stuff,” Schirg said. “Our intent all along has been to get students learning in person five days a week so we are very excited to be able to take these steps to make that happen.”
Schirg said the move is possible because school officials have continued working with the health department to establish benchmarks for how to return all students into the building.
He said through those conversations, the district determined that when vaccines and rapid tests became available to staff and the district and the health department permitted distancing and quarantine requirements at other schools that mirrored those at the elementary school, the district could return all students to class rooms.
“We have been able to meet all of those benchmarks,” Schirg said.
He said all staff members wanting a vaccine will be able to get their doses in late February and early March through the Union County Health Department clinics. He also said UCHD is making rapid tests available to the district.
He said that students in middle and high school may follow Ohio Department of Health guidelines that indicate that if a student is exposed to COVID-19 positive student, but the classroom exposure was more than six feet away, there are no restrictions; if the exposure was three to six feet away, the student may attend class but no extracurricular activities; and if the student’s classroom exposure was less than three feet the student is to go through the traditional, 14 day at-home quarantine.
The guidelines assume the students, teachers and staff are wearing masks and the school has the other recommended precautions, specifically mentioning cleaning and hand hygiene, are in place.
Students who have been exposed should not engage in unregulated activities such as sports or other activities.
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Jonathan Alder
Jonathan Alder Local Schools shifted plans Friday in an effort to phase students back into its buildings as quickly as possible.
JA students will return to classes building by building, based on grade level.
Pre-Kindergarten through fourth grade students will return first, followed by high schoolers, then middle school students.
Beginning Feb. 16, Pre-K through fourth grade students will return to school in person five days a week.
A remote learning day is planned for Feb. 24, as JA staff who desire to receive the COVID-19 shot will get the first dose on that Wednesday.
The next day, Feb. 25, students in grades 9-12 attending Jonathan Alder High School will return to the building five days a week.
The 5-8 graders at Canaan Middle School and Jonathan Alder Junior High will also be learning completely in-person on March 4.