The extra days will be used to prepare teachers
Students in the Marysville School District will begin classes a bit later than originally planned.
Following a vote by the Marysville Board of Education during a special meeting Monday night, the first students will begin class on Monday, Aug. 24, a few days later than originally scheduled on the 2020-21 school calendar.
The extra days will be used to allow teachers to prepare for the start of a school year that will look very different due to the restrictions and safeguards put in place to fight the coronovirus pandemic.
“A delay of a few days and focusing the teachers and getting them time that they need to organize is critical,” board member Dick Smith said. “I don’t think this is a step that we can miss in getting ready in trying to open.”
District Superintendent Diane Allen said she has talked to members of the teacher’s union leadership and worked out the plan to give teachers a full week of professional development days ahead of the start of school. Teachers were to have had inservice days on Aug. 14, 17 and 18, before a portion of students began returning on Aug. 19 in a staggered start. All children, in all grades, were to begin classes by Aug. 24.
The superintendent said the decision on implementing a staggered start beginning Aug. 24 is still being considered.
Allen said the extra days of professional development will allow teachers to receive intensive instruction on things such as sanitizing procedures, processes for room rotation and remote learning. Allen said the educators must also have plans in place that allow the district, or even individual buildings, to change instructional plans quickly.
The ability of teachers to adapt to changing models of instruction appears paramount, as the final blueprint for the start of school is still up in the air.
Between the extremes of full, in-class instruction and 100% online learning, is the idea of a hybrid schedule that incorporates some days in class and the rest as remote learning from home.
A presentation on the agenda for Thursday’s regularly scheduled school board meeting is expected to give more clarity as to what the start of school will look like for Marysville students.
Allen did note that if remote learning is incorporated into the plan, students will have a more regulated daily schedule than what was used to close out last school year. Students ended last year being given assignments and the ability to connect with teachers, but next year would see students responsible for logging on everyday at assigned times to talk with teachers.
She admitted that such a plan for elementary students presents additional challenges which educators must work around.