Alternatives to in-person graduation considered

OCONTO FALLS — Administrators and teachers in the Oconto Falls School District are brainstorming ways to honor graduating seniors now that the state has shut down in-person classroom teaching for the rest of the academic year.

Superintendent Dean Hess told the school board Monday that the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators interprets “the end of the school year” as being the end of June, which would have an impact on summer school.

Oconto Falls has scheduled its summer sessions to begin during the second week in June, Hess said.

“Right now, we’re doing planning as if we might potentially be doing summer school on a virtual platform,” he said, but the district was also reaching out to the state Department of Public Instruction to confirm a time line.

The food service is providing lunches and breakfasts for students to pick up Monday through Friday, Hess said. The district is trying to provide more than one day of meals at a time for families that can’t pick up every day.

The most recent state order puts the status of the annual graduation and college scholarship ceremonies into question.

“The high school team is brainstorming the options of how can we honor the work of the Class of 2020,” Hess said. “We’re taking a look right now into what can be done for virtual options for some of these activities, as well as some type of follow-on celebrations once the current constraints and Safer at Home order are lifted.”

The board also voted to offer the choice of early graduation to 13 seniors who have already met graduation requirements.

“Typically, students choose — even though they’re eligible for early graduation — to stay because of a college-level course, co-curricular participation. Because once you graduate early, you lose your eligibility, and then a big one is the social interaction with friends and teachers and being a part of that environment,” said Jake Beschta, high school principal. “Because we don’t have that this year, it provides kind of a unique situation.”

Some of the students may choose to finish the last several weeks of high school under the current conditions, but Beschta said he would at least like to have those conversations and make them aware of the option.

Lastly, board members voted to petition the state DPI to waive the requirements of three statutes that have been impacted by closing buildings for the rest of the school year — the number of instructional hours, an annual assessment of teachers and principals according to an “educator effectiveness model” and a requirement that students pass a required civics test in order to graduate.

The board meeting was conducted using Zoom remote communications technology and shared with the public live on YouTube.

Vice President Jan Stranz and new board member Adam Adler, who were elected April 7, took the oath of office over Zoom. Adler does not assume office until the board’s reorganization meeting, which was scheduled for May 11 or the next special meeting, whichever comes first.

“In the current situation, it seems that we’re being required to conduct some special board meetings,” Hess said, referring to meetings held in late March and earlier this month to discuss the school district’s response to the state-imposed shutdown. By inserting the “whichever comes first” language into the motion, it allows Adler to participate as a full board member in a timely manner.

wbluhm@newmedia-wi.com