Gillett aims for in-person school reopening

The Gillett School District is planning to start the 2020-21 academic year on time in September with in-person classroom instruction and is aiming to hold an Aug. 8 graduation ceremony for the Class of 2020. But an uptick in COVID-19 cases in Oconto County may change those plans.

The number of positive tests for coronavirus among Oconto County residents has doubled during the month of July. After reporting 59 positives through June 30, the county had 61 more cases through Sunday for a total of 120 since March.

Members of the Gillett School Board approved the purchase of 65 Chromebooks for kindergarten students, using $14,900 of CARES Act funds, and voted to enter into a $19,970 contract with Acellus Digital Curriculum, an online program that administrators said can be aligned with in-person teaching to provide a seamless learning experience.

The current goal is to open schools with five days a week of in-person instruction. If state directives or local outbreaks of illness require more online alternatives, Acellus permits the district to provide a part- or full-time virtual classroom, Superintendent Todd Hencsik said.

Elementary Principal Curt Angeli said Acellus allows the schools a lot of flexibility, with a full assortment of fully accredited classes from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.

“We’re trying to put our teachers in a position to teach,” Angeli said. “We do not want to put our teachers in a position where they’re constantly trying to figure out how to videotape themselves, figuring our a way to edit it, figuring out how to send it, making sure kids are able to watch it (or) making sure kids do homework that somehow they’re sending home digitally or physically,” thus giving them more time for actual teaching.

If a teacher or student is sent home for a 14-day quarantine, Acellus gives the schools a system where they can keep up with their classwork digitally, Hencsik said.

Having one platform across all grade levels is helpful for parents who have multiple children in the school, Secondary Principal Jason Dreyer added.

Gillett’s back-to-school plan is “a living, breathing document that is constantly changing,” Hencsik said. A committee has been meeting weekly to update the plan with the latest information. Staff and parents are being surveyed to get their input.

“Most parents want their kids back in school,” he said. “The staff wants assurances that safety measures are in place.”

The question remains whether students and staff will be required to wear masks, Hencsik said.

“The enforcing part of it is the hard part,” he said, adding he would struggle with sending a child home from school for refusing to wear a mask. “But that decision may be made for us.”

Currently, Gillett has scheduled an in-person graduation ceremony at 10 a.m. Aug. 8 outdoors in the football stadium on the school campus. Usually held the first weekend in June, the program was postponed after Gov. Tony Evers closed schools through the end of June.

Dreyer said he received guidance from Oconto County Public Health Officer Deb Konitzer that gatherings should be limited to 50 people or less, and restrooms should be constantly cleaned. He said she expressed concern over bottlenecks of people as they enter and exit, as well as a lack of appropriate social distancing.

Suring recently decided to postpone its in-person ceremony for the Class of 2020, while Oconto Falls went through with their graduation on July 12 at ST Paper Stadium, Dreyer noted.

“We’re told that lot of the community spread has come from graduation parties,” he added.

Gillett has held a virtual graduation, and teachers went to each of the senior class members’ households to deliver gift packages, he said. The community also held a senior parade on the afternoon the ceremony was originally scheduled.

Board members said if the restroom issue could be solved, they would like the district to go through with the in-person ceremony, unless COVID-19 forces a last-minute cancellation.

Administrators committed to finding a way to livestream the ceremony, and masks will be strongly recommended for attendees. Each graduate is being allowed a limited number of tickets for family members.

“The most important thing to me is the senior class gets to see each other one more time — even if it’s from six feet away — to say goodbye, because they never had their last day in the school,” Board President Jamie Young said.

The board has scheduled a special meeting for Aug. 5, and a make-or-break decision could be made at that stage, but they leaned toward allowing the ceremony to proceed, especially since they’re planning to invite the entire student body into the building three weeks later.

wbluhm@newmedia-wi.com