Tens of thousands of students who attend Milwaukee public schools would start the school year online and gradually return to the classroom once the threat of the coronavirus has subsided, under a $90 million plan proposed by the administration on Monday.
MPS school board members are expected to take up the proposal at a special board meeting Thursday.
The plan calls for students to return via virtual platforms on Aug. 17 or Sept. 1, depending on their school calendar. The online phase is projected to last 30 to 45 days, after which students would alternate two days in school and three online at home, and then fully return to classes once that was deemed safe.
“Our goal is to have students and staff return to school safely for the 2020-21 school year," Superintendent Keith Posley said in a statement announcing the plan. "We believe a phased-in approach will allow for teaching and learning to continue during this public health situation.”
Marla Bronaugh, chief communications and school performance officer, said the district would "monitor the health situation and the risk criteria" to determine when staff and students could safely return to MPS buildings.
Milwaukee County, which has had more than 14,000 cases and at least 359 deaths — most of those in the city of Milwaukee — has been deemed high-risk by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
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School board President Larry Miller said board members are likely to support the plan.
"It's something we have to do. ... But it's going to get tougher as time goes on because we have to figure out ways to bring our children back as quickly as we can," he said.
Miller said the additional cost would largely be covered through the CARES Act and other federal legislation. MPS is already scheduled to receive about $55 million from the CARES Act's Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, though about $15 million of that must be spent on services for private schools in Milwaukee, it said.
The Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association and Black Educators Caucus MKE, both of which had raised concerns about returning to classrooms without adequate precautions, voiced support for the reopening plan. However, neither is optimistic about a full return to classrooms by the fall, given some predictions of a second wave of the pandemic.
"We're pleased to see a virtual opening," MTEA President Amy Mizialko said. "Obviously, we'll be focused on what the public health guidance is as we move forward. ... But now, we'll have an opportunity to plan for a more meaningful, robust, connected system of virtual instruction until the science makes it clear we can return to in-person instruction."
The plan appears to have given significant weight to the concerns of parents, students and teachers, about 31,000 of whom responded to a survey about their preferences for reopening. Significant numbers of respondents — 46% of parents, 26% of students and 31% of staff — said they would be "not at all comfortable" returning to schools.
Angela Harris, chairwoman of the caucus, said she was "pleasantly surprised to see the district took seriously the feedback of the community and staff."
"The phase-in gives people the opportunity to return when they're comfortable ... and keeps educators and the community safe," she said.
Many families lack gear for virtual learning
MPS is the state's largest district serving nearly 75,000 students, most of them low-income children of color.
The virtual component is likely to be challenging and costly because many of the students' families lack the devices and the connectivity needed to access digital content.
According to the plan, MPS would spend an additional $30 million on technology alone, including about $5 million for Wi-Fi hot spots and $17.6 million on new Acer Chromebooks.
Transportation would be the second-largest ticket item, at about $29.6 million. That would be the cost of adding buses to accommodate social distancing requirements and to clean and sanitize the entire fleet of buses between uses.
The proposal comes as school districts across the country are grappling with how to move forward amid a global pandemic that has killed more than 57,000 worldwide, contradictory guidance about what is and isn't safe, and increased — and conflicting — pressure from parents, teachers and political and business leaders.
It is especially problematic for a district like Milwaukee whose schools already have some of the widest black-white achievement gaps in the country.
Some teachers and staff have made it clear they do not want to return to their buildings until the district can guarantee their safety. Parents, too, are fearful, but many need their children in school in order to keep their jobs.
And while keeping students at home may be safer for their physical health, Miller said, it will take a toll "academically, emotionally and socially."
President Donald Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have insisted schools must reopen fully, and Trump has threatened to cut funding for those that did not. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines for reopening schools. But Trump shot those down as too costly, and the agency said it would revise them.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction issued guidance for school districts on reopening last month and warned districts to expect the coronavirus threat to last 18 months. And last week, Gov. Tony Evers announced he would be sending millions of face masks and thousands of thermometers to schools as they prepare to reopen.
Because Wisconsin is a local-control state, the ultimate decision about reopening schools will fall to individual district leaders, who Miller said often do not have the expertise to make health decisions in a pandemic.
"We want to see state and national leaders, health experts weighing in. They're the ones who should be driving this."
And he said in a statement that every segment of the community must address the insecurities faced by the families of MPS students during the pandemic.
"We can’t stop the spread of the virus unless everyone is able to take care of themselves and their loved ones," he said. And called for a ban on evictions and penalties for missed mortgage payments, safety protections for workers, hazard pay, free health care and other measures.
"It is the responsibility of the business community, philanthropy, and every level of government — federal, state, county, city and school district — to demand that the health and well-being of children and communities comes first."
Contact Annysa Johnson at anjohnson@jrn.com or 414-224-2061. Follow her on Twitter at @JSEdbeat. And join the Journal Sentinel conversation about education issues at https://ift.tt/2USbs20.
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