St. Vrain Valley School District will have a mix of in-person and online learning for all students when school starts on Aug. 18, along with mandatory mask-wearing, stringent cleaning and social distancing measures amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Superintendent Don Haddad presented the hybrid learning model to St. Vrain Valley’s Board of Education on Wednesday and will email families, teachers and staff further details of the plan Thursday.
Haddad emphasized the importance of the safety and well-being of students, teachers and staff.
“What we’ve made a commitment to do since my first communication is to stay closely aligned with the health care professionals, and within what the health care professionals say to us and how they guide us, we are also very, very supportive and interested in providing choices for our families and our staff,” Haddad said.
Those choices include fully remote learning for families who do not want their child to attend any in-person classes, Haddad said.
The hybrid education model, in which students learn online part of the week and in person part of the week, will cut class sizes in half or more, Haddad said. Specific in-person and online schedules will vary for elementary, middle and high schools and will be announced Thursday.
St. Vrain is working to group siblings onto the same in-person schedule. “We definitely want to be family friendly and create as much convenience as we can,” Haddad said after the meeting.
The school district has worked closely with Boulder County Public Health, Haddad told Board of Education members, and county officials including BCPH Executive Director Jeff Zayach endorsed St. Vrain’s return-to-school plan on Wednesday.
The plan includes more online learning than what St. Vrain leaders proposed in June — the previous plan included 100% in-person learning for elementary students, sixth-graders and ninth-graders. Haddad said he’s aware that some school districts in the metro area are returning to 100% in-person learning for all students.
“We thought about that and decided to be a little more cautious, and that’s why we’re looking to cut those class sizes in half and then reduce them again with online (learning) so we can have a strong preventative approach and not just a responsive approach,” Haddad said.
The district has also set aside $3 million in case it needs to hire additional full-time employees to reduce class sizes, Haddad said.
The district is also prepared to go fully online for all students if local public health conditions require it, Deputy Superintendent Jackie Kapushion said.
St. Vrain leaders purchased additional technology supplies, like high-powered lenses and microphones, so that teachers can teach live classes for students learning online. One-to-one and small group instruction can still be done in a virtual setting, she said.
“Overall, this is a much more structured approach than in the spring, which was much less scheduled,” Kapushion said.
Less structure in the spring was necessary as parents adjusted to at-home learning during the pandemic, she said.
St. Vrain will continue to run school buses for students, Haddad said, out of concern over equity. There will be recess and school meals with social distancing and safety measures in place.
Other safety measures include updating air systems to increase fresh air flow, installing all new air filters and providing free coronavirus tests twice a month to teachers and staff.
The district and Boulder County Public Health are reviewing guidance from the state on how to respond to outbreaks in schools and will provide information on quarantine and isolation protocols soon, Zayach said.
Haddad, Zayach and other district leaders emphasized that there is no perfect plan for reopening schools.
There will be outbreaks in schools, Zayach said, but health officials are planning on how to best reduce the number of outbreaks and the disruption to students, families and schools.
“I believe the plan that SVVSD has put forward at this point meets that reduction of risk,” he said.
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