OSWEGO – Plans for students’ return to in-person instruction at the Oswego Middle and High School was addressed during the Oswego City School District Board of Education meeting last night, Tuesday, Feb. 9.
Superintendent Dr. Mathis Calvin III reaffirmed the district’s reopening goals, with guest speakers including Oswego Middle School Principal MaryBeth Fierro and Oswego High School Principal Patrick Wallace, who detailed specifics regarding the plan.
“We have been working very hard with a team of 35 people on our reopening committee and several sub-committees’ as well. We’ve been working the past six weeks – pretty much daily on our reopening plan,” Fierro said. “And as of today, the good news is, our packets went in the mail today to all the middle school families. They’ll be arriving in homes Thursday or Friday.”
At this time, 65% of students will be returning for hybrid learning. The middle school is refining plans for dismissal to/from buses, walkers entering the building, morning drop-off commuters, and end-of-day dismissals to ensure safety protocols.
All hallways and classrooms are taped-off with six-foot measurements between chairs. Fierro and staff are rechecking all classrooms to ensure health and safety guidelines are met. A spreadsheet has been created targeting how many children will be assigned per section throughout the school, again ensuring proper safety protocols.
Each middle school packet will contain the following:
- A cover letter stating which cohort their child has been assigned to:
- Monday/Tuesday in person – Thursday/Friday virtual
- or Thursday/Friday in-person – Monday/Tuesday virtual.
- 100 percent virtual learning for families who choose to have their children remain at home.
- The student’s schedule
- An 11-page document summarizing everything the school is doing as part of their reopening plan.
- Also, a one-page “at-a-glance” document summarizing the 11-page document.
- A “Save the Date” flier for the launch of a reopening informational video. The video will be launched Friday, Feburary 12. The video will be sent through email, and will also be available on the schools website.
- The new schedule increases learning/direct contact with teachers by 20 minutes, from 4:40 to 5:00 hours.
The Oswego High School’s reopening plan includes:
- Implementation of same return model as OMS.
- Return date: first week in March.
- 65 percent in-person return of students.
- Hybrid learning model with 100% virtual instruction available for students who choose to learn at home.
- OHS will remain with the same nine-period model.
- All safety protocols are being implemented.
- OHS is working on the scheduling process at this time.
- Same Monday/Tuesday – Thursday/Friday in-person model.
- Both the high school and middle school will begin at the same 7:30 a.m. time frame.
- Lockers will not be available at this time.
Guest speakers Oswego Health Medical Director Dr. Robert Morgan and Oswego County Health Department Senior Public Health Educator Diane Oldenburg recognized the district’s hard work and dedication in returning students to school in a safe, equitable manner.
“I commend both Patrick and Marybeth for working through the details. I think moving forward and getting the students back – the statistics have clearly shown that it’s in the best interest of the students. Going forward, I like the idea of starting in one school and the other one a week or so later. I think we can catch up quickly if things go well at the Middle School,” Morgan said. “This will let us concentrate on one school and get it right, as best as possible, right from get-go. We have to remember that even with those other positive numbers, the six-feet, the mask, the social distancing, the washing the hands; that we can never forget those three fundamentals which we have been saying since July when we started this process.”
Oldenburg added to that assessment, reiterating the importance of maintaining necessary health guidelines to ensure low positivity rates.
“I think we agree that the protocols in place and mitigation strategies continue to be important. And as you bring more students in, it may be a little bit harder to monitor all those,” Oldenburg said. “So, I think it’s really important that those continue to be prioritized and reinforced with students.”
Other items covered during the meeting include brief updates on the Emergency Flood Plain Project, the Capital Project, the school budget, athletics and an overview of the Civics/Current Events curriculum in grades K-12. All items on the agenda were unanimously passed. To view the full agenda, please click here.
All BOE meetings are held the second and fourth Tuesday of every month, the next meeting on March 2 at 5 p.m.
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So they cant use the lockers. So what they have to do carry there coats and there backpacks and what ever else with them all day long. That is not right. Thanks one upset parent.
Kids in other districts at the middle and high school level are surviving just fine with their stuff all day so relax they will be fine! Kids are tougher then the adults. You should be more upset that it has taken this long to get the kids into the building or the fact the board still isn’t meeting in person with kids in every school. Maybe the board should lead by example and meet in person since they serve the public.