After a succesful start to the school year, USD 253 Emporia Public Schools has now begun phase two of its COVID-19 learning model.
Phase two officially began Wednesday after the USD 253 Board of Education approved the action during its regular meeting last Wednesday. Superintendent Kevin Case, a guest of KVOE’s On-Air Chat Wednesday, stated the transition into phase two was possible due in large part to the cooperation of district staff, students and parents.
He says the school year has gotten off to a great start which is no small feat when one considers the sheer amount of adjustments the district had to work through as part of its COVID-19 mitigation strategies.
With phase two now in place, the district continues to have its consistent on-site cohort of in-person students with specialized academic or social-emotional support needs, however, the number of additional students attending classes has increased from 12.5 percent of the student population to 25 percent. Those students also are now attending on-site classes once every week rather than once every two weeks as with phase one.
As it pertains to where the district could go from here, Case says the Board of Education has had the mindset since the summer months that they “only want to do this once” and not risk backpedaling with its efforts to get more students into the classroom.
In addition to the approval of phase two, the board also amended prior action where they approved the implementation of state gating criteria. Rather than the criteria being the sole driver for decision making throughout the school year, the amendment now makes it one of several metrics the board will utilize when making decisions regarding specific learning activities and access models for the school year.
Additional metrics include:
*CDC guidance
*Staff and student attendance
*Quarantine data
*Input from the district’s advisory committee
*Any information deemed necessary by the superintendent
KVOE will continue to update the district’s progress on COVID-19 mitigation throughout the remainder of the school year. You can hear the full interview with Superintendent Case in the KVOE.com Audio Vault.
