Board puts move to A/B hybrid model on pause

By: 
Jill Meier, Journal editor
On the recommendation of administration, Brandon Valley Board of Education Monday night agreed to push the pause button on making the switch to an A/B hybrid learning model at the high school and middle school only.
 
The A/B hybrid model is designed to reduce close contact issues associated with the academic day. The model splits students into two groups and students attend on-site every other day. The off-site day is an academic day, with students expected to do projects, assignments or other assigned activities at home.
 
Once again, Superintendent Dr. Jarod Larson stressed that BVSD has a “close contact quarantine issue, not a COVID issue.”
 
Larson said both the high school and middle school will continue to struggle with close contact challenges until it addressed by the board of education, and the Centers for Disease Control or the Department of Health guidelines change. “If those guidelines change, we can certainly change,” he said. “As we do our due diligence, we can develop our options and at that point in time weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each and ultimately come up with the best ‘bad idea’ you’ve got. That’s a phrase that my administrative council has heard on a regular basis and I will tell you that in these really, really challenging times, that’s what we’re working with.”
 
Larson’s recommendation to pause the switch to the A/B hybrid model was made based on the district’s pandemic response plan, which clearly states its two main goals: To reduce the spread of the disease and maintain education functions.
 
“These are the two things administration focuses on when managing the situation,” he said.
Justin Loverien, a science teacher at BVHS who has Type 1 diabetes, said this school year has been stressful.
 
“I’m not sure everyone understands ¬that one of the biggest threats to keeping our schools open is having our teachers (at school teaching). “There’s been discussion of making us essential workers so we won’t quarantine,” he said. 
 
Lovrien said his Type 1 diabetes has added to his personal stress.
 
“I really do worry when I call in sick if I do get it, that I might be responsible for closing down the school. Quite honestly if I’m sick, there’s nothing we can do about that, but I do support keeping our current quarantine rules,” he said, voicing support for the A/B model for the remainder of the first semester.
 
Lovrien told the board he is not the only staff member with health-related concerns.
 
“If we start getting community spread in our school, I’m really worried that we won’t have enough teachers … I have a concern that might lead to shutting down our school two or three weeks. I think the only way to keep our schools open is to keep COVID out of our schools, and I worry that loosening some of the quarantine rules would (do that). So many of these kids are asymptomatic and it just increases the risk of bringing COVID into our schools. I think everyone here tonight is here because we want the schools open. I do think the modifications we have now are inconvenient for both students and staff but it does keep our schools going and I have a great concern that if we loosen that we’ll have enough staff members that really could increase the closing down of our schools,” he said.
 
Board member Dr. Gregg Talcott asked Lovrien to explain what he meant by “loosening” guidelines.
 
Lovrien said he does not want to the see the district go to a “voluntary” quarantine if a student or staff member is exposed by someone with six feet.
 
“If we made that voluntary, we would have more students in the building that might have COVID,” he said. “The other (reason) why I would support the A/B schedule is I’m not sure there is another profession that has so much direct contact. I am within six feet for at least 15 minutes with at least 50 or 60 kids a day and not that many students went online; we have very full classes. Of those students get it, the risk of a teacher contracting it is quite high, and so I view the A/B schedule as a way to keep our activities going. It wouldn’t be ideal, but we’d have contact one day and then have an online day, but it would be much more efficient than last year where at the drop of a hat we went digital. We’d have fewer kids in class and I could definitely at that point have six feet between me and wherever I’m lecturing from or working with students with only about half of them in the classroom.”
 
If the decision were left up to him, Lovrien said he would make masks mandatory. Lovrien says he estimates that less than 20 percent of BVHS students are wearing masks.
 
In the past two weeks, the state department of education clarified that the ultimate decision of how long students and staff should be quarantined should be left up local school boards. The department also said that the 14-day quarantine time was not a requirement from the state department of health, as initially perceived.
 
Molly Joseph, a parent of a junior, a freshman and a seventh-grader, asked if the decision to go to the A/B hybrid model had already been made. She said the one-question survey sent to high school and middle school parents/guardians read that way.
 
Board member Ellie Saxer said no decisions are made until the vote.
 
“I can confidently tell you that it’s not. We truly have just thrown out options at this time that we can present to the public. It doesn’t mean other options aren’t being considered,” she said.
 
Joseph spoke Monday on behalf of about 20 other parents, and said it’s understood that BVHS and BVMS have a quarantine issue, not a COVID issue, but no numbers of students quarantined of positive tests have been shared.
 
“You gave parents one option only: stay with traditional schedule or go to A/B schedule,” she said. “Many of us parents felt that the survey did not adequately represent how we actually feel. I do agree that we have a quarantine issue, but it’s time to quit quarantining completely healthy kids.”
 
Joseph also charged the regulations are not sufficiently accurate. 
 
“We had soccer players that had to quarantine for seven days because it took seven days to deem them as close contact. We have dance girls who were notified on the 15th that they were close contact on the 10th … and their close contact was based on their seating charts and they didn’t even sit in those seats on the bus. The close contacts don’t matter if they’re not accurate,” she said.
 
Joseph said if the A/B model is enacted, many students will be very successful and able to handle the work on their days off, but said several will not. 
 
“As if we don’t put enough pressure on our kids as it is, they are not college kids and they are not ready or mature enough to handle this schedule,” she said. “I’m blessed to be a stay-at-home mom. I’m not here because my kids are not going to be OK. They are going to be OK. I’m there every single day. I’m here for my friends who have kids (and can’t be at home with their children) to monitor their school day. … If you think that a 13-year-old boy can stay at home by himself and do school work, it’s not happening. Some may, but 90 percent of them are not going to. … That worries me.”
 
Joseph said that the BV prides itself in being the best.
 
“I want to ask you, ‘Is this the best that we can do?’ I’m concerned about all aspects of my child’s education, from education to mental health. We have a lot of kids that suffer from mental health disorders. I am blessed that my children do not. I have friends that I talk to daily, and this disruption is killing them. It doesn’t matter how healthy you are if you don’t want to live. It’s been proven that children thrive and learn best in routine and disruption is not healthy for a normal child development,” she said.
 
After the CDC and DOH lifted the 14-quarantine requirement and made it a recommendation, Joseph said Harrisburg High School continues to recommend 14-day close contact quarantines but it is no longer required. Joseph also contacted Harrisburg teachers and its superintendent and was told, “It’s going amazing.”
 
“I understand it’s only been a week, but I’m just not sure why it’s not something that can be thrown onto the table. There’s a lot of us that want our kids in school, they need the education. BV is the best, we pride ourselves the best, we have the best students, we have the best administration and I believe we have the best school board,” she said.
 
Larson explained administration will continue to follow the district’s pandemic response plan, which states BVSD will adhere to the recommendations of public health offiials.
 
“What I’m going to say now, I hold very fast to, and I understand that people may have wanted more options in their survey, however during a public health crisis, as the superintendent of your school district, I rely on the CDC and DOH when establishing our strategies to reduce the spread of disease and maintain educational functions. I am not going to bring forth an option that disregards the CDC and DOH recommendations,” he said.
 
Larson went on to explain how his administrative team worked proactively to evaluate the solution to close contact challenges while continuing to adhere to CDC and DOH recommendations. 
 
“It was not a decision, but more so an opportunity to engage our stakeholders and gather feedback on a potential decision. We wanted to get insight from you as individuals, which is why we asked. It was very important to us because there may come a point in time where we don’t ask feedback on a closure or scheduling change decision because it’s an emergency,” he said.
 
“We were not in an emergency. What we do have is a challenge, a close contact challenge, a 14-day close contact quarantine challenge. There is certainly lag time issues with testing, with the identification of close contacts and communications from departments, and we understand all of that.”
 
Larson said they also want to take into account what is happening in schools around the state that have lessened their 14-day close contact quarantine policies.
 
“We wanted to act with a little bit of foresight and potentially evaluate a strategy that could give us some long-term success. With all that being said, it is absolutely 195 percent right on the money when we say we want every one of our kids in school all day long. That’s what we want, but right now we’re navigating this pandemic and are doing the very best we can. I will continue to bring forward solutions that adhere to guidelines from the CDC and the DOH. We are in a public health crisis and we have to rely on those departments to help guide us,” he said.
 

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