Risk levels determined every 14 days

By Robert Cloud

District Administrator Ron Saari updated the Waupaca School Board on covid safety protocols during its Sept. 8 meeting.

Saari said Waupaca and other school districts met with the county public health office, Jed Wohlt, to devise a COVID-19 decision framework.

The framework is “part of a collaboration with district superintendents across Waupaca County,” Saari said. “There’s seven different districts in our county and the goal is to be as consistent as we possibly can.”

Saari presented a color-coded chart that determines whether students will learn in classrooms or virtually or a hybrid of the two based on risk levels.

Risk levels

The framework has four risk levels.

Green is the lowest risk level, and it allows in-person instruction for grades 4K through 12.

The yellow level allows in-person instruction for 4K through sixth grade.

Seventh through 12th grades will use an A/B schedule that divides each class into two schedules.

A Schedule students are in the classrooms on Mondays and Thursdays and learning remotely on Tuesdays and Fridays.

B Schedule students are in the classrooms on Tuesdays and Fridays, while learning remotely on Mondays and Thursdays.
On Wednesdays, all students learn from home online.

The orange level allows in-person instruction for grades 4K through 6.

Seventh through 12th grade students are required to learn remotely.

Red is the highest risk level, and it requires that all students learn through virtual instruction.

The district will determine the risk level based on the percentage of students and staff that test positive and the number of positive cases in Waupaca County over the prior 14 days.

If more than 25 of students and staff test positive for COVID-19 and more than 125 people in Waupaca County test positive, the district moves to the red level.

If less than 0.5% of students and staff test positive and 175 or less people in Waupaca county test positive, the district remains in the green level.

The Waupaca School District has 2,118 students and 330 employees.

Determination and implementation dates

The district will review the number of positive cases every 14 days to determine the risk level.

On Wednesday, Sept. 23, the district will review the covid data from the county.

It will determine the risk level on Wednesday, Sept. 23, and implement the appropriate protocols on Monday, Sept. 28.

Other scheduled determination dates are Oct. 7, Oct. 21 and Nov. 4.

Future implementation dates are Oct. 12, Oct. 26 and Nov. 9.

Other factors

The district will address individual buildings separately with the goal of remaining open if possible.

The plan may need to be adjusted due to staff or substitute teacher shortages.

Saari said he will also look at the district’s number of active hospitalizations, trend data and the increases or decreases in the prior 14-day period to determine which instructional options to implement.

In the two weeks from Aug. 23 to Sept. 5, Waupaca County reported 182 new positive cases.

Saari noted that if that spike had continued the district would have sought guidance from the County Health Department regarding whether or not to go virtual.

Waupaca schools opened on the yellow level with in-person instruction for 4k through sixth grade and an A/B schedule for seventh through 12th grades.