Weyauwega-Fremont holds in-person classes five days a week
By Angie Landsverk
Weyauwega-Fremont’s middle and high school students returned to in-person instruction five days a week on Monday, Jan. 11.
District Administrator Phillip Tubbs said the first day went really well.
“Mrs. (Jodi) Alix was great greeting students at the door with signs and balloons,” he said.
She is the principal of the middle and high schools.
“I passed out hugs to students when they arrived. Hershey’s chocolate hugs that is … socially distanced hugs,” Alix told the Waupaca County Post.
The district is excited to have the students back, she said.
“It almost felt like the same energy and enthusiasm from students and staff as the first day of school,” Alix said.
While some students were hesitant about returning, parents shared that their children were ready to get back into a schedule and indicated their children looked forward to seeing their friends on a daily basis, she said.
District’s preparation
The district’s preparation for the return of the middle and high school students included a review last week of its safety procedures and protocols, including social distancing, masking, sanitizing and learning in cohorts.
“We continued to put in place the safety guidelines from the start of the school year with reminders for our students,” Tubbs said.
The decision to bring the students back full time for face-to-face instruction was noted in a Jan. 6 communication, posted on the district’s website.
“Although the county numbers are not as low as I would like, both the district and DHS (Waupaca County Department of Health and Human Services) feel the positive confirmed case numbers are trending in the right direction and the county hospitalizations and deaths are low,” Tubbs wrote.
The Jan. 8 update on the district’s website showed the district had three positive COVID-19 cases.
They were one Fremont Elementary student, one middle school student and one high school staff member.
Under quarantine as of that date were five students: one from Fremont Elementary, one from Weyauwega Elementary, one from the middle school and two from the high school.
Two staff members from Weyauwega Elementary were listed as under quarantine due to close contacts with someone who tested positive for the virus.
No classes were in quarantine.
Blended/cohort
Prior to this week, the instruction model for the middle and high school students was a blended/cohort.
Under that model, the students were divided into A/B cohorts.
Half of the students received in-person instruction on Monday and Tuesday, and the other half did on Thursday and Friday.
Wednesday was a virtual day for all middle and high school students.
The high school switched to that model on Oct. 5, with the middle school following a week later.
Like many area districts, W-F did so to mitigate the spread of the virus during the months Waupaca County saw a surge in positive cases.
Another measure W-F took was having a week of virtual learning for all the district’s students during both the week after Thanksgiving and the week after winter break.
Other than those two weeks, the district’s elementary students have received in-person instruction five days a week since the school year began.
A total of 807 students are enrolled in the district this school year.
As the middle and high school teachers met with each class on Monday, they discussed with the students how it was to be apart, the struggles both staff and students had and how wonderful it is to be together, Alix said.
“Teachers went into the teaching profession to be with students, versus looking through a screen, so we’re excited to see kids,” she said. “Being together face to face gives the opportunity for immediate feedback from teachers to students, students giving feedback to teachers to revise instruction for maximum success, redirecting for student engagement and an increased energy and passion for learning.”
Tubbs was happy to share the news that all W-F students are again receiving in-person instruction five days a week.
“Through this process, I feel the district has not only excelled in mitigating the virus with our safety procedures and return to learn plan, but I also believe it is the right thing to do for our students,” he wrote of the middle and high school students returning full time.