SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City School District students will start the academic year on Sept. 8 in remote mode online, but the district plans to shift to a hybrid model once COVID-19 infections in Salt Lake County consistently reach lower levels.
After 2 1/2 hours of discussion and debate Thursday, the district school board voted 6-1 to approve the plan.
Interim Superintendent Larry Madden said the district’s goal “is to provide quality learning while maintaining the safety of our community and take steps that will allow us to open and remain open as soon as it’s safe. We all want this,” he said.
Students will attend school online during regular school hours and follow a standard school schedule. Educators will teach “live” with students using video conferencing technology such as Zoom and Teams. Students will learn online at the same time and depending on their level in school, self-direct some of their learning.
Madden said the district will buttress the plan with technology. It has 13,000 laptops ready to distribute with 2,000 more on order and there are plans to purchase 4,000 more for delivery this fall. The district has some 200 hot spots and 400 more on order, he said. Moreover, WiFi has been installed at the football stadiums at East, West and Highland high schools so students or parents can drive up and conduct their schoolwork in stadium parking lots.
“We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that every student in our district has the technology and the access that they need to work effectively online,” Madden said.
Food service for students will also be provided while the district uses remote learning.
The plan envisions a return to school through a hybrid model — a combination of in-person and online learning — for at least one quarter and possibly sooner if Salt Lake County’s positive test average for COVID-19 dips below 5% for seven consecutive days. The other benchmark is 10 cases per 100,000 people.
Eventually, the district aims to return to in-school learning, but remote learning remains an option for families that elect not to return to schools.
Madden said a host of other preparations are underway to help ensure the safety of students, educators and staff when in-school learning resumes — everything from enhanced hygiene practices, installation of acrylic barriers and a means for the district to produce its own hand sanitizer.
“At the point that we’re ready to return, we are ready to return,” Madden said.
Board President Melissa Ford spoke in support of the plan, but urged the administration to focus “on ways to bring our youngest students back into buildings, quickly, perhaps even more quickly than the metrics that you’ve put out.”
She also urged consideration of ninth graders starting high school.
“I would love to see them as they’re transitioning to high school have opportunities to navigate that a little bit better,” she said.
But others opposed the plan, with board member Mike Nemelka saying he believes distance learning is a “lazy way” to teach students and “the least effective.” He cast the lone vote against the plan.
Ford countered that the district’s administrators, teachers and staff had pored enormous effort into the school’s return-to-school plan and preparing lessons.
Madden said starting instruction the Tuesday after Labor Day weekend gives teachers two weeks prior to the start of school to meet with students and parents in small groups. “This is especially crucial for our younger elementary students and for students transitioning to a new school,” board documents state.
Teachers will also bring students into schools to administer assessments so educators can tailor their instruction to address learning gaps.
The district plans to use a single teaching and learning platform, Canvas. Prior to the start of school, the district will offer training to parents about how to use Canvas and the district’s other online resources.
Board Vice President Nate Salazar said he loves the proposed plan because it is “rooted in science” and “there are specific markers relative to how we define safe in our district and in our community.”
Board member Katherine Kennedy said her constituents have told her not to make “fear-based” decisions.
“I think it’s OK to be afraid of this virus,” she said, adding that her concerns, which are held by many of her constituents, are instead ‘’loved-based.”
Student board member Arundhati Oommen, who attends West High School, said she surveyed 300 students about their families’ greatest concerns, which are economic stability and child care.
Some students said their families say, if necessary, they will give up economic stability to keep their children safe.
“No family should ever, ever have to make the choice between economic stability and keeping the children as safe as they can,” she said.
She urged the district to stagger its resumption of in-school learning, starting with the youngest students whose school populations are smaller and appear to be less effective vectors.
Earlier in the day, state health officials unveiled a COVID-19 School Manual developed in consultation with local public health authorities and state education leaders to guide schools on reopening.
The 102-page manual instructs schools and families what to do if a student, teacher or employee is exposed to COVID-19 or tests positive. It also provides guidance how schools can create healthy learning environments and protocols in the event a student who participates in school activities, sports, or clubs tests positive for COVID-19.
The manual says schools, parents, students, educators, school employees and community members all play a role in ensuring the safe and healthy operations of schools.
According to the manual, parent should check their child for COVID-19 symptoms daily before school, including taking their temperatures. A temperature of 100.4 or higher indicates a fever. If a child has symptoms, they should be kept home from school.