-
WIC
By Jerry DeRoche
IRON RIVER — In its final meeting before the opening of the 2020-21 school year that started Tuesday, the West Iron County Board of Education touched on a few final issues as students, parents, staff and administrators prepared to take their leap into uncertainty of education in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With parents and students able to choose between an in-person option and a virtual option for learning, Stambaugh Elementary School Principal Michelle Thomson and West Iron Middle School/High School Principal Mike Berutti updated the board on the topic at the Aug. 18 meeting.
Thomson said that at the time of the meeting she had 38 families which choose the virtual option and 12 which decided to do homeschooling, therefore pulling their kids out of the district’s sphere.
Berutti said 45 students in grades 6-12 wished to do their schooling online.
Both principals conducted extensive phone calls with parents and were attempting to pursuade families into choosing the in-person option.
“I’ve been trying very hard to get families to not make (the virtual learning) choice because it’s going to be harder than they think,” Thomson said. “I, too, have been able to talk to a few of our special education families into the building instead of trying to do virtual because it’s just not a good option for them.”
Thomson added that she anticipates many of these students will come back to in-school learning.
“I’m hoping they’ll realize how difficult this is,” Berutti added, in reference to those in his building who wanted to try the virtual option. “Once we pay the bill (to Michigan Virtual High School), you’re stuck there because there’s nothing else we can do.”
Berutti said the biggest challenge will be to get the students enrolled into the Michigan Virtual High School program and teach them how to use the platform.
The district did decide to give “virtual families” a two-week grace period during which they can see what online schooling will be like and then if they decide it’s not for them, they can choose to bring their students back to in-person learning.
Once that grace period is over, students will not be able to switch until January.
Those who choose the virtual option must pay for their own internet services. If the state moves all regions back to Phase 1-3 - meaning the state has shut down the schools like it did last March – then the district would pick up the internet fee for those who are unable to get connected.
For the district to keep its funding for virtual students, contact with the students must be maintained – a phone call or email once or twice a week to check on student progress. The district will know when students are logging in to the program as well. Superintendent Chris Thomson said it will be easy to tell which students aren’t keeping up.
“They’ll fail,” he said.
Both principals and Superintendent Thomson gave rave reviews to their staffs for their summer preparations and their hands-on involvement in getting ready for educating in a much different environment than anyone could have imagined.
“My staff has done a fabulous job,” Michelle Thomson said. “I am so, so appreciative. They have put in way more hours than normal and it doesn’t go unnoticed.”
“I’d like to thank the staff at both Stambaugh Elementary and the Middle School/High School,” Chris Thomson said, “for coming in and getting themselves ready for all the different alternatives. It has been really nice to see.”
During the meeting, the board also voted unanimously to approve the Tech Solutions contract, the school resource officer’s contract and the full-time student requirement – defined by the district as seven hours for high schoolers and six hours for middle schoolers.