Board discusses school openings

Last week’s meeting of Hot Springs County School District #1’s Board of Directors allowed parents and students to get a glimpse of what the district’s plans are as far as opening the schools for the 2020-2021 school year.

Each of the schools, Ralph Witters Elementary (RWE), Thermopolis Middle School (TMS) and Hot Springs County High School (HSCHS) have slightly different plans when it comes to the first day of school.

All schools will begin with Tier I, with schools open to students with some new health precautions in place, such as social distancing or the use of masks when social distancing is not feasible.

Tier II would be a combination of in-person instruction with possible intermittent closures and quarantining of students and staff. This will be hybrid or distance learning.

If necessary, the district has a Tier III plan, which would be complete closure of school buildings to students at the county or state level, just like we had at the end of this school year. This would mean distance learning only.

All three tiers have been approved by the state and it will be up to the district to follow the guidance of state and local health officials, meaning a tier could change at a moment’s notice.

Communication between parents and RWE will be through a new program called Schoolology. There was concern last year that parents were either getting too much information from a variety of sources, or not enough information for what they needed.

All communication regarding academics at RWE will be done through Schoolology. A learning video will be available for parents on the district website in August at hotsprings1.org.

School nurse Brenna Huckfeldt will be the liaison between local health officials and the school regarding COVID-19 concerns.

At TMS, communication will be streamlined this year through the Remind app and all student assignments that are on devices will be assigned on Google Classroom. No paper packets will be used this year except under certain circumstances.

There will be a parent training video for the app on the school website in August. It will show parents how to monitor their student’s learning and better understand how Google Classroom will be used if there is a transition to Tier III during the school year.

For high school students there will be few changes. The Hotsprings1.org website, on the high school link, will be where teachers will keep lesson plans posted for students and parents to access during an absence or a switch to distance learning.

Urgent messages from any of the schools will still be sent through the automated phone/text system.

There are a few things parents will need to be aware of at each of the schools.

It is up to the parents to monitor their child’s health in order to keep everyone safe. Any student presenting as not well or with flu symptoms will be sent home.

Parents are asked not to drop their students off at any of the buildings before 7:50 a.m.

While the district would like to have all students back in the classroom, they do understand there are some parents or guardians that are apprehensive about sending their children to school.

Families that opt out of in person schooling have two basic choices – a full-time, virtual or remote education or home-based educational programs.

The district does not offer full-time remote education so students will need to be enrolled in a Wyoming Virtual School. The exception to this requirement would be students who qualify for homebound instruction for a specific period of time due to a medical condition. Parents will be required to provide documentation from a medical professional.

If a family chooses home schooling, there is a process which needs followed.

It will be the responsibility of every person administering a home-based educational program to submit a curriculum to the Board of Trustees each year showing that the program complies with state statutes.

If a family does plan on home schooling yet want their students to participate in extracurricular athletics or activities at HSCHS, they will need a two week notice in order to process the Wyoming High School Activities Association paperwork. Until completed, your student will not be able to participate.

Parents are encouraged to visit the district’s website in order to watch for changes in the coming weeks.