Wausau School District. MWC file photo.
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — For the first time since March of 2020, all students in the Wausau School District can go to school in-person four days a week.
Monday evening the Wausau School Board approved a recommendation by the district to return to in-person instruction at all levels on March 1st. The motion passed on a 5-4 vote after two failed amendments to the date of the motion, one to push it back by two weeks, and one to push it forward by two weeks.
District Director of Secondary Education Jennifer Rauscher explained that the plan for a return to in-person learning at the secondary level is to keep staff 6 feet away from students at all times. “One of the things we will help staff do is make sure that they can maintain 6 feet of distance from students and from other adults. That’s a piece that I think we feel like we can address more so than some of the other pieces that come up.”
Rauscher told the Board that the administration recommended a March 1st start date to help give them time to plan for student numbers and any potential staffing changes. “It’s partly student and family communication. And partly communication across our staff. We would like to be able to give families time to make a decision and also to share their decision with us if they want to stay in the mode they are in right now, or if they want to make a change.
“And then that will lead us to talking with our staff to make sure that we are social distancing to the extent possible. So for example, if you have a classroom that’s larger than mine but I’m going to end up with more kids than you, we may want to make a swap. We may want to have those kinds of conversations to try and set things up the best possible.”
District Chief Finance and Business Services Officer Bob Tess explains a March 1st start date will also help services like food and transportation have the time to prepare for more students. “That would give us plenty of time according to Karen Fox our food services director to order food and menu planning and some of those things.
“The same thing with transportation. Similar to the conversation we had in October and November, that we cannot assure 6 feet of distance between every single student on every single bus. That still remains to be the case. And right now our secondary numbers are quite a bit lower than our elementary level because of the cohort. And if we change the cohort model to eliminate it and have all of our secondaries coming to school on the same exact days, it would be close to the ridership of our elementary buses right now.”
Director of Pupil Services Angie Lloyd also spoke to the Board about her conversations with local health department officials. She said that in talking with officials all mitigation strategies will be used at schools including masking and social distancing to the extent possible.
With the vote Monday night, starting March 1st there will no longer be an A and B class schedule as all secondary students will attend four days a week with Fridays off as a teacher prep day. Families do still have the option to continue with remote learning if desired but must notify the school before March 1st.
Elementary school students have been back to class full-time since November.
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