Monday evening at our Worthington Board of Education meeting the board affirmed and formally adopted our Responsible Restart Plan. The plan that was formally adopted outlined that based upon the recommendations from Columbus Public Health (CPH) that we would begin the year remotely. In an effort to provide certainty for our families and for our teachers we committed to staying remotely until October 30th.
Prior to the adoption of the plan our board heard a presentation from a representative of Columbus Public Health. When asked directly about the CPH recommendation of “No in-person learning until our community sees four consecutive weeks of a downward trend in new cases,” he stated that we had seen some decline. The board asked several times about this recommendation but left unsure when CPH would recommend that in-class learning resumes.
Tuesday morning Dr. Roberts, the Director of Columbus Public Health, shared with Franklin County Superintendents that she has seen three weeks of downward trend in new cases and that with one more week in the same direction, we may have met her recommendation. Thus the data is improving much more rapidly than we were led to believe it would. While this is good news for the health of our community, it makes it challenging to communicate to our Worthington families with certainty.
As we have shared, we want to provide families with information that is accurate and reliable. COVID-19 has created a roller coaster of data and recommendations which has made definitive decisions for a school district difficult. I think it’s fair to say we’ve struggled to navigate this.
This week we sent remote learning schedules to all families. We’re ready to begin in that mode and that’s still the approved plan. However, as a school district, we have said from the beginning that we desire to have our students in school. To meet Ohio’s Responsible Restart guidelines and socially distance that likely means a hybrid mode of schooling. If such a mode is deemed safe by public health, we feel like that’s our responsibility. Thus, I don’t believe we can continue to provide the certainty of staying remote until October 30th. If the data allows for in-person schooling we’ll re-evaluate what the Board of Education approved just this Monday night.
If the data trend continues to decline for the fourth straight week and CPH modifies their recommendations based upon that trend, the Board of Education would call a special meeting to discuss how Worthington Schools best responds. On one hand this is great news! On another hand, it obviously creates more uncertainty and makes planning hard for everyone.
We recognize that some of you may have chosen to stay in Worthington Schools because we had committed to being online until October 30th. If you fall in that category we will be extending our deadline to register for the Worthington Online Learning Academy until August 19th (emails this week said August 12th). If you need certainty for the mode of learning for the semester this will be your best option.
I’m not saying that we’re going to make a change to our plan. But, if the data continues to improve throughout Franklin County I do believe it’s something that the board of education will need to consider and if you are counting on us being online I want you to have time to make a decision for your family.
We knew we needed to be prepared to adapt this year as the situation continues to evolve. We’ll be prepared as a district to do so.
-Trent Bowers, Superintendent
Absolute Excellence 
I am glad you evaluated some other figures beyond Monday’s miserable & confusing presentation!
Dr. Bowers got it right.
Dr. Bowers, I appreciate the continued transparency and the thoughtfulness with which you are evaluating this ever-changing situation. However, I have concerns about the possibility of reversing the decision from remote learning to a hybrid model for the first quarter. Franklin county data may be trending downward, but it is still high. Until Franklin county (not Ohio as a whole, but our county specifically) has a positivity rate at or below 5%, the virus should not be considered under control. I believe the district should be looking at the data from a more macro level and considering the school year from a big picture scale, rather than zeroing in on 4 weeks of data in an attempt to justify in-person instruction. We are nowhere near out of the woods yet.
Don’t do this. This is insane. I understand data changes, but you announced the district would be remote until November. Not that we would “probably” be remote. To come back now and say you might change it? How can we trust anything you say? Let our teachers focus on making remote learning as good as it can be until November and let families be able to plan.
Amen
Yes! We need stability to plan for our kids, education, jobs and so do teachers.
“In an effort to provide certainty for our families and for our teachers we committed to staying remotely until October 30th.”
Please, honor and follow through with the commitment.
Please stick with remote learning and let families have some semblance of peace and stability for the next few months. Even the doctors in DeWine’s ridiculous press conference yesterday said that 10 percent of children get seriously (as in admitted to the hospital) ill from the coronavirus. That equates to more than 1,000 children in Worthington Schools (and their parents and grandparents) who are at risk of getting seriously ill. That’s what we are willing to risk? Remote learning isn’t ideal. But two months of a less than ideal situation is far more tolerable than having my child be included in that 10 percent.
You might as well stick with the 2 month at home plan even though a lot of people don’t like it including me. That still gives 6 1/2 months for kids to show up in person hopefully as much as possible.
Much of the conversation around restarting schools focuses on the health and safety of our children, as well as the teachers and other adults in our school buildings– as a parent, this is certainly my primary concern. However, another aspect to consider is our schools’ role in community spread.
Before the governor required masks statewide, he required masks only in counties that were classified Level 3 (red). If masks had been required from the start, perhaps none of the counties would have made it to Level 3 (red)! Once community spread is happening, it’s too late! I feel we’re in the same situation here. By opening the schools before the virus is contained, the schools have the potential to become a vector for further community spread.
You talk about a “responsible” restart plan, but please consider your responsibility to the larger community beyond the schools! If we don’t all take action to reduce the spread of the virus, we will never get past this. By sticking to your earlier commitment to remain online through the end of October, the school can not only protect its students and educators and our families, but can also play an important role in reducing the spread of the virus in the community.
We have an opportunity to teach our children what it means to be responsible citizens and members of our community and that we have an obligation to take care of each other. Take a stand and stay the course for the greater good. Please commit to staying remote through October 30.
Shouldn’t the remote option and hybrid option be identical? This would allow for the most consistency for parents and teachers. During the hybrid model I’m expecting to send my child to school for 2 or 3 days/week. When at home I’m expecting to have A LOT of flexibility in helping my child with independent work. Doing the exact same schedule in the remote model would allow the same expectations. Two days of focused school work following a typical school schedule. While the independent work days would be most flexible.
Also whether learning from home or a building those two days should be identical. Log in for the 2-3 small group sessions that would have occurred in the building and log in for the 3-4 whole group meetings that would have occurred in the buildings. The remainder of the time is independent work just like in the physical classroom. The teacher does not stand in front and talk to the whole class for hours on end and so online it would not be expected for students to log on for hours on end. Whole group is maybe 10-20 minutes and small group is 15-30 minutes. The same would be expected online.
agreed – why aren’t the remote plans, hybrid plans & OOLP identical? All students should be able to receive the SAME education? Those with IEPs, 504s, EPP classes & AP classes should also receive those services/lessons as they would traditionally. It has been 5 months since March – enough time to make it happen.
Well OOLP would not be identical – OOLP is choosing a different school/teacher.
When I say hybrid and remote are identical I am recommending that the teacher plan the daily lessons exactly the same whether the students are in the building or online. If in the building, teacher planned 8:00 morning meeting whole group and 8:30 – 10:00 language arts with 4 small group meetings. Then if remote the log in times would be the same – everyone log in at 8:00 for morning meeting. Then all students will do independent work on see saw until it’s time for their small group.
Thank you Dr. Bowers!
Making good decisions with imperfect information is what great leadership looks like.
We are not built for online school….it will be a disaster despite best efforts.
#science-over-fear-mongering!
Agreed! Thank you! I am thrilled that students may have an opportunity to receive education in person, with safety protocols in place.
Great to hear this! I think this will greatly impact the most vulnerable in the community. I’m glad to see everyone is looking at the data and making smart decisions.
Please stick with the original plan. It’s frustrating and confusing to change things so soon before school starts, plus even a downward trend doesn’t make it a safe choice to start in person school. If we are starting to trend downward now it’ll be even better at the end of October and make the transition back to in person learning safer. It’s only two months of remote learning to stick with the plan and with the ever changing info coming at us regarding Covid, consistency in what to expect with school is so important for families and their kids.
Dr. Roberts, the Director of Columbus Public Health, was just on the news (8/12) saying we aren’t ready to open schools as Columbus City just cancelled all sports. Their recommendations are so inconsistent.
As a grandparent of 2 preschool girls with special needs I hope Worthington schools have in-class learning, soon. The kids will be more behind their age group so soon and need interaction they can’t get in front of a computer screen.