“Kettering City Schools believe it is important for students to transition back to face-to-face learning on a hybrid schedule,” the proposal by Superintendent Scott Inskeep says.
“This schedule will allow the building administrators and staff to teach students protocols and procedures that will help keep students and staff safe during in-person learning,” according to the plan.
The options, according to the district, include:
•Option 1: In-person four days a week, one day of remote learning.
•Option 2: Hybrid of two days a week in-person, three days a week remote.
•Option 3: Remote learning.
The Kettering board of education is expected to vote on the plan at its meeting Tuesday.
Kettering schools began the school year Sept. 8 with remote-only instruction. Classes in district buildings have not been held since March, when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine shuttered school buildings due to the coronavirus.
The in-person options would start with preschool students returning Nov. 9, according to the district.
Both the elementary and secondary schools will follow a hybrid regimen from Nov. 9-20 before returning for four days a week starting Nov. 30, according to the website.
With the hybrid transition, elementary students with the last names A-K will be in buildings Mondays and Thursdays and learning from home on Tuesdays and Fridays, the plan states.
Students with the last names L-Z will be in buildings Tuesdays and Fridays and learning from home on Mondays and Thursdays.
Middle school students with the last names A-K and high school students in Central and East will be in buildings Mondays and Thursdays and learning from home on Tuesdays and Fridays, according to the plan.
Middle school students with the last names L-Z and high school students in South and West will be in buildings Tuesdays and Fridays and learning from home on Mondays and Thursdays.
All students will have remote learning days on Wednesdays, according to the district.
A cautious approach is appropriate, Kettering board President Jim Ambrose said.
“I have a hard time rolling dice on a child’s life and the lives he and she comes in contact with — be it teachers, administrators, family members, grandparents … people who are up in age, people with compromised immune systems — all of that concerns us,” Ambrose said last week before the plan was released.
Through the first six weeks of remote classes, six COVID-19 cases have been reported by Kettering staff members and one by a student, the school district’s website says.
“It is important to recognize that the combination of online and face-to-face learning plans for the second quarter will undoubtedly look a little different for both face-to-face and online learners than the first quarter, which was fully remote,” according to the plan.
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