H-D, CAL schools return to onsite learning model

Hampton-Dumont and CAL students have returned to on-site learning full-time.

The districts last Monday announced that school would reenter into an onsite model beginning on Thursday, Dec. 10. The districts in November elected to switch to the hybrid model for the foreseeable future.

The hybrid model divides the student body into two groups where one attends class two days a week while the other practices distance learning. The groups then switch for the other two days.

Wednesdays are used as a chance for students to receive additional help from their instructors if needed.

Superintendent Todd Lettow said the decision to go back to the onsite model was made by an advisory committee made up of school administration and health professionals. He said the committee saw a decrease of positive cases and exposed students and staff quarantining and felt a move back to onsite learning would be feasible.

“As of (last) Monday, we had only two cases in the school,” he said. “We had had higher amounts but they’ve all recovered, so that was a good thing. We really want to thank the parents and students for doing their part to try to curtail this and what they’re doing certainly helped.”

The committee meets regularly to analyze the COVID-19 situation in the area and makes a decision as to the learning model every two weeks. The decision to switch to onsite will be in place until winter break begins on Dec. 23.

The winter break, he said, is a crucial period as some students and staff will likely travel and attend gatherings for the holidays. He encouraged those who do so to keep in mind recommendations and regulations handed down by national, state and local leaders.

“This is a special time for everyone and a chance for people to get together with people they haven’t seen for a while, so if everyone can continue to use those safety measures, that’s going to help us in our ability to come back to school and have sports and activities,” he said.

Lettow said the hope is for the districts to return from winter break on Jan. 4 in the onsite model, but said the situation will be monitored prior to the students’ return.

“It’s still kind of wait and see and I wouldn’t be surprised if we analyze the numbers over the break,” he said. “We said we wanted to use the data to determine what we’re going to do, so it’s only fair that we monitor that over the break and see if we’re in a good place to see if the kids can come back.”

As students come back to school full time, Lettow said that some procedures have been adjusted. Staff will no longer take students’ temperatures as they arrive in the morning, which Lettow said was due to the lack of fevers related to COVID recorded at the school.

“We’ve been monitoring this since the beginning and I think that everyone has realized that as we’ve learned more about the virus, (temperatures) are not the most preventative way to catch that,” he said. “We haven’t had any cases where someone was running a fever, got checked and found out they had COVID.”

He said students will still enter through assigned doors, masks will be required on busses and in buildings, hand sanitizer will be used regularly and social distancing measures will still be in place.