The Haines Borough School District Board will decide Tuesday, Aug. 4 what the beginning of the school year’s schedule and operations will look like for teachers and students including an initial part-time schedule along with face-covering requirements. The board will meet in a Zoom workshop on Aug. 3 at 6 p.m. to discuss the plans prior to the regular meeting.
The board will discuss a draft schedule where students for the first two weeks of school will attend classes part-time, with no classes on Wednesdays. The draft proposal is for each school day to be “compressed,” lasting from 8:20 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. The school day traditionally ended at 3:20 p.m. The board will also discuss whether students will need to wear face coverings throughout the day, based on the most recent Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) recommendations.
Haines Education Association vice president Rachelle Galinski said teachers met with union representatives Tuesday to discuss the proposals and wrote a letter to the school board expressing support for opening up with a part-time schedule, requiring staff and students to wear face coverings throughout the school day, and implementing the compressed schedule.
The letter also noted concerns that staff wants the board to address.
“We need absolute clarity on the protocol to send sick students home,” the letter states. “What kind of symptoms will be our criteria? If a student exhibits symptoms what steps will be followed? Also, what are the criteria that need to be met for a student to return to school after going home sick?”
The letter also asked the board to address whether COVID-19 leave qualifies as sick leave, what symptoms require staff to stay home and what criteria need to be met for a recovered staff member to return to school.
DEED updated its protocol for school reopening based on recent Centers for Disease Control guidance, including mask requirements.
More than 220 residents responded to a survey asking what they think school protocols should look like, results that the board will review and use to inform their decision, said superintendent Roy Getchell.
More families have already decided to homeschool their children this year. Last year, 18 students were enrolled in the district’s homeschool program. This year, 32 students have either enrolled, or have parents that have expressed interest in the homeschool program, Getchell said.
Some Haines parents say they’re waiting for the school board decision before deciding whether or not to homeschool. Sarah Elliott has two school-age children. She said she’s unclear what would happen if a positive case occurs at the school. She also thinks a compressed schedule without subjects such as music and art, and reduced social activity, would diminish the school experience while putting her children at unnecessary risk.
“I don’t envy the school board or administrators right now,” Elliott said. “I’m a huge supporter of the school. This is a tough decision. I don’t think I could homeschool my children better. It just seems like it’s a lot of risk that’s not worth the experience. I’m going to make the decision after the board meeting.”
school board president Anne Marie Palmieri said she wants the school to be able to have students in the classroom.
“We really want to have in-person school,” Palmieri said. “The question is what are the steps we have to go through to have in-person school safely if that’s even possible. That may mean some sacrifices from the community. That could be masks for everybody who’s in the school. That could be temperature checks. There’s a lot on the table. Hopefully the community also feels like the benefits of kids being in the classroom together are worth it.”
She said the board and administrators will also discuss a metric by which the school would be closed.
Getchell said state protocols change frequently, and more are expected as the year progresses. He said it’s incumbent on the community of Haines to make sure the school operates safely.
“There is certainly a lot of disagreement on this issue nationally and many times I have seen disagreements become counter-productive when they don’t have to be,” Getchell said. “As friends, neighbors, and fellow community members of a high-functioning community like Haines, I really am confident that we’ll get through this by finding common ground where we can to make the best of it.”
Classes in Anchorage and Fairbanks will be all online. Juneau is planning a mix of online and in-person instruction. In Skagway, where there has yet to be any documented cases of COVID-19, school will open five days a week for in-person classes.