Belleville

The School District of Belleville held a special school board meeting on Wednesday, July 22. The board voted 5-2 to move forward with its hybrid model. The district will offer a virtual option for any family that chooses.

Elementary Virtual

What to expect: LIVE Google Meet Lessons - Teachers will be teaching live lessons. These will be recorded to be reviewed at later times but students will be encouraged to attend all live lessons DAILY. Connections and Community - Students will also have opportunities to connect with their classmates who are also virtual learners through platforms like Flipgrid or through Google Meets that are for building community and social emotional well-being. Offline Expectations - There will still be assignments and expectations that will need to be completed outside of the LIVE lessons.

Belleville teaching staff will be leading our virtual learning option. Families opting into this option will be asked to commit for one term at a time. The dates are as follows: Term 1: September 1-November 6; Term 2: November 8-January 15; Term 3: January 17-March 19; and Term 4: March 21 - June 4.

Families will be able to move into the hybrid option at the beginning of each term if they are interested at that time.

Teachers will work to provide print materials along with online options. The platforms that will be used are Seesaw at 4K-2 and Google Classroom at 3-6 for work submission.

If your family is interested in opting in for an entire semester or year, there may also be an option through Calvert for a long term curriculum option. Please contact Kelsey Schmit at schmitk@belleville.k12.wi.us to discuss this further.

Elementary Hybrid

The hybrid option will run five days a week and have two cohorts. Cohort 1 will come in the AM and Cohort 2 will come in the PM. The approximate times are as follows: AM: 8:00-11:00; PM: 12:15-3:15.

Cohort Assignment: Unfortunately families will not be able to choose their cohort. This will be based on location (to aide in transportation) and then sorted by last name alphabetically. Siblings WILL be placed in the same cohort. AM: A-L; PM: M-Z.

Food Service: Students will still have access to a breakfast and a lunch option each day. If students are in the PM Cohort they will take breakfast home with them each afternoon to have for the next morning.

Transportation: The district encourages families who are able to transport to do so, but there will be busing available to the families who need it.

Content Areas: Teachers will focus heavily on Math and English Language Arts. Science and Social Studies will be rotated along with different Related Arts.

Library: Our district librarian plans to create a system for students to also be able to check out library books.

Middle School Virtual

What to expect: LIVE Google Meet Lessons - Teachers will be teaching live lessons during scheduled classes. Students will be required to log in virtually during each block of the cohort associated by grouping of last name. After October 1 additional LIVE lesson time will be phased in by subject area so that by Thanksgiving students will be attending live lessons for the entire school day similar to the high school model. Connections and Community - Students will also have opportunities to connect with their classmates who are also virtual and face to face learners through Google Meet platforms that are for building community and social emotional well-being. Offline Expectations - During the opposite half of the day, when students are not attending LIVE virtual lessons, there will still be assignments and expectations that will need to be completed outside of the LIVE lessons.

Belleville teaching staff will be leading our virtual learning option. Families opting into this option will be asked to commit for one term at a time. The dates are as follows: Term 1: September 1-November 6; Term 2: November 8-January 15; Term 3: January 17-March 19; and Term 4: March 21 - June 4.

Families will be able to move into the hybrid option at the beginning of each term if they are interested at that time.

The platforms that will be used are Google Classroom for learning objectives, daily routines, and work submission. Additional sites or resources will also be included in Google Classroom. Google Meet will be used for LIVE lessons, peer collaboration, and teacher question and answer.

If this schedule does not work for your family and you are interested in opting into virtual learning for an entire semester or year, there may also be an option through EdOptions Academy as a long term curriculum option. Please contact Heather Schmitz at schmitzh@belleville.k12.wi.us to discuss this further.

Middle School Hybrid

The hybrid option will run five days a week and have two cohorts. Cohort 1 will attend in person school in the AM and Cohort 2 will attend in the PM. During the half of the day when students are not in school, there will still be assignments/expectations that will need to be completed. After October 1st, additional LIVE lesson time will be phased in by subject area so that by Thanksgiving students will be attending live virtual lessons for the entire half of the school day they are not attending face to face classes, similar to the high school model. The approximate times are as follows: AM: 7:53 - 11:15, PM: 12:08 - 3:30.

Cohort Assignment: Unfortunately families will not be able to choose their cohort. This will be based on location (to aide in transportation) and then sorted by last name alphabetically. Siblings WILL be placed in the same cohort. AM: A-L, PM: M-Z.

Food Service: Students will still have access to a breakfast and a lunch option each day. If students are in the PM Cohort they will take breakfast home with them each afternoon to have for the next morning.

Schedules: New schedules will be mailed to students in mid-August. New schedules are being created to create common cohorts that students will remain in to the greatest extent possible.

High School Virtual

What to expect: LIVE Google Meet Lessons - Teachers will be teaching live lessons during scheduled classes. Students will be required to log in virtually during each block, half of the block will take place before lunch and half will take place after lunch. We will continue to utilize the A/B calendar schedule. Connections and Community - Students will also have opportunities to connect with their classmates who are also virtual and face to face learners through Google Meet platforms that are for building community and social emotional well-being. Offline Expectations - There will still be assignments and expectations that will need to be completed outside of the LIVE lessons.

Families opting into this option will be asked to commit for one month at a time. New cohorts will start on the first Monday of each month. Parents must notify administration prior to the last Monday of the month to discuss switching learning models.

Families will be able to move into the hybrid option the first Monday of each month if they are interested at that time. The platforms that will be used are Google Classroom for learning objectives, daily routines, and work submission. Additional sites or resources will also be included in Google Classroom. Google Meet will be used for LIVE lessons, peer collaboration, and teacher question and answer. If this schedule does not work for your family and you are interested in opting into virtual learning for an entire semester or year, there may also be an option through EdOptions Academy as a long term curriculum option. Please contact Heather Schmitz at schmitzh@belleville.k12.wi.us to discuss this further.

High School Hybrid

The hybrid option will run five days a week and have two cohorts. Students will be learning the entire day, half of which will be in person and the other half will be virtual. Cohort 1 will attend in person school in the AM, and Cohort 2 will attend in the PM. *Students in Cohort 1 will attend classes in the PM virtually and Cohort 2 will attend classes in the AM virtually*. The A/B day schedule will continue to be utilized.

The approximate times are as follows: AM: 7:53-11:15, PM: 12:08-3:30.

Cohort Assignment: Unfortunately families will not be able to choose their cohort. This will be based on location (to aide in transportation) and then sorted by last name alphabetically. Siblings WILL be placed in the same cohort. AM: A-L, PM: M-Z.

Food Service: Students will still have access to a breakfast and a lunch option each day. If students are in the PM Cohort, they will take breakfast home with them each afternoon to have for the next morning.

Transportation: The district encourages families who are able to transport to do so, but there will be busing available to the families who need it.

The school district would like you to reach out if you have any questions. You can call (608) 835-6120 or email Kelsey Schmit, ES Principal, schmitk@belleville.k12.wi.us, Ext. 2227; Melissa Riedel, ES Associate Principal, riedelm@belleville.k12.wi.us, Ext. 2224; Heather Schmitz, MS/HS Principal, schmitz@belleville.k12.wi.us, Ext. 3453; Kyle Loshaw, MS/HS Associate Principal, loshawk@belleville.k12.wi.us, Ext. 3454.

Monticello

Monticello School District is preparing to reopen with face-to-face learning. In the school’s August and September newsletter, District Administrator Allen Brokopp addressed the families of students.

It seems crazy that we are releasing our back to school newsletter. We hope you are enjoying summer. With so many uncertainties, I wanted to highlight some of the content that may be different or may need your special attention in this issue (of the school newsletter). Planning has been challenging as is the timing of this newsletter. Keep in mind that we are disseminating as much information as we currently have, but realize that we still have a parent listening session (held August 4, at 6:00 p.m.) and a special board meeting (August 5, at 7:00 p.m.) prior to Online Registration on August 10th.

When online registration begins, our intention is to have you register your children for school that will take place five days per week, with all of our students and follow the school calendar approved last spring. We feel very strongly that a face-to-face model is best for our students’ education, as well as their social and emotional needs.

Each Thursday, we assess state, county and local COVID-19 data as a matrix to determine whether school can continue for the coming week. If we deem school cannot continue, we will then provide a robust virtual option starting on Friday and continuing for the following week, Monday-Friday, ultimately having our students out of the building for a total of 10 days. Much more information to come on this, as well as all the safety precautions we intend to implement like we have during summer school.

In-person summer school has been very successful and rewarding. Watching our staff and students interact in a safe manner while being around friends and being active was a much needed sight. We are excited and confident that we can offer the same level of education and safe practices when school starts. We realize that families may not all feel the same and we acknowledge those values and beliefs. For the 2020-2021 school year, families may commit to a virtual option for nine weeks to start the school year and attend Monticello Schools. During registration, you will find more information, an agreement with guidelines, and a school contact to discuss this option further.

**Please note: Our first official day of school in Wisconsin is September 1. However, on August 31, we will have a summer school day for all students. Though not mandatory, we highly encourage all students to attend. We will provide transportation, lunch, and all services just as if it were a normal school day. Because we were unable to do transition activities last spring, and there will be no open house, we feel it’s extremely important for our students to acclimate to new safety procedures and changes we intend to implement due to COVID-19.

Like everything else, planning for extracurricular activities has been challenging as well. Recently, the WIAA announced that cross country can start on August 17th and volleyball and football can start on September 7th. We continue to have ongoing conversations about the precautions and manner that extracurricular can proceed.

Finally, since March, we have learned that the information we receive can change daily and therefore we have found that we must be prepared to alter plans and decisions frequently. To this end, the Monticello School Board and Administration also note that we may need to adjust plans as we move forward and we will do our very best to communicate changes throughout August. As always, please reach out to us if you have questions or there is anything else we can do to help. We are eagerly anticipating students being back.

New Glarus

The New Glarus School District has formulated a reopening plan for the 2020-21 school year. The administration presented the plans and options at the August 3rd School Board meeting. The plans as presented were approved by the board on a 5-2 vote.

Of the four plans presented, it was decided that the school district would implement Plan B. This plan follows the state classification system for “Medium or High” classification for the county. The District will move to Plan A if the county is in “Low” classification for two weeks in a row. The District will move from Plan A to Plan B if the county is in “Medium or High” classification for two consecutive weeks. The District may change the movement using other criteria if unforeseen situations arise. A summary of the plans with Plan B listed first follows:

Plan B

The plan includes reopening the school under a safer model, while still bringing the students into the school buildings. Under Plan B, all students in grades 4K–5 will attend school in person Tuesday-Friday. Fifty percent of grades 6-12 will attend school in person Tuesday–Friday; the other fifty percent will attend school online Tuesday–Friday, with the two groups alternating weeks between in school and online learning. Grades K-12 will implement on-line/at home learning on Mondays. Families may opt out to allow their children to participate in Plan D, which would involve at-home/online learning with an option to revisit each trimester.

Elementary Students will be in cohorts of 25 or less and stay with that group with one teacher.

Middle School students will stay in cohorts of 15 or less, remain with that group all day and teachers will move.

High school students will be in two classes of 15 or fewer students in person for per class for four weeks; exposed to only two classrooms of students for those four weeks.

IEP Services and Supports will be provided following each building’s health and safety protocols.

There will be no assemblies, large gatherings or field trips.

Arrival and dismissal times will be staggered.

Students and staff will be requested to do a temperature self-checks prior to arriving at school. If students or staff report any of the following symptoms, they may be denied entrance: headache, fever, cough or sneezing, sore throat, diarrhea, loss of taste or smell.

Sanitizing stations will be available. Masks will be required for all staff and students, although some may be allowed to use the Badger Shield + with administration approval. Mask breaks may be taken outside when social distancing is enforced, masks may also be taken off for therapy sessions if there is a plexiglass barrier in place.

Students or staff that test positive for COVID-19 will be denied readmittance until cleared to return by a medical professional.

Students or staff that are identified as having direct contact with a person that tested positive for COVID-19 will be directed to quarantine.

Contact tracing will be conducted when there is a confirmed case of COVID-19 within the school setting; the following areas will be reviewed to determine those that may have had contact: Classroom; Bus; Lunch; Recess.

Communication of confirmed COVID-19 cases will be provided using one of two messages:

No Contact - Communicate with families, students, and staff that a person in the school has tested positive for COVID-19, but contact tracing suggests that there is no reason to believe that the student/staff had direct contact with the infected person; provide suggestions to monitor health.

Possible Contact - Communicate with families, students, and staff that a person in the school has tested positive for COVID-19, and contact tracing suggests that there is a possibility that the student/staff had direct contact with the infected person; provide recommendations to monitor health and inform of required quarantine.

For transportation, there will be assigned seats with one student per row, except for siblings who may sit together. Buses will load from back to front and unload from front to back. Masks are required.

Plan A

There will be a Decision/Considerations after the first two Weeks of school: General guideline - state classification system by county: Plan A - Low; Plan B - Medium and High; Plan C - If 5% of NG students/staff must be quarantined at any time, the District; will move to plan C. The District will move from Plan B to Plan A if the county is in “Low” for two weeks in a row.

Plan C

Plan C will be implemented if 5 percent of New Glarus students/must be quarantined at any time. In Plan C, students will participate in scheduled classes via online learning. Students will be expected to show evidence of engagement and work completion.

Plan D

Plan D will have students participating in online lessons Monday through Friday.