"This is a gut-wrenching recommendation and a decision for our board," said Washoe County School District Superintendent Kristen McNeill.
Washoe County students could be transitioning to full-time distance learning temporarily, in just a matter of weeks. That's if the school board chooses to follow the superintendent's recommendation, at their meeting on Tuesday.
The Washoe County School District has reported more than 250 student and staff cases of COVID-19 since August. The district recently started temporarily moving individual schools to full distance learning, when outbreaks occurred. At least 12 schools are currently on full distance learning.
"Our student health services are overwhelmed and our principals are having to make extremely difficult decisions around exclusions," said Superintendent McNeill. She outlined her reasons for recommending all schools in the district switch to full-time distance learning for a temporary period. Lack of personnel and resources are being detailed as the biggest challenges.
"Having to do so much of the contract tracing and knowing how that trickles down, that leaves us needed to have more substitutes than we normally would. It leaves us in the position to put more schools under distance learning," said WCSD Board of Trustees President Malena Raymond.
If the superintendent's recommendation is approved by the school board, the district's 62,000 students would start the transitioning process November 30, 2020 through December 2, 2020. "That week would be used to have students get devices and have teachers get set up for moving to a distance learning for a short period of time. The students would then come back after winter break," said Superintendent McNeill.
Extra computers are expected to come in December. "Winter Break ends and students would be coming back to school on a distance learning model on January 4th," said Superintendent McNeill. She says the timeline for sports seasons may also have to be adjusted under the move to full-time distance learning. Spring break may also be under discussion on whether it will happen or not.
The WCSD school board meeting is happening Tuesday. The WCSD Distance and Blended Learning Director will also be making a presentation on improvements the district is working on regarding learning models.
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