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Henrico Schools officials are considering three types of hybrid learning options for students who choose to return to school in person in the fall, while those who choose not to return in person will be able to participate in a virtual parallel learning plan from home.
The three hybrid plans each would involve four days of learning – Tuesday though Friday – instead of five. A half-day of needs-based learning opportunities would be offered on Mondays for students to whom they're deemed applicable, according to Henrico Schools Chief of Staff Beth Teigen.
In one hybrid plan, students would alternate days, with one group attending in person Tuesdays and Thursdays while the other would do so Wednesdays and Fridays. The groups would work from home on the other two days.
In another plan, one group would attend school in person Tuesday through Friday each morning, while the other group would attend on all four days in the afternoon. Again, both groups would complete additional work at home during the other half of the day.
The third option would send one group to school in person Tuesday through Friday while the other group learned from home; the groups would switch the following week.
Teachers would have a half-day work day each Monday as part of all three plans, Teigen said. And, the virtual learning portions of each plan would not involve any teacher-led learning or live-streaming options, she said.
But students who selected the full-time virtual learning path would be assigned to a teacher, who would conduct daily classes online and assign other online work as well, Teigen and Henrico Superintendent Amy Cashwell told the county’s School Board during a virtual work session Thursday. It’s unclear whether those teachers would be from the same school their students are zoned to attend or not.
During the time when students enrolled in the hybrid plan were working from home, teachers would use a variety of online and other assignments, including "adaptive" learning options, which Cashwell said could gauge students' mastery of topics, then assign them relevant work based upon their various levels of knowledge – all while allowing their teachers to evaluate and react to their progress. The school system is purchasing adaptive learning programs with some of the roughly $9 million it is receiving as part of the federal CARES Act.
Each plan assumes that schools would open Sept. 8 under Phase 3 of the guidelines outlined by the Virginia Department of Education earlier this month, Cashwell said – and none of the plans are set in stone.
“Certainly, no path has been determined. There’s so much yet to know and understand,” Cashwell said. “While absolutely our goal has never wavered from wanting our students in our buildings learning with us – that’s ultimately the best case scenario and the one we aspire to – we also understand that the recommendations coming from local and state health officials. . . are there for a reason.”
School officials will send a detailed survey to families and staff members within the next week, seeking input about the options and other ideas, too, Cashwell said. The initial responses will help officials begin to determine more specific plans, she said, since current plans assume that most families would choose to send their students back to school in person.
Survey results “will help us plan for and prepare for how we’ll actually implement the strategies based on the number of students that we’re receiving,” she said.
At some point during a follow-up survey, school officials will ask families to designate their intention for the coming school year, Cashwell said, so that the division could solidify its plans. To whatever extent possible, officials want to provide flexibility for families, she said. Those whose children choose one path initially but then want to change later should have the opportunity to do so, although Teigen implied that adding a student back into a classroom setting could be challenging in certain situations because of the distancing requirements.
“It’s not like a normal school year where we always put one more in,” she said. “That’s really not an option this year.”
In-person learning ‘will look very different’
As part of a return to in-person learning, school officials are planning to require:
• all staff members to undergo daily temperature checks when they arrive to school;
• staff members to wear masks whenever they are within six feet of students;
• six feet of distance to be maintained on school buses, in hallways and in classrooms.
“When our schools reopen in September for in-person instruction, it will look very different,” Teigen said.
The school system, like all others in the state, must demonstrate a health mitigation plan that adheres to the VDOE’s social distancing and health guidelines. That’s something that Three Chopt District board member Micky Ogburn said many community members may not fully understand.
“I think people are under the impression that we have more options here than we actually do,” she said.
Cashwell suggested that while there are certain considerations that could deviate from those guidelines – for example, possibly allowing siblings to sit next to each other on the bus – there’s not much other flexibility.
Tuckahoe District School Board member Marie Shea voiced her support for the alternating days schedule, saying that it would be the most effective for students to maintain a continuity of learning and for teachers to be able to prepare one lesson plan for use with both groups. Though some have suggested that teachers could simply teach half the class in person while the other half watched online from home, Shea – a former science teacher at Freeman High School – said the idea wouldn’t work.
“Teachers cannot teach online and in person at the same time – it’s just not feasible,” she said.
Ogburn also spoke in favor of a frequent alternating plan and mentioned that some other districts are considering a plan whereby one group of students would attend Monday and Tuesday and a second group Thursday and Friday, with schools closed Wednesday for cleaning.
The hybrid options are considered the most effective way to provide sufficient space for physical distancing, since fewer students would be be in school at a given time. School officials are still considering how the plans would impact school sports, clubs and elective courses for secondary school students.
They’re also working to devise plans for on-site daycares that could serve the children of staff members at each school, and they’re weighing low-cost options for staffers who live elsewhere but who might want to enroll their children in Henrico schools this year, Cashwell said.
Varina District board member Alicia Atkins and Brookland member Kristi Kinsella both asked questions about how the school system would handle specific requests from teachers – for example, those who would prefer to teach virtually.
The answer, Cashwell said, will depend in part upon how many teachers are needed at each school and what requests they make.
“I would say anything’s possible,” she said. “We’re certainly not going to move people just to move them. First we want to find out their preferences. As we’ve always said. . . you’re under contract, and where in Henrico might change from time to time.”
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