Cadott School Board; School looks ahead as hybrid learning continues

Cadott School Board

As the Cadott School District began their second week of hybrid learning, school board members heard an update on how the system is working, during a regular meeting Dec. 14. In the hybrid learning system, half the students attend school in-person on Monday and Tuesday. The other half attend in-person Thursday and Friday. On days the students are not attending in-person, they are to attend school virtually. Hybrid learning allows students to spread out more in school. “People did a lot of work to get prepared for this and have it work out,” said superintendent Jenny Starck.

Starck says the county is also working on a COVID dashboard, showing numbers and trends for all residents living in each school district.

“I think for us, that could be helpful,” said Starck, adding the numbers could be more telling for Cadott, than other districts, since Cadott does not have nursing homes or prisons to skew the numbers.

Starck says metrics such as those the county is working on, could help determine when to bring students back for more days of in-person learning each week. She says the board will have a chance to weigh in on how that process looks, whether it happens a few grades at a time or all grades at once.

“We’re hoping to be able to move in that direction,” said Starck, adding they want to do so slow enough, that they are not bouncing back and forth.

Al Sonnentag, board member, asked how the teachers are doing with hybrid learning. Starck says the survey sent to teachers hadn’t closed, as of the meeting time, but the results at that point seemed to reflect the community, with some in favor, and some preferring either all online or all in-person learning.

Sonnentag says the grade or subject a teacher is teaching probably shapes their opinion on what the best method for learning is, too.

“I think it’s the most difficult for the primary grade teachers, because it’s harder for those kids to work independently without the teacher there,” said Starck.

Board member Becca Blanchette asked if the district has heard feedback from teachers on the early end to the school day, meant to give teachers time to work with online students.

“I will say the feedback on that has been positive,” said Starck, adding it will get better as everyone gets more used to the hybrid system.

In the business portion of the meeting, members approved an agreement with the Stanley-Boyd Area School District for occupational therapy. Starck says the agreement is the same cost as the previous year, but they had to redo the agreement, since Thorp is no longer part of it.

Members also approved the hire of Brandon Phelps, middle school wrestling coach, and Eric Bourget, eighth-grade girls basketball coach.

The resignation of Lisa Gumness, special ed paraprofessional, was also approved during the meeting.

I feel very honored to have been part of the Cadott district in some capacity since 2007, wrote Gumness. There are no words to express how much I love my students and the friends I have made.