6A | SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2020 | SIUSLAW NEWS
all kinds of equipment
from 1A and furniture just to
make room for student
in’ and get to the end
desks,”
Harklerode
of the year, making the said. “And that’s where
best of the situation. they will be sitting for
We could not do a lot the entire day. They have
of new instruction, or to maintain that six-foot
instruction that was in- bubble. Small groups of
clusive of everybody.”
children working to-
“It’s a much more gether would have to be
thought out, much more extremely rare for the
planned-for
event,” model to work.”
Harklerode said. “We
Whatever course the
will have expectations, district takes, it will
parameters around it have to create a blue-
for attendance. It won’t print for opening, keep-
be pass/fail. It will actu- ing in mind key factors,
ally be coursework that including what the fa-
progresses knowledge. cility could handle, stu-
I really want to be clear dent and public health,
that we’ve put a lot of community
engage-
time and thought into ment, mental, social
how distance learning and emotional health,
will be different.”
staffing and equity.
Underscoring
that
“As soon as we have
has been the large in- a model selected, we’re
vestment in technology, going to get to work,”
including the purchase Harklerode said, stat-
of more than 1,200 ing that the state dead-
Chromebooks.
line for a blueprint on
The third option is reopening is due Aug.
the much talked about 15. “The school board
hybrid model.
meeting next week,
“That is a mix of dis- there will be some big
tance learning and face- decisions.”
to-face, onsite learning,”
To help make the dis-
Harklerode said. “That’s trict make the choice,
likely the model that we Harklerode opened the
are going to have to go meeting to questions
with.”
from parents, students,
But he stressed there teachers and the com-
may be times when stu- munity.
dents will be required to
remain at home.
What is the scheduled
“Even if we plan for start date for school
hybrid, we have to be right now?
ready for comprehen-
“I’m afraid I can’t give
sive distance learning you that right now, be-
in the event that there’s cause it’s in flux, de-
a [COVID] spike in pending on the model
this community,” Har- that is selected,” Har-
klerode said. “If you’re klerode said. “I’m as-
paying attention, you’ll suming we’ll have that
realize there’s more out there quickly.”
and more cases in Lane
Harklerode expressed
County in general, and that the district hopes
even in our fair city. to have registration in
It’s probably going to mid-August, possibly
increase. I don’t know the week of the 11th or
where the threshold the 18th.
would be when LCPH
“As soon as we have
would tell us specifical- that, we’ll make a big
ly when we need to go to show of it,” Harklerode
comprehensive distance said.
learning. It’s one of the
things we have to work If the district does
out with them.”
decide on the hybrid
Regardless of what model, does the parent
they choose, Harklerode get to choose at-home
said that standard grad- learning?
ing practices and credit
“You can,” Harklerode
courses will be in place. said. “There’s going to
“This will not be hap- be some families who
hazard,” he said. “Fami- select comprehensive
lies will know and have over the hybrid mod-
predictability in what el. Distance learning is
their school schedule available to everybody
will be. There will be and all. We’re aiming for
scheduled times when hybrid so we can have
kids are expected to be as much face-to-face
at school. If we have to time with students as we
change things for spe- can safely schedule, but
cific kids, we do have there will be people who
flexibility to do that.”
choose distance.”
While it will be most-
Harklerode also add-
ly predictable, it will ed that if a parent de-
also be different.
cides to switch from hy-
“We have to move out brid to distance, or vice
Schools
versa, during the school
year, they will have the
ability to do so.
The kids are basical-
ly going to be at their
desk all day long?
“I hesitate just a bit,
but I will say that going
to the cafeteria is going
to be a big challenge for
us,” Harklerode said.
“We’ll probably have to
find a different way to
deliver lunch at school.
And yes, being at their
desks most of the day
is something they will
have to get used to.”
Will students be able to
bring their own masks?
“We will have masks
we provide, but I would
suggest students have
their own mask in a
sense of responsibility,
taking care of it,” Har-
klerode said. “That will
probably be best in the
long run, and parents
can help in keeping
the sanitation of those
masks.”
What is the school do-
ing about the overall
stress of the situation?
“We’ve thought about
that a great deal,” Har-
klerode said. “We rec-
ognize that is a major
concern,
especially
coming out of this. I
don’t want to overstate
it by calling it ‘trauma,’
but for some of our stu-
dents, they’ve had trau-
ma in response to this
big shift in life. They’re
going to need some help
and extra support com-
ing out of that. It will be
a challenge for us in the
limited time we have
students face to face for
counseling.”
Harklerode said the
district is looking at on-
line counseling, though
there are privacy con-
cerns. Parents also
brought up concerns
about students be-
ing straddled with too
much online work with-
out time for play.
“It was really tough. I
think what the teachers
did in a lot of cases, and
rightfully so, was ‘Here’s
a bunch of stuff you can
work on to help you
improve in these skills,’
but we didn’t know
what was reasonable
and what wasn’t,” said
Siuslaw Middle School
Principal Andy Marhol.
“I think our teachers
will have a better under-
standing of what’s possi-
ble now.”
Marhol added that
it was vital for parents
to communicate issues
when they first occur.
“Regardless of the
model we come back
with, it needs to be an
improvement over what
these past six months
have been,” Marhol said.
“I think you’ll find —
from top down — ev-
ery educator is far more
concerned with school
being a good place to be
a kid. Whether it’s digi-
tal or face-to-face.”
What is going to be
the accessibility to
teachers for questions
if the parents are not
around?
“We know that access
to the teachers was a
big challenge last year,”
Harklerode said. “Part
of the guidelines we
have now is that a cer-
tain number of hours,
a percentage of each
day, teachers are going
to be available in office
hours where they can be
working with students,
they can answer phone
calls from parents. …
If someone is having a
technical challenge or a
content question, they’ll
have better access to
teachers.”
What about rural stu-
dents without limited
internet access?
“We have recognized
that connectivity is a
significant issue within
the community,” Har-
klerode said. “We have a
couple of different mod-
els that we’re looking at,
but I’m afraid I don’t
have a firm answer —
other than we recognize
that as an issue. There’s
nooks and crannies all
over the district where
connectivity is an issue.
We’re looking at ways to
either mitigate that issue
or find alternative ways
to give instruction and
interaction. … Some are
going to require one-
on-one solutions.”
For families with stu-
dents in different
schools (one in ele-
mentary, one in high
school), will the family
schedules remain the
same?
“That is a big factor
for a good number of
families, myself includ-
ed. I’ve got one in all
three schools,” Har-
klerode said. “Especially
knowing that options
for childcare in town are
pretty slim right now.”
District Superinten-
dent Andrew Grzesko-
wiak spoke on trans-
portation, and how they
are trying to keep fam-
ilies and neighborhood
groups together for at-
tendance cohorts.
“If there is a kid in
middle, high and ele-
mentary, their atten-
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What would families
be looking forward
to with children with
IEPs?
“We do recognize that
some students will need
something different and
more,” Harklerode said.
“I can’t give specifics,
but we recognize that
some of the kids in the
district need more from
us. They need more
from the school, wheth-
er it be more class time.
And some kids need the
other direction, more
work to keep them chal-
lenged and engaged.”
While he was short on
specifics, he stated that
IEPs have been taken
into consideration.
“We’ll make sure we’ll
do whatever we need to
do to make sure kids are
getting what they need
to learn. This is not one
size fits all.”
What is being done for
extracurricular classes,
such as band, wood-
shop and art classes?
“As far as what [band]
would look like, we’re
still waiting on the state
for guidance,” High
School Interim Princi-
pal Garth Gerot said. “I
don’t have a complete
answer. We’re just play-
ing a waiting game on
band, choir and some
of those CTE classes
that bring people into a
space that have different
requirements to keep
our students safe.”
As for woodshop and
art classes, Marhol said,
“We’re working real-
ly hard to make sure
those happen. We fully
acknowledge how im-
portant they are to a
well-rounded learning
experience for kids. ...
We’re fully making ev-
ery effort to make sure
kids can still have those
experiences, within the
guidelines from the
state.”
Harklerode
added,
“We recognize that hav-
ing answers for fami-
lies is critical. When we
have things crystalized,
we will get it out there.”
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to be the same because
it’s coming from the
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We want to make sure
every kid from the same
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Is there something
more as a communi-
ty we can do for the
school district?
“Spread the love,”
Harklerode said. “Let
your social contacts
know the district is
working hard to ensure
we’re bringing the best
possible model to the
kids, but also ones that
will meet the merits laid
out before us.”
Harklerode
added
that there are things kids
— especially younger
students — can do to
prepare for the fall, in-
cluding getting used to
wearing masks.
“I can think of nu-
merous ways for kids to
misuse their masks, it’s
endless,” he said, point-
ing out that the less time
teachers spend on get-
ting kids used to masks,
the more time they have
to teach.
“The best you can do
for us is to keep your
spirits up and the kids’
spirits up,” said Har-
klerode. “Some people
have had a bad taste left
in their mouths with
the politics of the era.
We are doing our best
to steer clear of that and
do what’s best for kids
and the community as a
whole.”
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“This is an advan-
tage of keeping cohorts
small,” Harklerode said.
“One, it’s easier to give
individuals and small
groups instructional in-
tensity, but it’s also eas-
ier to track students in
cohort tracing. It’s also
easier if we need to ex-
clude a certain number
of students. We can have
small groups of students
at a time missing school
instead of a huge swatch
of school being out.”
However, if two or
more students contract
COVID, LCPH would
considered it an out-
break and would have
to get involved.
“Frankly, we pulled
the plug because the
state government deter-
mined that the condi-
tions in the community
and in the state were
not safe to continue
meeting face-to-face in-
struction — That hasn’t
improved,” Harklerode
said. “The conditions
in the community ha-
ven’t improved since
last March, they’ve got-
ten significantly worse.
I think they’re not as
bad as they could have
been, had we not stayed
in. But we are all won-
dering what’s going to
happen when we begin
more social contact.”
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