By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green City School students will be returning to their classrooms five days a week starting March 29.
With more than 150 people watching remotely, the board of education voted unanimously Tuesday evening to go back to face-to-face learning full time for PreK-12 classes at the end of the month.
Other dates were debated, but board members Tracy Hovest and Ryan Myers pushed for a return to five-day school weeks as soon as possible – following the recommended two weeks after school workers get their second COVID vaccines this Friday.
Tuesday’s meeting was a workshop, with no action expected. But action was legal since it involved the subject of the work session.
“We have lost so many days,” Hovest said. “I can’t support anything later than March 29. The time for convenience is gone.”
The students have not been in school full-time for a year, and they are about to lose more instructional time to state testing.
“As a teacher, I see the importance of every day,” Hovest said. “I won’t support anything later than March 29.”
Myers also pushed for that return date.
“I’m concerned about the recouping of the learning loss,” he said. “Every single day counts.”
Board president Norm Geer had suggested April 7 as a return date since it is the first day back after an abbreviated spring break, or April 12 since it is the first day of the fourth quarter.
But Myers stressed the need to return in full force as soon as possible.
“I don’t want to sacrifice seven full days we could have with students,” he said.
“Staff are going to be fully vaccinated” so they will no longer have to quarantine, Myers said.
Geer agreed that the district has worked to protect employees.
“I think we’ve kept our commitment to teachers to keep them as safe as we can,” he said.
Hovest said it may be difficult for some.
“Is it scary? Yes, for some people it is,” she said. And “there are going to be quarantines.”
But students must be allowed back to learn full-time, Hovest said.
“If we can allow our athletes to do these things unmasked, we have to allow our students to meet masked,” she said.
The return to full-time classes raises an issue that Bowling Green and all districts in the area are struggling with – finding substitute teachers and bus drivers.
This past week, principals and student teachers have had to fill in for teachers, Superintendent Francis Scruci said.
“Since the beginning of the year, we’ve been looking for subs,” he said. “We’re all fighting for the same subs.”
Scruci said though parents have been asked to do a lot this school year already, he was sending out a district-wide email asking for people willing to help in the classrooms as substitutes and para-professionals. The district has been using student teachers as a last resort. That is allowed, Scruci said, but not preferred.
“This is a big concern,” he said.
The district is also seeing a shortage of bus drivers, with the transportation director and mechanics driving routes each day.
“We need your help,” Scruci said.
Since students returned to hybrid learning two weeks ago, the in-person process has been going well, Scruci said.
“The kids and teachers have been very happy to be back,” he said.
“Students have kept their masks on,” and they are washing hands and using sanitizers. “It’s going as well as possible.”
However, the COVID reporting required by Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Department of Health has worried some parents, Scruci said. The district is required to send out letters telling parents of positive COVID cases and quarantines.
Prior to Bowling Green coming back in hybrid form two weeks ago, the numbers were quite low because parents weren’t required to report them to the school district, Scruci explained. Only students involved in athletics and extra-curriculars were reported.
So at the request of parents, a dashboard has been set up on the school website about COVID cases, with the number of students and staff who are quarantining and those isolating who have tested positive.
“People are realizing there are a lot more cases than there have been,” Scruci said. “That’s to be expected.”
Scruci stressed that the COVID cases were not necessarily spread at school.
“We have no reason to think these are cases that started in the school,” he said.
The first week back in hybrid form, the dashboard listed 24 students quarantining, five students isolating, four staff quarantining and zero staff isolating. Those numbers went up last week, with 35 students quarantining, 14 students isolating, two staff quarantining and three staff isolating.
The new CDC guidelines will allow students in masks to maintain three feet of social distance between others – rather than the six feet currently being adhered to.
The biggest hurdles will be the cafeterias and buses, Scruci said. The district may have to use gymnasiums as auxiliary lunchrooms, and more parents may decide to drive their students to and from school.
“Hopefully it’s only going to be with the remainder of the school year,” he said. “We’ve got to get through this uncomfortable time.”
