School Board Grapples With COVID-19

With warnings from the federal government discouraging gatherings of more than ten people, the Mount Horeb Area School District offered access to their Monday, March 17, through a phone call-in system.

The board tabled numerous items on the agenda to expedite the meeting and focus on the district’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Superintendent Steve Salerno provided a broad overview of the district’s ongoing work to maintain an instructional model as the virus spreads. For starters, the Wisconsin Department of Instruction has suspended the requirement for a specific number of hours and minutes of instruction time for the current school year, Salerno said.

“That creates a little sense of calm in ourselves that we’re not rushed into doing something just for the sake of doing it,” Salerno said, “but we’re doing it because we want to make certain it is good for the end user, our children.” 

Salerno said numerous people have contacted his office with suggestions for how to proceed with a virtual learning environment, often using other districts as examples. 

“We’re trying to be deliberative in our approach to develop virtual learning,” Salerno said, saying there are no districts in Dane County with a virtual learning system in place. “We’re just trying to be deliberate in our approach to virtual learning. I will admit, we’re not where we need to be right now to get it launched. The earliest we think we could get into a virtual learning solution would be by April 6. And we understand that if we don’t get this right, it is going to be problematic for us from a technology standpoint.”

Part of the problem with implementing a virtual learning process is the lack of computers for some families as well as the lack of effective internet connections in some areas of the district. The district has sourced numerous internet access hotspots for distribution throughout the community, though the specific plan for the distribution has not been finalized. A similar plan is in the works for Chromebooks.

School board director Damon Piscitelli cautioned the administration might be focusing in the wrong areas.

“We seem to be dealing with the details before we have a framework [for the next three weeks],” Piscitelli said. “I’m worried we’re putting the cart before the horse. I think we have more pressing needs, like how are grades being handled.” 

Salerno received information from DPI indicating there may be a lifting of some standardized testing requirements as a result of the mandatory school closing. He was unsure how these and other changes are going to affect graduation requirements and similar benchmarks, but a basic framework is in place to begin structuring a path forward through the crisis.

“We have developed a framework, but we’re sensitive to putting out that framework publicly now,” Salerno said. “The reason for that is we don’t know what is going to happen with the quarantine of district officials. Many of you are working out of your homes. We have a system in place. It is our thought we would unveil that system during the week of March 30 for implementation during the week of April 6.” 

“As for fourth quarter and what those grades will look like, we don’t have the system [in place] yet,” Salerno said, saying staff has been working backward from the final goal to establish a process. “We’re working on the platform for delivery first. If we don’t have that platform and the capacity to roll it out, then the other questions are going to be for naught.”

“When it comes to virtual learning, I want to be clear, though, that people should not expect that students will be on the internet for a full eight hours a day,” Salerno continued. “We know that any virtual learning program supports a maximum of … about three hours. For our littlest ones, K-2, I’m not advising that we go to very much online learning.”

A system is in place to allow families to gather any critically necessary supplies from the school buildings to facilitate a virtual learning environment, though the buildings are working with a skeleton crew of staff members to keep the district moving forward.

“We were really only looking for people to go pick up critical items, like medications,” Salerno said. “What defines critical? Some kids [need] their musical instruments or their books. That’s their toilet paper right now.”

“We’re trying to be as proactive as possible,” Salerno said, “while at the same time realizing that we are creating some hardships for families.”