All H-BC students to attend in-person classes daily

With the coronavirus still circulating within the community, Hills-Beaver Creek School District officials announced Monday school will open under a hybrid learning plan.
It calls for in-person learning at the elementary and secondary schools with social distancing protocols implemented between staff and students.
Face coverings on buses and in schools are required. H-BC school board members unanimously passed a face mask policy at their meeting Monday night.
In a recent survey, an overwhelming majority of parents (95 percent) indicated they were comfortable sending their students to school under H-BC’s Return to Learn Plan adopted earlier this month.
Twenty students (or 5 percent) of the district’s 375 kindergarten through 12th-grade students opted for a semester or a year of distance learning offered through the district.
Of the 350 remaining students, 144 (or 55 percent) would need the district to provide some transportation to and/or from the elementary school in Beaver Creek or the secondary school in Hills.
Bus routes will be finalized this week.
Under the Return to Learn plan, bus capacity can only be at 50 percent levels (about 35 students per bus) to provide adequate social distancing between families.
Secondary students (grades 6 through 12) begin classes Tuesday, Sept. 8, and elementary students begin Wednesday, Sept. 9.
Elementary student/parent/teacher conferences are Wednesday, Sept. 2, and Tuesday, Sept. 8.
An outdoor secondary open house is planned from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2.
New secondary principal Andrew Kellenberger suggested the outdoor open house format to allow families and school personnel to gather while still maintaining a social distance.
“The open house provides a little bit of ‘normalcy’ and allows students to meet their teachers,” Kellenberger said.
Under H-BC’s hybrid learning plan, the traditional school day involves frequent cleaning of high-touch surfaces throughout the day.
No large gatherings or activities are allowed. Visitors to each building will be limited.
Staff and parents are asked to complete health screenings at home each day. They should self-isolate if any symptoms of an elevated temperature, sore through, headache or cough are present
At the elementary school, all classroom instruction will be moved to the larger first floor to allow six feet between students.
At the secondary school, instead of an eight-period day, students will meet in four-period blocks and will have alternating class schedules every other day to limit movement of students and staff.
Secondary students will meet from 8:05 a.m. to 3:05 p.m. daily with elementary students in class from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.
 
In other business the H-BC School Board:
•approved the purchase of a new district phone system for $41,107 and to purchase a school bus not to exceed $94,000, as recommended by the transportation committee.
•assigned Lois Leenderts as district COVID coordinator and added time necessary to complete COVID/health related tasks;
•added $1,568 to Nora Wysong’s Math Counts/Math League adviser contract for the 2020-21 school year.
•entered into contract negotiations with current Superintendent Todd Holthaus. His current three-year contract expires in June 2021.