Keystone Academy going back to five days a week in classrooms

Keystone Academy Charter School will go back to teaching in the classrooms for five days a week starting Monday, Oct. 26.
Principal Jorvonna Drain said classes will be moving from the hybrid model, with two full days a week She said just two families decided to go virtual from the hybrid instead.
Principal Drain said she expects more families will be moving from virtual to full-time classes on Nov. 30, the day after Thanksgiving vacation and the beginning of the second trimester.
She said parents like the safety measures of the hybrid and full-virtual, but they are excited about five days a week.
“They like their children getting educated by certified teachers,” Drain said.
“It’s a song without end,” Drain said, referring to her request to change, again, the school calendar.
She had taken off half days and early releases from the calendar at the September board meeting and now she has added back the half days and early releases and changed parent-teacher days.
The last day of school is June 10.
The school board unanimously approved the new school calendar at its regular, in-person meeting Oct. 8. Board member Darren Hickonbottom and National Heritage Academy representative Andrew Roth were present virtually by Google Meet.
The school board also changed its meeting schedule that was revised at the last meeting to make sure board meetings were in line with when state reports needed to be approved for submittal to the state.
The state has determined “monthly” is fine for state reports on the educational program under COVID-19 and so the board went back to its original schedule, except the June meeting will be on the third instead of the tenth to avoid the last day of school.
The next board meeting is Nov. 12 at the school.
In other business at the one-hour-and-21-minute meeting on Oct. 8, the board:
• Approved the quote of $4,374 obtained by NHA for a 10’x16’ galvanized steel Tuff Shed to be installed next to the school building to store athletic equipment and tables used in the gymnasium. Board members thought it should be placed on a cement slab because of the wet ground in that area and so added $2,000 to the original approved expenditure of $5,500;
• Approved allocating $900 for school store items. Drain said this is an annual request to stock the store so students winning school cash by positive behavior can buy a wide variety of items to use;
• Reconfirmed Keystone’s Delivery of Instruction Method, to be submitted to the state;
• Approved Drain’s request for $3,200 total for the 2020-21 school year to be used as stipends for teachers who make yearlong commitments, including Culture Club, National Junior Honor Society, PTO representative, and Team Leads for field trips, grade-level activities, Washington, D.C. trip, Mackinac Island trip, and sixth-grade camp. NHA covers the taxes for the stipends;
• Heard Drain say that Keystone is not adding or removing any grades for the 2020-21 school year. Roth said some NHA schools may want to make this revision;
• Heard Roth report the ESSER funds for use over two years are being used entirely in the first year to buy hardware for students having difficulty connecting to WiFi by providing WiFi hot spots, along with digital connection to online resources. He said NHA has purchased a lot of Chromebooks, between 60,000 and 75,000. Also, $11,000 of the funds will be used for cleaning. He said the ESSER funds are part of the CARES Act passed at the federal level which is allocated through the states;
• Approved the rollover request of $12,066.63 in board funds to the new budget. Roth said NHA is revising its budget timing for the new year because the method of teaching is so much in transition. They may have to wait until the January meeting to approve the 2020-21 budget; and
• Heard Drain report that in recognition of National Custodian Day on Oct. 2, the Keystone staff and students showered the schools three custodians – Tabitha, Gary, and Deb — with appreciation and filled their buckets with all their favorite things;
• Was informed three students won a raffle at the school store last year and got to redeem their prizes recently. Winners were Zoey Daneker, Lakin Sweat, and Kylie Ion;
• Learned Keystone is looking for a second-grade teacher after a teacher left a position; and
• Learned the new middle school playground equipment has been ordered and there are possible install dates for the week of Oct. 26 or Nov. 2.