Plans for class sessions this fall still up in the air

During the July 13 regular meeting of the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education, via Zoom, School Supt. Pete Kudlak told the board he has no idea how the reentry to school in the fall is going to go.
“It changes from day to day and not just here. It’s across the country,” Supt. Kudlak said. “I don’t know what Belleville will look like this fall.”
Kudlak said it depends upon what zone the governor announces for an area. He said the Belleville area is now zone 4, but if it goes back to 1, 2, or 3, they can’t have kids in the buildings.
He said 50-some people are working on three separate committees to determine different plans on what will happen once the zone is determined.
Kudlak said in phase 4, he doesn’t know what will happen. In phase 5, students can be in person, fully.
Masks are required for grades 6-12, all the time. For pre-Kindergarten through grade 5, masks are required in common areas and on buses.
“We’re enforcing the rule and trying to figure out how to do it,” he said. “Some people are anti-mask, but we’re just following the rules.” He said if people want the mask rule changed, they need to go to Lansing.
He said at the regular meeting on Aug. 10 the board will vote on this.
Kudlak said there are 55 people in the three groups from all different parts of the school with different viewpoints.
He said their suggestions will be presented to a panel of parents and the parents’ job is to poke holes in it and give feedback. He said they won’t be able to think of everything and on day three of the school year probably five new issues will come up.
“We can’t think of everything,” Kudlak said. He said after they give the plan to the parents it will be fine-tuned and then given to the board to vote on.
Questions came from parents, with one asking if students in families can have the same schedules. Kudlak said they will make sure that happens. He said one of the proposals is to break the alphabet into two parts and students in the first half go to school in person on Monday and Tuesday and the second half goes to school in person on Thursday and Friday, with virtual education the other days.
“There’s a lot on social media, with fears and concerns,” said board secretary Darlene Gerick. “I have a lot of faith in the committees and the virtual education won’t be the same virtual we got thrown into. It would be strong virtual.”
Trustee Calvin Hawkins said, “Buses, buses, buses. I think about the bus. It’s hard to distance on the bus.”
Kudlak said the district has 65-passenger buses and with social distancing they would need three times as many buses. He said they will use masks and hand-sanitizers and, “I think some will opt out of transportation.”
Board president Amy Pearce said she is serving on the “hybrid” committee and, “It’s impossible to social distance on the bus. They will wear masks, but you can’t guarantee social distancing on the bus.”
She said in Van Buren, the fifth and sixth grade classes are in the same building and have different rules about masks. She said Supt. Kudlak is going to talk to the state about this: Either not requiring the sixth graders to wear masks, since they are in self-contained classrooms, or to have the fifth graders be required to wear masks all the time along with the sixth graders.
When asked about school times, Kudlak said they are working on plans to change the times and, “All times will change a little bit.”
“This is unchartered territory … and each day is a new experience,” said board vice president Susan Featheringill. “The plan is educating the kids and keeping everybody safe.”
Kudlak said they will come up with the best way to educate the kids and, “If we tweak it, we tweak it.”
Featheringill recalled that last spring the district was out the Friday school was canceled by the state and students and teachers couldn’t take things home. Now, she said, they are looking at little square boxes on the screen for Zoom meetings and, “This is normal. This is how you talk to people now…” She said they have to move forward and educate wisely, with Kudlak adding, “…and safely.”
“I think we should poll the kids and ask them do you know you’ll have to wear a mask all day? Do you want to go to school? And, I bet they say yes,” said Trustee Simone Pinter.
President Pearce said working on the hybrid committee is a lot of work and there are a lot of great minds seeking answers.
“We’re going to keep chugging,” she said. “And, questions keep popping up.”
In other business in the 61-minute meeting, the board:
• Approved Edgemont and Rawsonville roof equipment replacements with sinking funds totaling $429,388; with $338,888 to Temperature Services, Inc., the lowest responsible bidder; $25,000 for electrical services; and a construction contingency budget of $65,5000. The $429,388 total is $43,000 under budget;
• Approved the District Wireless Controller and Wireless Access Point Replacement Project through Sentinel Technologies at a district cost of $59,633.16. Erate grant funding of $153,669.84 pays 80% of the total cost of $213,303;
• Approved the second reading and adoption of 12 recommended Board of Education Policy Updates;
• Agreed to meet via Zoom for the July 27 regular meeting because there are items that will need board approval at that time. Kudlak said usually the board can skip the second meeting in July, but not this year. The governor has allowed remote meetings until July 31;
• Approved the recall of Belleville High School math teacher George Devore who had been laid off. Now he is needed for a couple of math classes and other assignments;
• Approved the retirement of Rona Nowak after 28 years in transportation, as of June 30; and the resignation of Erna Sue Tarrow from non-instruction employment at BHS after 21 years of service as of Aug. 25, for a job opportunity; and
• Heard Owen teacher James Parcha and McBride teacher David Turner give reports on their experiences in the Aspiring Administrators Academy put on by RESA. A third academy participant, Owen teacher Jean Smith, was unable to attend the meeting, calling off at the last minute. The academy trains school employees who are interested in being administrators in the future. They are appointed to attend by the superintendent.