A pair of decisions by the Oklahoma State Board of Education (OSBE) and Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association (OSSAA) have left local schools scrambling to plan for the reminder of the 2019-2020 school year.
Due to the unchartered territory of the coronavirus pandemic, both organizations took steps to either move education activities offsite or cancel them all together.
The OSBE met March 25 via teleconference and moved to suspend all in-school instruction and extracurricular activities and close through the end of the school year. As part of this action, state superintendent Janet Barresi said the academic year for schools will end between May 8 and May 15.
The group also established a period now until April 6 for local school districts to “prepare for and begin distance learning; preparations may include immediately convening staff development, consistent with the intent and purposes of this Order.”
Meanwhile, the OSSAA moved to cancel all remaining sports and extracurricular activities for the 2019-2020 school year at its March 26 meeting.
The OSSAA released the following statement on Thursday afternoon:
“In conjunction with this decision the OSSAA Board voted unanimously, at the March 26, 2020 Teleconference Board Meeting, to cancel the State Basketball Tournament for Classes 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A; additionally, all spring activities have been cancelled for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.”
Administrators with both Madill Public Schools and Kingston Public Schools were quick to respond to the breaking news via their respective Facebook pages.
More details on their specific plans have emerged since that time.
MPS to announce plan
Madill superintendent Larry Case posted an updated statement to Facebook on March 30. In that statement he said the distance learning plan will be released by April 1. Details were not available at press time.
“The past few days have been something we could have never imagined only a couple of months ago,” Case said in the statement. “On Wednesday, March 25, the State Board of Education ordered all school buildings close for the remainder of the school year. The board further ordered that each district develop a framework for distance learning. State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister made it very clear how this looks will vary greatly between school districts. Instruction will resume on April 6 continuing through May 8. Distance learning does not necessarily mean only online learning. Madill will offer a blended approach of technology and/ or packets. With the uncertainty of the current situation, some parts of this plan could be modified based on the changing conditions.”
Case’s statement continued “I know that there is frustration surrounding the uncertainty of many activities for this year’s senior class. Unfortunately, everything is up in the air for the upcoming prom and graduation. We will do everything in our power to provide the recognition they so richly deserve but how that looks is extremely hard to predict. We are the mercy of CDC directives.”
Case’s statement concluded, “finally, I wasn’t to share that I know the situation we have been presented is less than ideal. I am concerned for our students’ instruction but am more worried about our students and their families well-being. We must continue to fight this invisible virus we no call COVID-19 by following the advice of the experts. I have learned that Wildcats make the best with what they are given and fin success. Together, we will!”
KPS announces plan
Meanwhile, Kingston Public Schools superintendent Brian Brister released details of their plan on March 31.
In a statement on Facebook, Brister said, “the Covid-19 Pandemic has become an unprecedented challenge for everyone. The new that all schools and school activities would be cancelled for this semester was devasting news for me. My heart breaks for our students that have lost their normal routine of daily school activities, for those who play softball, baseball, track, those in the school play, band and many other events. It’s especially heart breaking for our seniors who were about to attend their last prom and many other senior events.
“My administrative team and I have been working hard on a plan that will best serve the needs of our students moving forward.”
Brister’s statement about Kingston Public Schools’ plan going forward then covered three section: child nutrition, distance learned and local information.
In the statement, Brister said about child nutrition, “starting Monday, April 6, we will be delivering three (3) meals to each of our students via our regular bus routes. The busses will run on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The Monday route will deliver breakfast, lunch and a third meal for Monday and Tuesday. The Wednesday route will deliver for Wednesday and Thursday. Friday, we will deliver the three meals including a hot lunch. Feeding our students is my top priority during this pandemic and for that reason we will continue to provide meal services this summer as well. Those who do not ride the bus will still be able to pick up meals at the eight pickup spots being currently being used. The busses will deliver to the regular routes from approximately 8:30 — 9:30 a.m. and then proceed to the eight pickup locations where they will remain until 11:30 a.m. We hope this will help ease the burdens on parents.”
Regarding distance learning, Brister’s statement said starting Monday, April 6 teachers will have weekly lessons posted on the school website and this will continue through May 15.
Brister also recommended contacting the appropriate school office if students have trouble downloading their assignments.
“[You can] make an appointment to come to the school and a packet will be delivered to your vehicle,” he said in the statement. “Each student’s grade will reflect what it was the last day we were in school, which was March 12. These upcoming assignments cannot lower a student’s grade. If the student would like the opportunity to raise their grade, they can email the teacher for that class and receive further information. The teacher’s emails will be included on the packets and on the school website. Our teachers will be checking their emails multiple times daily.”
In the statement, Brister said the district also strongly encouraged parents to devote daily time engaging their child in their schoolwork. He added that students with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) will be contacted by of the district’s special education teachers/providers to implement a Temporary Learning Plan (TLP), which will be valid beginning on Monday, April 6.
Lastly, regarding local information Brister said the district will sending out more information in the near future to address other topics.
These include cleaning out lockers, returning text books, library book, uniforms and band instruments. Brister also said the district plans to hold a graduation ceremony when it is safe to do so.