FOX VALLEY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The year 2020 has been one of roller coaster ride.
Schools in our area, especially, had to get used to many changes quickly throughout the school year.
From virtual learning, to in-person, then back to virtual again. With all this back and forth in just a matter of months, it’s been a wild ride.
“It’s been a real challenge,” Neenah Joint School District’s communications manager Jim Strick said. “Our staff has, you know, it’s been an incredible challenge for them this year.”
Mark Duerwaechter, superintendent for the Kaukauna Area School District tells FOX 11, in all of his decades in education, this year, by far, was the most difficult.
“I have never experienced a year like this before. Frankly, I really hope that no other kids, and families, and staff members ever have to go through this.”
Neenah Schools started off the school year, by giving families a choice on how they wanted their students to learn – in person, virtual at home school, or distance real time learning for grades 7th to 12th.
Then came the month of October. With COVID cases on the rise in the Fox Valley, it was back home for students.
“That was around the second week of October,” said Strick. “A lot of that was really based on the community numbers that were so high, and they still are, but we’ve been able to get the numbers down in the school.”
For Kaukauna, luck seems to be on their side. The District kicked-off the year with 4K to 4th grade kids in-person five days a week, and grades 5 to 12 in a blended model. They have stayed that way since.
“Staff have really had to dig deep and do things that they’ve never had to do before to make it work,” Duerwaechter said. “All of the success of our plan really does rest on our staff’s shoulders.”
For some Oshkosh students, the script was flipped before the year even began.
The district was supposed begin with a hybrid learning model, until COVID crept into Oshkosh North High School and Merrill Middle School. Students there would move to all-virtual learning, only to return to the original plan the very next day.
Since then, like many other districts, Oshkosh switched back to all-virtual at the end of September, planning to go back again to hybrid learning Monday. That wouldn’t happen.
“It is our intention to provide a safe environment, as much as possible, to our students,” said Oshkosh Area School District’s superintendent Dr. Vickie Cartwright. “Therefore, the very difficult decision was made, in order to remain into our virtual learning, at least until Jan. 11.”
Neenah Schools will be taking every Wednesday off through the end of the first semester. They’ll be going virtual those days. The district will be doing the same on the week after Thanksgiving, and the first week of January.
“Anticipating that there may be a spike over those holiday weeks, and we’ll be able to kinda mitigate that a little bit as well,” Strick said.
Duerwaechter tells FOX 11 listening to what parents, students and staff want has helped in navigating these unchartered waters.
“Let’s get it right,” he said. “Let’s not focus on being right, let’s just get it right!”
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