Last Tuesday, September 8, was the first day of school for many, including students returning to class at Three Rivers Community Schools (TRCS) after being away since the start of the pandemic shutdown in March. 

Watershed Voice reached out to a collection of parents and TRCS Superintendent Ron Moag for their thoughts and reactions to how the first week of school went amid the unique, new challenges of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the options put in place by TRCS administrators to meet those challenges. 

In August, parents were presented with three potential options for their children to attend school. Students could choose to commit to attending entirely online through a third-party, online instruction platform called Lincoln Learning. Alternatively, grade school students could attend entirely face-to-face, while middle and high school students could attend through a hybrid option involving classroom time two days a week and virtual, online interaction with their teachers the rest of the week.

The Virtual Option

Christina Hillyard is parent to a 14-year-old attending ninth grade, an 11-year-old in sixth grade, and a seven-year-old in second grade. For reasons not related to the pandemic, she chose the virtual option for all three children. As has been a concern for many parents, Hillyard has had to negotiate supervision issues. “I work full time and while my mom is willing to help, she’s not great with any tech stuff, so until the kids are comfortable enough to be able to go through it completely on their own it’s a lot of extra work for me,” she said.

Hillyard had no technical issues with the online learning and tracking platforms but had to learn how they worked. “The first day was rough, but we’re slowly figuring things out and (things are) going better each day,” she said. Although her kids received TRCS-supplied Chromebooks, they have been using their own laptops. The Chromebooks “seem a little not-user-friendly,” Hillyard said. “I guess we’re just not used to Chromebooks.”

Casey Weber’s seven-year-old is in the first grade, and like Hillyard’s children, is using the all-virtual instruction option through Lincoln Learning. Weber chose the platform “for at least the first semester in case there was another upswing in COVID cases that could disrupt his routine.” As with others, the first week “started out hectic as we tried to get things organized, and slowly became more routine as the week went on.” Weber said, “We had a bit of trouble trying to figure out how to upload written and drawn assignments, but everything else was pretty self-explanatory.”

Regarding supervision, Weber said her child “does have a bit of trouble staying on task.” She feels that is to be expected with a child working from home and who is not used to being in the same place for so long, “even with breaks.” She said, “hopefully in the coming weeks we get better at our routine and things begin to run more smoothly!”

Alison Fletcher has kids in middle school and high school. They are using the Lincoln Learning platform with middle school band and the high school Aristocrats as electives. Fletcher chose the all-virtual option in case the pandemic ramps up again based on schools in some southern states “needing to go virtual within a week of opening.” She wanted consistency for her sons, “so online continues as if nothing happens if the school has to close.”

Fletcher’s children had mixed results in their first week. “My 7th grader had a pretty easy time this week with classes taking about 30 minutes a lesson,” she said. The only issue they encountered was difficulty finding email addresses in order to share Google doc homework.  However, Fletcher said, “my 11th grader had a rougher week.  His classes are all taking about one and a half to two hours each lesson. He was behind on the first two days but managed to catch-up this weekend.”

Rather than use the Chromebooks offered by TRCS, Fletcher instead opted for laptops, “as they have a bigger screen than a Chromebook. I didn’t want them working six hours a day on such a small screen.”

For supervising her kids’ work, Fletcher said, “I am fortunate to stay at home. I have been more hands-on in assisting my middle schooler. I did find a way to view how much time he is spending in each portion of the lessons and was able to catch him skimming content right away.”

Bonnie Keith chose the all-virtual Lincoln Learning platform for her eighth grader “because we were keeping (her) out of school for safety reasons, so to send her part-time made no sense.” Keith said, “the first week was overall pretty good. There was not as much assistance as we had hoped for, but all in all, so far, so good.”

“We have full internet service,” Keith said, and her child had “no issues accessing the systems. We did receive a Chromebook from the school. We have one parent home all day, so she is on a watched and timed schedule.”

The Hybrid Option

Elizabeth Graham has a seventh grader and a ninth grader, ages 12 and 14 respectively. She chose the hybrid option because she “didn’t like the idea of a third party teaching my children, and I wanted them to have socialization with their friends as well as a bit of normalcy.”

So far, Graham is pleased with the hybrid option. “Their first week was great. It was pretty relaxed and there seemed to be a lot of grace and understanding. The only confusion we had was on Wednesday when they do their normal schedules, but online. The first week they didn’t do that.” Attendance and supervision have also not been a problem so far. “Luckily, they are pretty disciplined,” she said. “My daughter had a very busy Thursday, so she missed some work, but made it all up on Friday. It’s taking a little bit of time to adjust to the schedule.”

Brad Luegge chose the hybrid option for both his seventh grader and his eighth grader. For Luegge, the option is not without its challenges. The first week was “short and confusing,” and Luegge will have to let his children conduct some of their studies unsupervised. However, he said he chose the hybrid option anyway because his “kids needed socializing and to be taught by a teacher, not me.”

For Sarah Shutes, who has a 12-year-old in the seventh grade as well as a grade schooler, her kids’ wants and needs regarding being in school played a role in her decision about which option to choose. Although her seventh grader “didn’t do poorly during the end of the year with virtual,” he wanted to be in school, and is attending through the hybrid option. “He wishes he could go all week,” Shutes said.

As with other parents, Shutes said her seventh grader “struggled the first day at the sitters” with the online software platforms, “but everything has been okay.” Shutes works during school hours, and her middle schooler “has assistance, making sure he gets it done on time and correctly, (as) I’m not available for him.”

Miranda Slentz has a high schooler at age 15, a middle schooler at age 12, and an elementary student at age eight. Both secondary students are attending school under the hybrid option. “They both are doing great,” Slentz said. “I do work from my phone, so I’m able to be home with them if and when they need help.”

The Face-to-Face Option

For her eight-year-old, Slentz chose the face-to-face option. “I’m not a teacher, and I don’t feel I would be able to help my son the way he would need it. He is excited to be back in the classroom and with his friends.”

In addition to her middle schooler, Shutes also has an eight-year-old in the second grade who is also attending school face-to-face. “He learns better with a teacher in front of him. He struggled a lot staying focused during the end of the year and I thought this option was best,” Shutes said. The first week has been going great, she said. “He missed his teachers and his friends. Shutes works first shift, so scheduling also works out for her. “He is at school when I am at work,” she said.

Sara Mauck has a twelve-year-old and a thirteen-year-old in the seventh and eighth grades respectively. Mauck said she “chose face-to-face learning after changing my mind multiple times in uncertainty.” Her older son’s special education teacher told her about an alternative face-to-face schedule for special education students wherein students attend four days a week. “This option was such a huge relief for me because getting my son to do the online work is extremely difficult.”

“Their first week went well,” Mauck said. “The teachers have been in contact daily, and the school has been wonderful in accommodating the new world we live in.” She said there have been no issues with accessing the online material, in supervision, or with her kids doing their work. “The school staff has been very helpful,” she said.

Pandemic Precautions

TRCS has a policy requiring masking at various times for all students. It gave parents the options to screen their children for COVID-19 symptoms from home or to have it done at school. Graham and Slentz chose to have their children screened when they arrive at school. “I figured it would be more accurate that way, plus I can be forgetful and didn’t want that,” Slentz said. “None of the kids have complained about having to wear a mask. Yet.”

Fletcher shares the screening burden with the schools. “I have to screen one of them every day besides Wednesday.” Her middle schooler attends band “on Thursdays and Fridays, so I screen him at home before he walks to the school.” As a bass singer, her high schooler was asked to attend Aristocrats practice on Mondays and Tuesdays to help meet a need, “so he is screened on those days.”

Both students “also participate in cross country. They wear masks until it is time to run, and then put them on as soon as they have finished. They also have to wear them on the bus rides to meets,” Fletcher said.

Shutes’s second grader receives speech therapy. “However, the only way to get his lessons is by doing a Google meet at school. The therapist can’t sit face-to-face with him without having to wear a mask,” she said. Her seventh grader “said if it helps keep him healthy, he’ll wear it until I tell him he doesn’t have to anymore.”

For Mauck, “screening and masking have gone great. I chose to screen at home before school each day. I’ve provided my kids with masks, but the school has been giving them masks also. My kids haven’t had any trouble keeping their masks on in school, surprisingly.”

The Superintendent’s View

Over the course of the summer, TRCS Superintendent Moag worked with staff, Board of Education members, and others to plan this fall’s three options amid constantly changing rules, parameters, and predictions about how the pandemic would play out. “It seemed like about every two weeks, there was some kind of adjustment thrown at us,” he said. Despite that, he said, “we couldn’t have asked for a better start.”

Professional development days were scheduled for August 25 and 26 for teachers, “so that was a time for them to ask a boatload of questions,” Moag said.

Last Tuesday, Moag said, on the first day of school, “I got to every building. I spent most of the start time at one school, just to help out. I was sanitizing hands and welcoming kids back into the building, and then checking with all the other buildings.” He said kids seemed “just happy to be back.” 

Some students were seeing the buildings for the first time, while others were returning after a longer absence than usual. “We weren’t able to have traditional open houses. New families that came to us and were new to the district made appointments, and we spent some time with them,” Moag said. “But, other than that, it was, for most of the kids, their first time to get back into a school since we shut down last March.”

For the remainder of the week, there was a lot of adjustment among staff and students. “Each day, they’re reviewing different procedures and tweaking them,” Moag said. “And, you know, that’s going to be the theme throughout the year. We’ve got some solid processes and procedures in place, but we’re daily reviewing those just to make sure that we’re doing what’s best for kids and staff. I couldn’t be more proud.”

Regarding the Lincoln Learning all-virtual option, Moag said, “we’ve had a number of parents, just before the start of school, come back face to face.” Moag attributes that to “a variety of reasons,” but said, “I think parents are starting to realize that this is going to be a commitment, and if they’re both working, how is that student going to stay on track in the Lincoln Learning platform?”

For students that have stuck with the all-virtual option, Moag said an Executive Order by Governor Gretchen Whitmer in late August helped establish clearer guidelines for measuring things like attendance, and also required mentors for all-virtual instruction to be certified teachers. In response, Moag said, “we put a plan together for having tutors available, which are our teachers that are willing to help these online students out,” and many of those teachers are also now willing to serve as mentors. Moag said those teachers will perform the work during prep time and after hours.

The first week of school was a learning experience for Moag and other staff with respect to the new logistics of in-person attendance during a pandemic. “Each day got better in terms of kids coming into the building and leaving the building once they’re in. You know, it’s, it’s school,” he said. “Having the option of a parent to choose online, virtually, helped us out with capacity.”

Most parent feedback was “more from the Lincoln Learning side,” Moag said. “In terms of your typical stuff, ‘we’re having trouble logging on,’ you know, an array of questions, but basically dealing with what I would call boilerplate questions when you’re new to this kind of a learning experience.”

However, he said, instruction options are more structured than the online instruction that took place in reaction to the March shutdown. Lincoln Learning, he said, is rigorous. “I think they’re coming to the realization that schooling is not like last spring,” Moag said. “I mean, it’s for keeps, it’s for credit. It’s for a grade.”

The increased rigor comes from stronger state guidelines, Moag said. “The real reason is that out of Lansing, they talked about how you can’t hold the kid accountable for parents not doing what they need to do.” Whereas online instruction in the springtime was reactive and had less structure, “now you’re getting grades, you’re getting feedback,” Moag said. “The mentors are monitoring kids, checking in online, making sure that they’re keeping up, you know, on pace and on track to finish the course by, you know, whenever that deadline is.”

Dave Vago is a writer and columnist for Watershed Voice. A Philadelphia native with roots in Three Rivers, Vago is a planning consultant to history and community development organizations and is the former Executive Director of the Three Rivers DDA/Main Street program.