With school buildings closed for the rest of the year, Newbury Schools students are missing out on events meant to commemorate the final closure of their district.
With school buildings closed for the rest of the year, Newbury Schools students are missing out on events meant to commemorate the final closure of their district.
At the April 27 West Geauga Schools Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Richard Markwardt told the board about another missed chance for Newbury kids.
“One of our (planned) activities was to bring the people from Newbury over, the students and their parents,” he said. “Obviously COVID-19 has prevented them from doing so.”
Markwardt credited Director of Public Relations and Development Jim Kish with becoming “quite the video guy,” after Kish filmed and produced the video tours.
The tours were done in a way to avoid compromising building security or give away floor plans, Markwardt added. The videos are available at www.westg.org under both the parents tab and the COVID-19 Information tab.
Nancy Benincasa, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, thanked staff for shifting to online learning with very little time to plan or process changes. She also thanked parents for their support in helping students learn at home.
“Our parents are doing such a wonderful job and are so kind to our staff,” Benincasa said. “They take such a burden off staff with their kindness and dedication.”
Benincasa said conversations with “teacher leaders” have included concerns over easing the burden on families, especially those with multiple students needing to access online materials at the same time.
Teachers are trying to think through scheduling and helping parents in terms of ease of access, and have discussed how students can take tests at home, as well as ways to welcome students back to school next year in the event learning will still be fully or partially online.
Students are not receiving review material, she and Markwardt told the board, but are receiving new instruction online.
“Even though it’s not optimum, we are moving the curriculum forward,” Benincasa said. “Just like great teachers – no matter what, they (are) filled with ways to make it better.”
Director of Pupil Personnel Amy Davis said teachers are also reaching out to students with severe needs, who are struggling with the changes brought on by distance learning.
“We are seeing regression and it is scary,” Davis said.
Parents are doing the best they can, but Davis said human interaction and the hands-on work of therapists, intervention specialists and county programs cannot be replaced.
“Our teachers, guidance counselors, paraprofessionals, they’re on the front lines and they’re helping families very directly, even dropping materials at people’s homes, wherever they may be living at these times,” Davis said. “It’s very touching and it’s incredible, and it’s bringing school to our children.”
Markwardt mentioned an email he received from a parent lamenting the loss of traditional senior rites-of-passage, such as prom and commencement ceremonies. West G students were scheduled to graduate from Severance Hall this year and the district moved to push the ceremony to August at the same location, but he said the Ohio Department of Education advised last week all graduation ceremonies should be virtual instead of in-person.
Markwardt credited West Geauga High School Principal Jay Bishop with taking the initiative to involve student leaders in plans to move forward with senior year-end activities.
“The kids aren’t happy when their plans derail, but they’re less unhappy when they have a voice in the solution,” Markwardt said.
Treasurer Karen Penler said the district is seeking to be close to a break-even level by the end of the year, and additional refunds from the state, including premiums from their workers’ compensation fund, have come in as part of the COVID-19 response.
Penler said the district is still spending money on food services, through their free and reduced lunch pick-ups, but with students not purchasing food in buildings, the food service fund may need to be replenished by the general fund if it falls short.
The federal CARES Act may also provide financial relief to school districts, Penler said, adding the U.S. Department of Agriculture is still providing funding for free and reduced lunch programs.
Budget impacts related to both COVID-19 and moving Newbury expenditures onto West Geauga ledgers, will be seen in 2021, Penler added.
