APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – The Appleton Area School District started the school year fully virtual amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While they hope to potentially mitigate the spread of the virus, online learning can present some interesting challenges when trying to educate 16,000 students every day.
“It’s certainly not the ideal setting for students, we want them back in school. We know that’s what’s best for them. But currently, we have to keep them safe and we think that virtually is the best way to do that,” Appleton Area School District Chief Financial Officer Greg Hartjes told the WTAQ Morning News with Matt and Earl. “Any day that they’re in a school, in a seat, they’re going to learn better than they are virtually. So that’s where we want to go.”
That’s a sentiment with which many area parents would agree.
“We are hearing from parents every day who disagree with our decision to start the year virtual. And we understand it,” Hartjes said. “I have a son who is a junior in high school and he is sitting at a computer every day, all day instead of being in school around his friends, going to volleyball practice after school. But he’s missing all of that as well.”
Some would argue that Appleton schools could easily return because other area schools like Fox Valley Lutheran are back to in-person classes. But the logistics of getting back to class in a 618-student private high school are a bit different from the citywide district with 2,000 staff members and 16,000 students of all ages.
That’s why Hartjes is visiting other school districts that have already opened.
“What are they doing as far as mitigation strategies to keep kids safe? There isn’t really anything that they were doing that we don’t believe we can do. So we are ready for when we can be back in person, we’re really waiting for the right time in terms of the community spread,” Hartjes said. “If you have a teacher that comes down with COVID, or is exposed and needs to be quarantined for fourteen days, well then that class needs to be quarantined for fourteen days. The schools that I talked to last week said they’re going to handle it class by class, school by school, and if they need to then by district. That’s what we would like to do is well.”
The Appleton Area School District has been utilizing metrics provided by the city and county, which show that the highest risk category is when there are over 100 new cases in a 100,000 person population over the course of two weeks. New CDC guidance bumps that number to 200, which gives more leeway. They are also looking at the trajectory – and whether trends are rising or falling.
But right now, those numbers still aren’t looking good for sending kids back to class.
“The week ending on August 17, we were below 50 new cases in the city of Appleton. This past week, we were over 200. So definitely the numbers are trending in the wrong direction for us to be able to go in person,” Hartjes said. “The CDC came out with five key mitigation strategies, and those are things like consistent and correct use of masks, social distancing in the largest extent possible. All five of those, we have plans in place for.”
Despite the mitigation tactics in place and the district’s preparedness to handle students, they are still hoping for a drop in local numbers, the risk, and spread, to fall. Once that happens and students are cleared to return for in-person classes – there will still be some hurdles.
“There probably are going to be some times over the next 6 months where maybe we have to go virtual for a week or 2 weeks, whatever it might be, but we’re willing to do that,” Hartjes said. “We want kids back in school. Our teachers want kids back in school. That’s what we do. We’re here to educate students. But we do have to consider their health and safety, as well as the health and safety in our community.”
