CHS and IRMS Begin Hybrid Education on January 19th

Cascade High School (CHS) finally welcomes back the majority of its students on January 19 for hybrid instruction. While some students have been back in the classrooms due to various needs, most high schoolers have been away for ten months, possibly only coming to the parking lot once in September to meet teachers during an open-air orientation.

Elementary students have been allowed back for a while. High schoolers, and middle schoolers, are starting back now because, not only is it logistically harder to safely coordinate unique schedules, also older children are more like adults in their COVID-19 transmission and infection rates.

CHS has a robust plan in place to achieve this important milestone. The student body is split roughly in half alphabetically. One group will come to school on Mondays and Tuesdays from 8 a.m. to noon, and the other group will come on Thursdays and Fridays for the same time slot. Wednesdays will be reserved for cleaning of the building, independent study time, staff planning time and virtual office hours.

“In-person students do not Zoom at all. Their two days of in-person are their contact time with teachers. The rest of their work will be posted in Canvas for them to complete asynchronously,” explained Elia Ala'ilima-Daley, CHS principal. “For students who are struggling in-person, a teacher may request them to attend the Zoom for intervention.”

For families that prefer the remote learning model, students will have Zoom classes four days a week in the afternoon. All of this means that a teacher has to teach the same material to three different cohorts of students. And since the beginning of the pandemic, teachers have had a vastly compressed time to teach a week’s worth of material, hoping that students can learn a lot on their own.

"This will be a work in progress that will require continual adjustments and flexibility for students, parents, and teachers,” said Eric Bard, CHS math teacher. “I think our schools have made the best plan possible when considering the current situation, but I think we may need three subs when a teacher gets sick!”

Andrea Brixey, CHS English teacher, added, “Here is what this time reveals—we are all capable of learning—but it’s stressful and difficult at times. The patience, humor, and support our friends and families have given us is deeply appreciated. 

“Can we deliver content and attention to so many different groups of students in several different ways? The honest answer is I don't know yet. I do know that we are getting better at this by the day. We will use all of the energy and education we bring to the table, and the amazing resources our community has invested in, to help all of our kids connect and learn.”

CHS will have health protocols in place to keep students and staff safe. Before arriving on campus, students will fill out a screening at home and show the “all clear” result on their phone at the school doors. For those who can’t do the at-home screening, they will have their temperature checked and screening questions done by a staff member. Both the front and athletics entrances will be used to keep queues short. Everyone will wear masks within the buildings, and extra masks will be available.

Between classes, Daley explained, “We will ask students to use the ‘rules of the road’ in the hallway, walking on the right side with six feet of distance in between them.” In addition, classrooms can easily accommodate the maximum number of students per class, which is fifteen.

High schoolers who have younger siblings attending the other schools can align their schedules so they all attend in-person on the same days. It’s understood that a few families might opt in and out of different programs as they find what works best for their children.

Icicle River Middle School’s hybrid plan shares much in common with CHS though has some important distinctions. All middle schoolers take the same core classes, so they can stay within cohorts throughout the day. Minimal mixing in the hall will occur, because, for the most part, the teachers will switch rooms instead of the students. Finally, students will have some time in-school that will still utilize Zoom. While that seems counterproductive, it allows the teachers to interact with a larger group of students at once, thus increasing the actual number of hours of teacher/student interaction.

With these plans and the fact that schools following similar measures around the world have shown to be the source of negligible COVID-19 transmission, families of Cascade School District can feel confident that their students can learn in-person, part-time for now, and still be safe.