Four Zoom rooms during a meeting on secondary student returning to MCPASD.

Tuesday, February 9, 2021 - 8:50 am

The Board of Education unanimously approved at its regular meeting on Monday, Feb. 8 having students in grades 5-12 who are in the Universal instructional model return to school buildings in the next few weeks. 

The meeting was held in-person at Kromrey in Community Room 510. It was the first in-person meeting since March 2020, although some members did attend virtually. The School Board has met virtually the past 10-plus months.

Middle school students in the Universal instructional model are scheduled to return to school buildings on Feb. 22, while high school students in that model are scheduled to return to school buildings on March 11. Students who requested to be in the Fully Virtual model will continue to access all of their instruction online.

Students at each level have been assigned to one of two cohorts, with Cohort 1 scheduled to attend in-person on Monday and Tuesday and Cohort 2 scheduled to attend in-person on Thursday and Friday. Students will access virtual asynchronous instruction on the days they aren't in school buildings.

The School Board recently took tours of Glacier Creek, Kromrey and MHS to learn more about the mitigation strategies and safety protocols each school had put place for the safety of staff and students.

“I don’t think there’s really enough words to describe how clear it is how much work the staff, the educators, have done to prepare those schools for a safe return,” Bob Hesselbein said. “It’s impressive and I hope the people in our community understand exactly how much work these people have done.”

In December, the School Board approved 4K and elementary students in the Universal instructional model returning to school buildings on Feb. 1. More than 2,000 elementary students returned to school buildings for the first time during the 2020-21 school year last week.

“Now as we are in the second week I can see how my kids are so excited and waiting to go back to school,” Minza Karim said. “I really appreciate what the District administration and the teachers (have done) to return students safely back to school.”

Superintendent Dana Monogue noted in her report that Public Health Madison Dane County released Order #13 on Monday. It goes into effect on Wednesday, although there are no changes to the guidance and recommendations for schools.