By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — USD 309 is continuing in person learning for its elementary schools at this point.
"We are able to keep class sizes down to 15 per," said superintendent Dr. Dawn Johnson about Nickerson Elementary. "They're going to stay in school at least through this remainder that we're in orange and then we'll have to take a look at what we might be able to do to reduce the class sizes and still keep the students in the school."
South Hutchinson Elementary is still working on strategies to get its class sizes down as they look at the numbers.
"The middle school is kind of an asynchronous model, I guess, the whole model is hybrid," Johnson said. "We have some students that are in the classroom every day and then other students that are Zooming in to that class from home, so we can get those class sizes down."
The high school is really having to adjust this year.
"We were normally on a block schedule," Johnson said. "Instead, we are taking those classes that would have been about 85 minutes a piece on a block schedule and we're running those 50 minutes a piece and we're running them straight through til noon remotely at home by students getting on through Zoom or Google Classroom. In the afternoon, we're running bus routes and they can come in in smaller cohorts to keep the numbers down and do electives. Woodshop, welding, weights, some of those activities that you can't do at home."
Johnson notes that each district takes its own approach to educating and so it requires a unique approach to adjusting when that schedule changes.