By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — From an infection protection perspective, hybrid learning is working in Buhler USD 313.
"We've been in hybrid now for four weeks," said Buhler Superintendent Cindy Couchman. "We're in hybrid when we're in orange and in red. We have some comparison. We had students test positive or staff test positive when we were not in hybrid and we've had them test positive when we've been in hybrid. The number of individuals needing to be quarantined in those two learning models is significant. When we're in hybrid, I think we've only quarantined three and four students depending on which level we've been at and most of those came from sitting at the same lunch table or a bus. So, we really feel like hybrid is working as far as limiting the exposure."
Students who are doing well in hybrid may not be the same ones who would do well in the regular classroom.
"I think kids who really thrive on more individual attention are doing much better," Couchman said. "They also have more voice in the classroom. Sometimes, in a larger setting in a classroom, it is hard to get your voice heard. It's no one's fault. It's just that the more people that are in the room, the more difficult it is to be heard or to be seen."
Staff is working incredibly hard to engage the students that are in school twice a week and every other Friday, whether it is their day to be in the building or not.
"Right now, with a smaller class size, the students get to be a little bit more proactive about asking questions and making sure that there's time for individual attention in the classroom," Couchman said. "I think those kids really, really have embraced the hybrid model."
Given that the gating criteria would have to drop all the way from the red through the orange down to the yellow to go back to another method, it is likely that hybrid learning will continue for a few more weeks.