Wichita Board of Education to stick with plan and revisit in-person students on Nov. 9
The Board of Education for Wichita Public Schools voted 4-3 on Friday night to stick with its Oct. 20 plan for students during the second nine weeks of school — but it will begin Nov. 12 instead of Nov. 9.
The BOE could change its course during a Nov. 9 meeting.
The special meeting Friday was called partly to discuss the “rapid increase” in COVID-19 cases, according to the agenda.
The school board voted Oct. 20 to allow approximately 60% of middle and high school students to return to in-person classes in a hybrid format for the second nine weeks, beginning Nov. 9.
Parents of elementary students had the option of fully in-person or fully remote under the current plan, but they cannot change their choice from what it was before the school year started. Middle and high school students have been remote since the beginning of the school year.
The current COVID-19 indicators could call for all students to go remote and for sports to be canceled.
Board member Ernestine Krehbiel pointed out that student absenteeism, which is the only criteria strictly based on only school data, is in the green zone from the two weeks from Oct. 11-24.
The absenteeism is compared to the rate from last year. It’s less than 3% above last year’s figure.
The criteria has four zones. Going from best to worst, it’s green, yellow, orange and red.
The two-week percent positive of Sedgwick County cases is in the orange, which is between 10-14.9%. The two-week incident rate per 100,000 people is at 312.8. A rate of 151 or up is in the red zone. Finally, the incident rate of those cases is increasing during the two-week span, which puts that criteria in the red zone.
Union representatives said that employees are scared, and they asked to go fully remote. In submitted comments, a parent of a first-grader said it is “extremely alarming” that children are being kept in school.
“My daughter loves 1st grade and enjoys her teacher very much,” Sheila Vandeloecht wrote. “I do not feel that this pandemic is still anything to put our children’s futures at risk.”
Sedgwick County Health Department Director Adrienne Byrne told board members Friday that health officials want students in the classroom and that the criteria should be looked at more as fluid than concrete.
About the rising rates in the community, Byrne said they don’t know why. She said spikes could be seen after the Memorial Day and Fourth of July, likely because of gatherings.
“With the data that we have we can’t say ... that it is because schools are open,” she said, adding that health officials continue to learn new information about the virus, like long-term effects some people have experienced.
Board member Stan Reeser made the motion for the school district to continue with its Oct. 20 plan. The board plans to hear from health officials and discuss its gating criteria more at the Nov. 9 meeting.
School board members Ben Blankley, Ron Rosales and Ernestine Krehbiel dissented during Friday’s special meeting.
Contributing: Jason Tidd with The Eagle
This story was originally published October 30, 2020 at 7:16 PM.