SARASOTA COUNTY (WSNN) – While Sarasota County public schools are requiring parents to make a decision between in-person or remote learning, private schools on the Suncoast are giving parents a little more flexibility.
Student Cohorts. That’s how all the Diocese of Venice Schools will be operating. Students will be grouped by homeroom and stay in that in the classroom. So, instead of students switching classes, the teachers will be.
Superintendent of Catholic Education, Reverend John Belmonte says this will help minimize student’s risk of exposure.
“With the cohort model, the idea is that it will be unlikely that they would have to close an entire school because we’ve limited the risk of students being exposed to someone else,” Reverend Belmonte said.
The Hershorin Schiff Community Day School, a private Jewish school, will be using the same method.
“We’ll see much less student movement throughout the day, Community Day School Marketing Coordinator, Lindsay Sweeting, said. “No student is going to learn well if they’re not feeling safe.”
Sarasota County’s school reopening plan says, “There will not be the opportunity to change your learning option daily or weekly.”
But, private schools are giving parents more flexibility when it comes to virtual and in-person learning.
“Unlike other school systems where there are a single lock-in and you are set with the choice you make whether it’s online learning or something else, we’re giving our families on a day–by–day basis the opportunity to make the choice that’s best for them and best for their children,” Sweeting said.
And it’s by using the adaptive learning method, giving students a virtual seat in the classroom.
“We have those home–hooked devices sitting on the front row of the classroom so that a student sits and can Livestream the class and have the same exact experience and interactive experience that their peers are having in in-person on-campus learning,” Sweeting said.
Reverend Belmonte says the general number across the diocese has 85–percent of families choosing in-person and 15–percent at home.
Head of the Community Day School, Dan Ceaser says it’s about 80–percent in–person. But he understands that may change. And that’s okay.
“There’s no right answer,” Ceaser said. “It’s really helping every family with their comfort level and meeting our family’s need wherever they are, and supporting our kids in person or remotely.”
Religious leader, Rabbi Anat Moskowitz, says the campus is buzzing with excitement as teachers prep their classrooms.
“It’s so exciting to think about welcoming children back into the classroom physically,” Moskowitz said. “At the same time, it’s completely terrifying not knowing what these kids have been exposed to, not knowing what their parents have been exposed to. It only takes one.”
But, both Reverend Belmonte and Ceaser say they’re confident their reopening plan will work.
These privates schools are mandating masks, sanitizing, social distancing, and implementing daily wellness checks as well. They’re welcoming students back to campus, August 17th.
