Matthew McLelland, principal of Chiefland Middle School, said there will be high school football this fall as far as he knows. He said there is a considerable amount of enthusiasm and good participation among athletes awaiting the 2020 season.

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Levy County school principals, administrators, and the school board Monday selected three methods for teaching students in the coming school year that provide some flexibility and choice for parents concerned about COVID-19.

            The three options being offered to parents are the traditional on-campus classes for Pre-K through 12, blended learning for K-12, and Virtual Learning for K-12.

            School district officials will publish the three options online Tuesday afternoon along with an internet link to a parent questionnaire asking which option they choose, a link to individual school plans, and a link discussing the three options.

             The answers will give district officials a better idea of what to expect on Aug. 10, the first day of school. The district hopes to have the questionnaires returned before the next school board meeting on July 14. Final approval of the options is expected at the meeting.

            Superintendent Jeff Edison said the district is preparing for a school year that isn’t just about holding classes in brick and mortar school buildings, although that is one of the options.

            “Normally at this time of year we’re worried about trying to hire people. Right now we worrying about what people are going to be here and how to educate them and everything else,” he said.

            When Spotlight published a story Saturday detailing the district’s school reopening plan, it was based on what District published on its Facebook page. Edison had referred Spotlight to the Facebook page for information on how the district would reopen. He made no mention of three options under discussion. The other two options had not been published at the time.

            Officials in the school district are aware that the first week or two of school may give rise to issues that haven’t been anticipated.

            Bronson Elementary School Principal Cheryl Beauchamp said one of the biggest challenges she expects will be managing young children when they first arrive on buses for their morning breakfast before many of the teachers arrive.

            She said preparing for this school year has been the most difficult of her career.

            “It’s been the most stressful situation I’ve ever been in, in 37 years in education,” she said.

            The school board met Monday with elementary school principals and later with high school/middle school principals. There was a general acknowledgement that planning for the start of school would have to be rigorous and the time schedule was tight, but at the same time, as one official later remarked, “We don’t what we don’t know.”

            “There’s no way we can plan for everything,” said Board member Brad Etheridge.

            Beauchamp summed it up in a different way. She said they are preparing for a blueprint for a school year that is nothing like what they were accustomed to in the past.

            “We’re building the plane as we fly it,” she said good-naturedly.

            Option one is using the traditional school setting with teachers in every classroom. Option two is a combination of students working online from home but coming to the school classroom to meet with teachers at some point every week. Option three, virtual learning from home, has been around for a decade, but not all children have internet access at their homes and not all students learn well online without face to face contact with a teacher.

            Edison said blended learning is something the district has never done before.

            “The questions we don’t know on the blended are how do you take attendance? What does a course look like, and how do we get funded for this? That’s in the air now,” he said.

            Edison said he has participated in phone conferences with the Florida Department of Education concerning blended learning.

            “We don’t have answers, but that is a concern of ours,” he said.

            School board members discussed blended learning at length Tuesday and not all were enthusiastic about it at first, but ultimately they decided by consensus to include blended learning as one of the options.

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School Board of Levy County Workshop July 6, 2020; Posted July 6, 2020