By Ally Lanasa, Staff Writer

(Nov. 12, 2020) Stephen Decatur High School on Seahawk Road in Berlin has transitioned to distance learning on Wednesday until Nov. 30 after three individuals tested positive for covid-19 in the school within 24 hours.

“We know that news of this transition is likely to heighten anxieties across the school system, but please rest assured that tonight’s decision and all of our protocols we have in place are further evidence that we remain dedicated to keeping our students and staff safe,” Worcester County Public Schools Superintendent Lou Taylor wrote to parents on Tuesday.

The county school system released a covid-19 update on Monday after school officials were notified of two positive cases within the same classroom at Stephen Decatur High School. The single classroom transitioned to distance learning on Tuesday.

For more information from Principal Thomas Sites about those cases, visit www.worcesterk12.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_577356/File/District%20Leadership/Responsible%20Return/COVID-19%20Notifications/20201109%20-%20SDHS%20COVID19%20Notification.pdf.

The third positive case at Stephen Decatur High School was outside of the classroom outbreak, Sites wrote in a letter to parents.

In addition, Worcester County Public Schools was made aware on Monday of one positive case of covid-19 within an early childhood classroom at Showell Elementary School. Carrie Sterrs , coordinator of public relations and special programs for the county school system, said that out of an

abundance of caution, this classroom also returned to virtual learning.

For more information from Principal Diane Shorts, visit www.worcesterk12.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_577356/File/District%20Leadership/Responsible%20Return/COVID-19%20Notifications/20201109%20-%20SES%20COVID.pdf.

Last week, Taylor said he was aware that two school bus drivers had positive covid-19 tests, and county school system had a protocol in place of sending out letters identifying those who would go through a contact tracing process.

In a letter to public school families on Tuesday, Taylor said the school’s contact tracing protocol has been expanded.

“Our protocol calls for us to notify any individuals in the affected cohort of the case,” he wrote. “To illustrate with an example, should we have a case in a classroom, the entire class and if the child rode a bus, those groups would be notified of the case, but the communication will differ based on whether they were a close contact or not. This process is one that the Health Department has affirmed as the appropriate way to notify while still respecting the privacy of the ill individual.”

The county school system has been welcoming more students back to the classroom in waves. Additional students have been brought back to schools every two weeks in the fall. As of Tuesday, another wave of students returned to the county schools.

As a result, educators are challenged with managing students there while continuing to offer virtual instruction to those that opt for distance learning for the remainder of the semester or for the remainder of the 2020-21 academic year.

Recently, an opt-out form was sent to parents of public school students to keep children in distance learning.

“We need to have an idea of what kids were coming back and were not coming back, so that we can plan in our facilities for the six-foot distancing,” Taylor said. “Right now, the main purpose of the opt-out form is for planning purposes and that’s planning in our buildings for spaces for our kids to return and be in a safe environment.”

A percentage of students remaining in distance learning has not been confirmed because it is an ongoing process.

“A preliminary snapshot of the data as it currently stands has 464 opt-outs completed at this time,” Sterrs said. “This is inclusive of both semester one opt-outs and full-year opt-outs.”

In the opt-out form from Stephen Decatur High School, Principal Thomas Sites said students who continue in virtual learning will participate in fewer Zoom sessions and more “asynchronous work,” or assignments without instruction from a teacher in real time.

“It is not as good as we would like it under normal circumstances,” Taylor said. “There are some challenges with distance learning. There are some challenges with in-person learning.”

The county’s 14 schools have flexibility about when to bring more students back in based on space issues.

“We try to meet the needs of every kid in every school,” Superintendent Lou Taylor said last week. “What I’ve asked my building-level principals to do is to break it down to every child and see how we can best serve that individual. We don’t like to make decisions based on the mass. We like to make them based on individual needs.”

He added that principals have to be creative about using spaces throughout the building, not just traditional classrooms, to accommodate physical distancing.

“We’ve got challenges there, but we’re going to do the very best we can to make it happen for those kids who want to get back,” Taylor said.

Teachers are struggling to balance both models of instruction simultaneously, but Taylor said he and his staff believe a high quality of education is still being offered to all public school students.

“This is very tough on our teachers, and I complement our teachers across this county,” Taylor said. “They’re doing work like they’ve never done before, and my heart goes out to them because they are stretched to the limit. But everyone that works in our school system right now is stretched to the limit.”

Taylor added that he tries to give educators a break whenever possible. Last Tuesday, he lightened the load of professional development countywide, so teachers had more free time to complete instructional work.

Taylor said he is also very cautious about mental health for staff and students.

“Yes, the covid virus is something that is very dangerous, we recognize that, but we’ve also got some other issues we have to look at, such as the mental health issues of our kids,” Taylor said. “There’s research out there that says the more we keep kids out, the more damaging it is for their mental health. I receive several emails daily from parents telling me that they’re seeing these things from their kids at home and to please allow them to come back to school.”

He added that from data collected throughout the summer and fall, the majority of families favor having students back in schools.

Every morning, students or their guardians are responsible for filling out a covid-19 screening form before students enter the school buildings.

“We have protocols in place. I have a team of people, who monitor those protocols [and] who review them with our principals daily,” Taylor said. “We have two or three check points in place, but one of the most important things that we do is to follow the protocols to keep our kids and our staff safe. So, that is a priority each and every day in our schools.”

Taylor also said the safety protocols for the county’s schools have been reviewed by his executive level staff and health officials in the county.

The covid-19 response protocols and covid-19 screening form are available on worcesterk12.org.

As Gov. Hogan continues to warn Marylanders about the rise of coronavirus cases across the county, Taylor admits he is concerned about the health of students and staff.

“What I feel good about is the protocols and the plan that we have in place to identify issues as they arise,” he said. “We re-evaluate that plan on a regular basis to make sure that we are meeting the health needs of all those who are involved in Worcester County Public Schools.”

Taylor added that his staff is in constant communication with Health Officer Rebecca Jones at the Worcester County Health Department.

Taylor also provided an update about the internet connectivity on Tuesday after issues persisted for two weeks, interrupting distance learning for public school students.

“That our internet connectivity experienced outages and slow speeds last week and the week prior was unacceptable, and I genuinely cannot express how sorry we are for the frustration everyone has felt as a result of it,” Taylor wrote in a letter to parents. “While we believe that this particular outside issue with our provider networkMaryland is near being resolved, this process of investigation has exposed some opportunities for us to further stabilize our technology infrastructure, and we are working hard to design a long-term solution.”

Virtual learners worked on assignments on their own during the issues.

Taylor updated families last Monday on the school system’s website, apologizing for the technology issues.

“After a thorough investigation and consultation with several outside vendors, we narrowed the problem to an internal hardware issue,” Taylor said. “We have repaired this hardware and tested it to ensure stability. We hope that this issue has now been resolved.”

Sterrs said the piece of hardware is located at the central office in Newark.

In the video update, Taylor added that the internet connectivity was expected to be fully functioning when instruction resumed on Wednesday, Nov. 4.

Public schools were closed last Tuesday for Election Day and professional development.

The internet connectivity was intermittent last Wednesday, Taylor said at the Worcester County Commissioners meeting that morning.

He also said internet connectivity has been an issue across the state.

Last Thursday the county school system released an update on its Facebook page, stating, “We are sorry to share that we are experiencing some slow-downs and sporadic outages with our network at this time; however, hotspots have been deployed at all of our schools as a stopgap measure while this issue is being resolved. Your child’s school or teacher will be in contact with distance learners should there be any changes to synchronous learning today.”

Sterrs said the internet connectivity was restored last week, but as the school system’s provider, networkMaryland, continues work on its end, there have been infrequent momentary slowdowns in internet speed.

“Synchronous learning was occurring for many of our classes even during the outages through the use of deployed hotspots and other creative means,” Sterrs said. “Our connectivity, however, has been relatively reliable since [last] Thursday.”