Waco Reporter

Belton Independent School District issued the following announcement.

Big Red Community,

The first day of the 2020-2021 school year is fast approaching, and the excitement of back-to-school season is in the air. Thank you for your patience as Belton ISD continues to work through preparations for opening schools on September 8. Our planning has centered around creating a complete system response prepared to pivot quickly as external conditions shift. Please read the details below carefully about how we plan to start on September 8. 

Which scenario will At-School learners start in on September 8? 

We will start the school year under Scenario 4 for all campuses with some modifications. We have revised the plan for middle schools. There are also schedule adjustments for all grade levels the first week of school only.

BECS & ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PARENTS

Scenario 4 means your student will attend in-person class Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Wednesdays will be at-home remote learning days to allow for deep cleaning and teacher planning.

MIDDLE SCHOOL PARENTS

We heard your concerns for this age group and have adjusted the plan to include four days per week of learning at school with one day reserved for remote learning. Under Scenario 4, your student will attend in-person class Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Wednesdays will be at-home remote learning days to allow for deep cleaning and teacher planning. We believe that the number of students choosing At-School Learning at the middle school level will still be manageable with the prevention and mitigation strategies we have implemented, including a block schedule and one-way hallway traffic. You can read more details on the revised middle school Scenario 4 schedule available on the Response Plan website here.

HIGH SCHOOL PARENTS

Scenario 4 is a hybrid schedule that creates smaller cohorts of students to limit the number of people on campus each day. Your principal will send information soon about your student’s group assignment. Group 1 will attend in-person class on Mondays and Tuesdays and learn remotely on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Group 2 will learn remotely on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and attend in-person class on Thursdays and Fridays. Under Scenario 4, students in Functional Academics, Life Skills, AIMS and Delta will have the opportunity to attend school in person on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Special Programs staff members will call families next week to discuss what will best meet your student’s needs.

Why did you decide to open the district under Scenario 4?

This decision comes after careful examination and continued conversation with local medical professionals on the public health situation in Bell County. We anticipate remaining in Scenario 4 through at least October 2.

Please watch this video message from Superintendent Dr. Matt Smith explaining his decision-making process:

(La transcripción del video está debajo)

Can you tell me more details about the first week of school?

We are eager to kick-off the school year on Tuesday, September 8. Given the additional planning and preparation time our staff has had the first week of school, September 8-11, will deviate from the Scenario 4 plan slightly in that students WILL attend in-person classes on Wednesday, September 9. You will hear additional details about the first week from your principal soon.

How can I change my student’s learning environment?

We appreciate the families who submitted their Learning Environment Commitment Form earlier this month. That information helped us plan for staff and technology, among other things. We know some families may have reconsidered which learning environment is best for their student to begin the school year. You may make changes to your original selection of either At-Home Learning or At-School Learning by logging into Skyward Family Access and resubmitting your Learning Environment Commitment Form. Please submit your final selection by 5 p.m. on August 25.

You are selecting a learning environment for a grading period and will have the opportunity to make changes for the beginning of a new grading period. We understand, however, that special circumstances arise and will work with you to create the best situation possible for your student. Please contact your school about your unique situation.

I want to know more…

Campus staff continue to work through details and will send more communication soon. Back-to-school district updates will begin next week. Thank you for your patience as we work together to make this a great year!

At-Home Learners

Be sure to watch these Quick Take videos: Elementary (Spanish version) or Secondary (Spanish version) to get a better understanding of our plans for At-Home Learning. More information on parent digital resources are headed your way next week.

 Transcription of video:

"Good afternoon, Big Red Community. I am Matt Smith, the Superintendent of Schools here in Belton ISD and I'm coming to you today with an update on our September 8th opening plan.

We've decided to open in Scenario Four with a couple of slight modifications. What that means is our elementary students will open going to school Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday face-to-face. Our middle school students - and this is the change - will go to school Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday face-to-face and our high school students will open in a hybrid scenario. This will only take place from September 8th through October 2nd and we'll see and evaluate our plan and see how things go moving forward and be in communication with our community. We decided on this because we wanted to prioritize safety and teacher planning on  Wednesdays. I know they're inconvenient for our community, but we wanted to make sure we had a deep cleaning day at each of our campuses. On those days we wanted to prioritize teacher planning so while your students will be at home learning on those days, we'll be making sure our buildings are clean and disinfected. We also wanted to make sure our high schools didn't have huge groups of students in the school at any one time so we decided on the hybrid scenario there. We know there is a big burden on our community and we respect that immensely. We thank you for your continued support and we promise we will be in contact with you with additional information prior to the start of school. Thank you all and have a great day."

Original source can be found here.