School officials at the Bremen Public Schools made updates to their school reopening plans for the 2020-2021 school year.
Members from the Bremen Public School Board met in an emergency session on Wednesday to determine the start of school there. Superintendent Dr. Jim White stated that he has been meeting with Marshall County Health Department officials weekly during the pandemic to determine the safest plans for students and staff for the start of school. Health officials are concerned with the return to in-person education with an uptick of COVID-19 cases in the county this summer.
Dr. White recommended pushing back the start of the school year by one week to Aug. 19 after speaking to the administration team and representatives of the Teacher’s Union.
“I think that would do a couple of things for us,” stated Dr. White. “That would give us time to bring that infection rate down. Everyone needs to do their part to make that happen. You need to social distance. You need to adhere to the mask mandate. Our constituents have a huge role to play in whether we’re able to open or not.
“I think if we give ourselves one week that gives time for that to lower. In case things were to become worse, which I don’t anticipate, that will give our teachers more time to come in for some staff development that we’ll be able to pay them for, and work on setting up canvas pages and a lot of their curricular offerings.”
High School Principal Bruce Jennings said he supported Dr. White’s recommendation.
Jennings commented, “Bremen Public Schools has always had a very high priority for the emotional, mental and physical well-being of students every day. That’s our number one goal everyday to keep students safe and healthy, and I think that will continue.”
Elementary/Middle School Principal Larry Yelaska is concerned about students not having face-to-face time between younger students and teachers, so he supported Dr. White’s recommendation as well to move forward with an in-person start to school.
Dr. White said there is an option for students to take part in virtual learning instead of participating in in-person education. Parents should notify administrators if that option is preferred.
The school board approved the start of school one week later on Wednesday, Aug. 19 with a unanimous vote. Teachers will be working on professional development up until that point.
