SHAWANO, WI- The Shawano School District will remain virtual until at least October 26.
The announcement was made by the Shawano School District Wednesday afternoon. That means the school district will be virtual for close to the duration of the first 9 week period.
At the high school level, a change was made to the grading schedule this year, with semester grades being given after the first nine weeks.
“Due to block scheduling, we are shortening the semester to a quarter, so it is something that parents and students need to be aware of,” High School Principal Scott Zwirschitz.
Concerns were addressed at the Shawano School Board meeting Monday after there were rumors that a high number of high school students were failing.
“This is the elephant in the room but I am hearing that 40 percent of the high school students are failing, is that true?” board member Mart Grams asked.
Zwirschitz said it was not true, but did say this year is a different start to a normal year.
“We have a high number of students who are failing at least one class, but they are not failing everything,” he said. “Kids start off and think they have a lot of time to get work in, but then reality hits and they realize that they only have a few weeks left.”
He said that compared to past years, the number of students with an “F” in at least one class is higher this year.
He explained that he connected with parents to inform them of where their kids are with one month left to go in the quarter and those parents and students should contact the teachers if they would like to find out how to get their grade up.
School Board member Diane Hoffman said she is concerned that students at the high school level are failing right now when their semester grades that go on their transcripts, will be given in three weeks.
“When they are behind, it is affecting them in a bigger way now because they are getting a semester grade at the end of nine weeks, not a quarter grade that they bring up in the second nine-week period.
Hoffman also asked if the school is evaluating whether or not the expectations for teachers are being met.
Bruce Milivitz to know if other area districts are having similar issues.
“Is this just unique to us,” he asked? “Failing even one class in a short period of time is unacceptable.”
Zwirschitz says other schools that he has spoken with are seeing an uptick as well but did not have detailed numbers.
“Kids get behind really easy really fast and it part of young people learning responsibility,” School Board Member Michael Sleeper stated.
School Board Member Chris Gull said from his perspective as a parent, the new virtual platform is an improvement from last year, but told the board that the early part of the year was kids doing a lot of self-training.
“My concern is that the beginning part of the year is not what I would view as acceptable.”
Zwrschitz said the expectation at the beginning of the year was spent having the teachers help the students get back into the swing of things when it comes to on-site learning.
“We are still focusing on the essential standards first,” Zwirschitz said. ” I can assure you that every teacher is working hard to get the kids the information they need so they do not fall behind.”
Shawano Middle School Principal Stuart Russ says they are also seeing an uptick with the number of failing grades but the pupil services team continues to meet to address those concerns. He says they are still on a semester grading schedule and it is not atypical for students to struggle in the early part of the school year. He said the lack of technology also plays a factor.
Russ was asked how much time students are spending virtually in the classroom with teachers and students at the Middle School level.
“We are probably looking at meeting time with teachers online, anywhere between two and a half and three hours a day.”
Sleeper said he heard from multiple parents that having the students being engaged virtually every day is better than the blended cohort schedule which only had students going to school one or two days a week.
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