At Monday’s board meeting, the Battle Creek Public Schools (BCPS) voted 4-3, with Jacquine Slaby, Charlie Fulbright and Patty Gray dissenting, to approve the district’s proposed reopening plan that offers in-person schooling for k-5 (with virtual learning as an option) and online-only education for the remainder of the grades starting Aug. 26. 

 

The plan, required by the MI Safe Schools Return to School Roadmap, a comprehensive document to help districts create local plans for in-person learning in the fall. 

 

The Roadmap outlines a number of safety protocols for schools to implement in each phase of the governor’s MI Safe Start Plan. 

 

The governor also signed Executive Order 2020-142, which provides a structure to support all schools in Michigan as they plan for a return of PreK-12 education in the fall.

 

The safety protocols detailed in the MI Safe Schools Roadmap includes guidance on the use of PPE, good hygiene, cleaning/disinfecting, spacing in classrooms, screening for symptoms, athletics, and more. 

 

Schools are required by Aug. 15 or seven days prior to the start of school, districts must approve a preparedness plan.

 

By Aug. 17, intermediate school districts must collect all preparedness plans from constituent districts.

 

“This is a very difficult process,” said BCPS Superintendent Kimberly Carter on a Zoom and Facebook live video of Monday night’s special school board meeting to approve the plan. “There is no way we will be able to honor the requests of all stakeholders. We wish we could.”

 

• If Michigan remains in Phase 4 of the virus, BCPS will open for in-person instruction for grades K-5 (with additional safety precautions required including facial coverings for all students and staff), and remote learning for grades 6-12 for at least the first nine weeks of school. 
  
  
• If Michigan moves back to Phase 3, all schooling will be done remotely.
  
  
• Regardless of which phase of virus recovery Michigan is in, a Virtual Academy option will be available for families who would like their children to attend school remotely for the full school year - more information about the Virtual Academy program and how to enroll will be coming out later this week.



“We believe this plan represents the best possible approach during these difficult times and gives each family choices to best fit the needs of their children,” according to a prepared statement released by the district Monday night.



Board member Jacqueline Slaby said prior to voting that she opposed the proposed plan because more time is needed to better address everyone’s needs.



“It is imperative that we slow down and look at this in a long term approach,” she said, “even though these circumstances may make us feel we need to work as fast and as urgent as possible to hurry up and approve a plan.”

  

She recognized that with the school year starting this month, navigating the problem created an urgent situation.

 

"This is an opportunity for us all to ask ourselves how do we as district make good decisions in an atmosphere of urgency,” she said. “We do in fact have more options than this. As a district, we must recognize the inherent structural inequities that keep us from truly changing the outcomes for all students and their families.”

 

She noted that the district’s Believe in the Change motto needs to guide their decisions as opposed to espousing policies and practices they want to transform.

 

“It is about what our collective commitment is to transformation this institutions, to set up an approved system of policies and practices that eliminate even the most thin of barriers so we can actually serve all of our students, not just for today but for the next year and the next year and the year after that and for the next decade and so on.”

 

Slaby said she would be remiss to vote for a plan that would require students to physically attend school, “when I as a board member have the option to attend meetings virtually,” she said. “While I don’t want to dismiss the virtual option that has been proffered, the lack of structure to the virtual option leaves much to be desired.”

 

Trustee Art McClenney said he considered all sides of the issue including one new report that a school in Georgia that recently reopened has already closed due to 260 cases of COVID-19.

 

He ultimately voted in favor of the BCPS plan because families have the option to choose between in-person or remote learning for their elementary school children.

 

“They do have a choice,” he said. “I think with that in mind, I’m going to support this proposal because parents do have a choice with the assurance form superintendent Carter that if our students or staff become, if there is any type of danger, or sickness, the first case, and she isn’t sure she can do this safely, she’s going to come back to this board and present us with another plan.”

 

One person (TaShawna MarQee Cummings) out of about 175 people attending the online meeting commented: “It will be hard to track who has the virus and it will spread like wildfire. What about the poor grandparents who are at a higher risk that take care of the kiddos? This is just overall scary.”

 

Others are concerned that if they can’t afford childcare to keep them home for a remote option that they will have no choice but to send their elementary school aged children to in-person classrooms that could have as many as 25 students together.

 

McClenney said he talked to one woman who has the means to provide childcare for her children during the school day but will still choose to send them to in-person schooling.

 

“This told me, that this person who had the means...is confident to send her kids back to school with all the safeguards in place, it made me change my mind again,” said McClenney about why he voted for the plan.

 

One woman criticized McClenney for wearing a mask during the meeting he was attending while at work where masks are required.

 

“Nice point being made by wearing the mask, Art,” said Marilyn Stewart during the meeting. “ If we are having trouble hearing you and understanding you, our children in our classrooms will have the same difficulty.”

 

Victoria Graham said she has family members who have contracted the virus and urged the district not to open the schools calling it too risky.

 

"We know it can be difficult for some students to achieve the same learning they are used to through remote schooling, and it may also present significant challenges for families,” Carter said. “And at the same time, we know there are families who would feel more comfortable keeping their children at home at this time. Recognizing that there is no perfect solution for safely and effectively returning to school in the midst of an active pandemic, we are offering each family a choice to do what is best for their children's needs." 

 

Carter also said: "We remain committed to offering every child a quality education. We will also remain flexible and responsive to the needs of our children and our community as we continue to learn more and as the situation continues to evolve.

 

“I came into this work because I truly believe that education saves lives -- education is the way out, the way over, and the way to move to the next level for children in our community, so I want to make sure, at every turn, that we are giving children every opportunity to succeed. I may not know what the future holds, but at BCPS we are committed to ensuring our children are taken care of."

 

The districts will be announcing enrollment information later this week, according to a spokesman.

 

For more information on what the return to school will look like, visit www.battlecreekpublicschools.org/news.