Health, scheduling, academic catch-up top priorities as schools plan to be back in session Sept. 8

Back to school.

What does that even mean anymore?

Depending on the status of the coronavirus pandemic this fall, it could mean face masks in school buildings, hybrids of remote and in-class learning, rotating class sessions or alternating weeks of remote learning at home.

And those are just some early options school districts are weighing as they head into the unknown.

"It’s possible that from day one we may be back in our buildings without needing to take any significant alterations to how the school day looks," Scott Maben, spokesman for the Coeur d'Alene School District, said last week. "But from the trend of the past few weeks, that's looking like a substantially increasing challenge to think we're going to be there in just over two months. That's why we need to have a number of tools ready to deploy to respond to whatever situation we'll be in."

Dena Naccarato, who just took on the role of Post Falls superintendent July 1 following longtime Superintendent Jerry Keane's retirement, said the Idaho State Board of Education will provide a draft guidance document to schools in the middle of the week.

"In the meantime, it is our hope to open schools in a manner as close to 'normal' as possible in the fall," she said. "We will be putting our reopening plan together during the month of July and will have information to parents during the first part of August."

OK, let's say school resumes as expected Sept. 8 and students are safely back in the buildings, following social distancing protocols.

What about their academics?

"Student learning is our No. 1 goal," Naccarato said. "We are going to do everything we can to support students’ academic progress."

Because so many exams were canceled or waived — the Idaho Standards Achievement Test, Scholastic Assessment Test, Idaho Reading Indicator and more — it's going to be tough to know right away which students need the most help.

"There is no data available at this time regarding students who may have fallen behind," Naccarrato said. "The ISAT was canceled as was the SAT. It is our intention to use fall testing data to determine our areas of strength and need and leverage that information to move learning forward during the school year."

Maben said it could take almost an entire school year to assess the damage done by the pandemic lockdown.

"We do expect we're going to get a good sense of that this fall when we expect to return to some form of in-person instruction,” he said.

Coeur d'Alene surveyed its families to better understand the impacts the closures and the swift move to remote learning had on students and families as well as faculty members. In the three weeks it was open this spring, the survey garnered 2,512 responses.

The survey found that more than 99 percent of students had internet access and 62.9 percent responded that the transition was highly stressful because of, mainly, the increased emotional stress of the student, difficulty understanding the content and a lacking student-teacher connection. More than 60 percent indicated they received "just the right amount of work from our teacher(s)" and more than 22 percent indicated "more work should have been provided."

Survey comments represented a wide cross section of what went well and what didn't.

"I think the remote learning went as well as could be expected given the circumstances," one parent submitted.

Having to work and all of a sudden being thrust into homeschooling was tough on a lot of parents, as this mom noted.

Some remarked that the workload was "too intense," some called out the district for poor implementation and lack of accountability, many praised the dedication of their children's teachers, and others pointed to their struggles with student engagement, motivation and technology that led to experiences that were not enjoyable.

The feedback will be presented to the Coeur d'Alene School Board today.

"These insights show us what we got right and where we fell short," the Coeur d'Alene School District said in a June 26 letter to families. "We know we need to be more intentional, coordinated and focused in the coming school year."

Having gone down this rocky road once, the plan is to have kids back in schools with input from federal, state and local authorities along with public health officials.

"Flexibility will be a key component of our strategy in the months ahead," the announcement reads.