The Ark City USD 470 School Board approved the “hybrid model” Monday night for the first quarter of the 2020-2021 school year, through Oct. 29.
The action means the start of school in Ark City on Sept. 9 will be far different than ever before, due to pandemic concerns.
In this model, students who are enrolled for in-person school (as opposed to opting for full-time remote learning), will be split into two groups – Group A and Group B.
Group A will attend classes at school for two days and will be learning from home for three days. Group B will do the same but on different days. The school district said this allows for smaller class sizes and better social distancing.
Registration information is coming soon and every effort will be made to keep sibling units on the same schedule if that is preferred by the family.
The deadline to sign-up for remote learning was Aug. 7.
More details will be shared in the coming days but in the meantime, you can view the whole Learning Together Plan here: www.usd470.com/learningtogether.
Tuesday morning, Winfield USD 465 Superintendent Dr. Nathan Reed said during a video address on the district’s Facebook page that school board members will meet on Aug. 24 to decide how the district will approach the start of classes.
Reed said if were school were to start today, he’d recommend full occupancy in-person classes with health and safety protocols in place, but cautioned that parents be prepared for a hybrid model and the possibility of full remote learning.
More on Winfield’s “Return To Learn” plan can be viewed here.
Reed also added the USD 465 School Board approved Monday night that athletic practices start on time and begin on Aug. 17.
According to the City-Cowley County Health Department Tuesday, 174 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the county since the pandemic began. Active cases have risen by five from Friday’s report to 29.
Active cases were as high as 53 by the end of July.
On July 21, following the second reported death in the county due to the virus, the City-Cowley County Health Department reported a vast majority of county cases have been confirmed in Ark City.
Recoveries now number 143 and county-wide deaths remain at two.
The county has tested 3,155 people as of Tuesday morning. Cowley County has a population of 34,908 people as of July 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Statewide, cases have reached 31,730 according to Monday’s report from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, including 1,911 hospitalizations, 387 deaths and 294,939 negative tests since a national emergency proclamation was issued by the White House on March 13.
Overall, 326,669 people have been tested in Kansas since March. The state population is just over 2.9 million.
KDHE reports 101 total cases confirmed so far in Sumner County, 301 in Butler County and 5,207 in Sedgewick County.
Kay County, Oklahoma, has totaled 251 cases so far and remains at 11 deaths.
For the state of Oklahoma, cases have reached 44,728 and deaths now total 618.
