Continuing the return to in-person learning

We are excited that MDE has approved the plan we presented to bring students back to school!

We are optimistic as we make these changes—not because the challenges are gone, but because we have some experience and have a stronger sense of what we are up against, how to react, and how not to react to various situations.

We have to assume that the absence of students and staff through new cases and contact tracing will be our most important challenge and most likely the biggest cause of frustration. Covid is not gone. The rules of contact tracing are still the same. Our vigilance to social distancing, reminding students, podding students, and implementing the highest levels of care is as critical in the next month as ever. 

It is not a matter of if it happens; rather, it is a matter of how many are forced to leave with each positive case. This is the conversation we need to have with students. It is their team, or their concert, or their friends. The end goal is having school and every event with everyone there. 

With that said, here is the return-to-school plan for Pierz Schools: 

• Grades K-4 will remain in person every day. Starting on January 26th, all students will be in class with the teacher they were assigned in September.
• Preschool students will return on January 26th. For students who attend Monday and Tuesday, they will attend the 26th and 27th; students assigned to Thursday and Friday will attend the 28th and 29th.
• Grades 5 and 6 will return to every day, in-person learning starting on January 18th. 
• Grades 10-12 will return to every day, in-person learning starting January 18th. 
• Grades 7-9 will remain in hybrid learning for the month of January.
  • Starting February 1, all 7-9 will be allowed to come back to full in-person learning. This gap from hybrid to full in-person learning for grades 7-9 is due to the state requirement of returning only three grades per two weeks within a building. 
• All 7 -12 will be going back to their regular bell schedule starting January 18th at  8:12am-- including on Wednesdays. 

Dates to note:
Monday, January 11 -  Move to Hybrid grades 5-12
Monday, January 18 -  In-person, grades 5, 6, 10, 11, 12
Friday, January 22-25 - per current calendar year, these are non student days (PS-12) 
Tuesday, January 26 - Preschool returns. PS-4 in person, grades 5-12 no school 
Monday, February 1 - In-person, grades 7, 8, 9 (all students PS-12 are in person!)

To further explain our rationale: 
We received a waiver on our appeal for starting hybrid Jan. 11. That waiver allowed us to by-pass the state proclamation that schools can only start bringing students back three grades at a time beginning January 18. However, the "three grades at a time" rule made it impossible for us to just be all in-person at the start of the 2nd semester. We were then faced with the issue of having to wait two weeks from whenever we start bringing students back.  

1. We decided it was better to start on the 18th and have the next section of students come in on Feb. 1, rather than wait until the start of the 2nd semester and push that 2nd section back to Feb. 8.  So that is the reason for the timing of these decisions.
2. Grades 10-12 were selected to come back first because the week of January 18th is the last week of the semester, and in-person learning is especially important for students earning credits toward graduation and earning grades that impact their cumulative GPA.  It is best for students, given our two options.

It is exciting to see that by February 1, all students in grades preschool through grade 12 will be attending every day in-person. Thank you all for your work with students and staff, your patience and grace during this time, and your dedication to doing what is best for your children. 

—George Weber, Superintendent, Pierz Schools