The state is taking a local-control mentality to reopening schools, and reopening plans are all over the map. But for weeks, Vermonters have been asking us for some way to track what schools are doing statewide.
Both the Vermont Superintendents Association and the Agency of Education have recently put out surveys into the field to track district reopening plans. They provided us with their findings, and we combined the information into this map.
A majority of districts opted for some form of hybrid learning, with a mix of in-person and remote learning days, and the option for children to attend school online full-time.
School districts in the Champlain Valley, in particular, are all pretty uniform, because superintendents there agreed on a common model. The hybrid plan they came up with, which includes two days of in-person learning, and three days remote, was ultimately adopted widely across the state.
But many districts adopted different plans for different schools. Four districts are going fully remote (three of which will provide in-person support for students with special needs.) And what “hybrid” means varies as well.
“It could mean four days on, one day off, it could mean rotating groups between two days on, two days off and one day fully remote for everyone,” said VSA Associate Executive Director Chelsea Myers. “It can look like a very different route in each district.”
Research suggests that younger children are less likely to catch and pass along the coronavirus, and several districts are also bringing elementary-aged children back for more in-person instruction than the middle or high school-aged students.
As with everything pandemic-related, plans are subject to change, and many districts are still reviewing and updating their plans as they receive feedback from their communities.
In response to the surveys, several superintendents noted that if Vermont’s Covid-19 case counts remain low, they plan to increase the number of in-person instruction days in the coming weeks. But things, could, of course, also go wrong, and Vermont might see schools transition to all-remote instruction amid outbreaks.
Either way, we’ll be updating this map – and perhaps thinking of new ways to visualize this landscape as the situation evolves. If your district changes its plans (or if something’s not right with our map), please be in touch! Contact us at lduffort@vtdigger.org.
