Board finalizes plans for school year under COVID-19

Once the called meeting of the Demopolis City School Board of Education got started Monday, it took only 15 minutes to conclude business.

But in a 90-minute work session before then, the board studied the updates on plans for opening Demopolis schools Aug 20.

Supt. Kyle Kallhoff reviewed how students will be taught, ways to address “academic slide,” where the funding will come from to pay for the precautions and changes during the COVID-19 pandemic and protocols for ill students and teachers.

Detailed steps for opening schools were approved at the last board meeting, but at that time Kallhoff told the board, “I’m seeking approval for a plan that will change.”

On Monday he told the board that parents of about one-third of Demopolis students have opted to have their children stay and home and receive instruction through the Virtual Learning Academy. As of the sign-up deadline July 30, 205 students at Westside, 200 and U.S. Jones, 229 at DMS and 252 at DHS have opted for virtual learning.

The other students will report to their respective campuses for in-classroom teaching. They have one week to decide if they will stay on campus or switch to on-line. Once signed up, they cannot return to the classroom until the end of the first semester.

Virtual teachers are being trained now in how to blend the provided academic resources with their own content.

In the event a child becomes ill and must stay at home, remote teaching will be set up, and the student will be required to complete all his classwork assignments.

Board member Harris Hurst expressed concern that some students would “game the system” and take advantage of the stay-at-home policy. Kallhoff admitted that was a possibility. “It’s going to happen,” he said, but every effort is being made to make sure it doesn’t occur.

To help mitigate the expected slide in academics during the coming year, Kallhoff said a planned “fifth quarter” continuation of the school year is planned for next summer for those who need it.

Special education students will have blended services, with both on-campus and virtual learning experiences.

Several sources of income from the CARES Act are being used to help pay for the necessary changes the school system faces, said Kallhoff.

Demopolis schools received $355,463 to set up WiFi hotspots on buses that can travel to different parts of the service area. That pool of funds also will be used to buy 600 Chrome books to loan students who do not have them and purchase both a system-wide Zoom account and secure testing software. The money must be spent within 12 months.

Another $248,824, which must be used by Dec. 31, 2020, will pay for healthcare professionals and aides, supplies, such as PPEs and air purifiers, isolation facilities on each campus and enhanced cleaning and sanitizing.

The school system has until September 2022 to spend the third pot of money, $674,450.

Kallhoff said a Q&A has been set up on the DCS website to respond to concerns from parents. He said every effort will be made to respond to questions as soon as possible, and the questions will remain on the website in case other parents have the same concerns.

The next steps in preparing for the school year, he said, is to finalize plans for feeding virtual students, complete steps for remote learning if schools must shut down and provide a waiver for students taking part in extra-curricular activities.

In its regular meeting, the board approved:

• Salary schedule revisions.
• A $59,937 bid from Borden Dairy to provide milk.
• A Memorandum of Understanding with the Demopolis Police Department to provide four School Resource Officers. The school system splits the cost of the officers with the City of Demopolis Each pays $80,000.
• Contracts with Derrick McCormack, technology assistance; DHS architecture, construction and maintenance with Rick Wilson and Alan Lashley, and special education support with Jennifer Jones.

Under the personnel report, the board approved:

• Conditional employment of Elizabeth Dickerson, DHS English teacher, and Lydia Williams, rotating custodian.
• Substitute roster.
• Modification of long-term sub for Emily Black to be Brittney Stacey rather than Nan Dollar.
• Janie Basinger requesting FMLA, and Regina Hill to be her long-germ sub.
• Addy Card requesting FMLA.
• Will Ayers to receive E$3,500 supplement as varsity football assistant coach and $2,500 as head boys track coach.
• Virtual Learning Academy teacher supplements.