HUHS Plans to Keep School Open

With a rise in the number of COVID cases across Wisconsin, and other neighboring schools such as the HTJ#1 school going virtual; the power to decide if HUHS will stay in person is in the hands of the superintendent and school board.

There is no specific number of positive cases needed to shut down HUHS. The Washington-Ozaukee County health department works closely with local schools to give recommendations. The decision of the school's model of learning, virtual, in-person, or a hybrid, is ultimately up to the school board.

In the article “COVID-19 School Guidance FAQ” on the Washington-Ozaukee Public Health Department website, it states, “The decision of schools to go virtual, hybrid (blended learning), or in-person is determined by individual school districts and school boards.”

The superintendent and school board believe in the benefits of in-person education over virtual learning and would like to continue in-person learning, but want to ensure the safety of all students and staff.

Superintendent Jeffrey Walters said, “A complete online model is not best for students, and I am committed to maintaining our face to face opportunity for as long as we can provide an environment that is as safe and healthy as possible.”

With a priority of maintaining in-person learning, there have been some difficulties to keep the school open.

“The most significant challenge that will challenge our ability to stay open is our staffing levels,” Walters said.

Although there is no specific number for schools to shut down, the Washington-Ozaukee Public Health Department works with schools to give suggestions.

Students share a similar attitude as the school board. Junior Jacob Mularski said in-person school is better because it allows for increased student participation that virtual school can lack, and the use of flex and resource to get help from teachers.

“Full time virtual school wouldn’t benefit students because grades will drop from personal experience,” Mularski said.

At the moment, a switch to an online-only model is unlikely but HUHS has plans prepared.

“As for switching to a different model, we have established schedules that would be used depending on if the switch to virtual was more temporary or longer in duration,” Walters said.

Another reason fully virtual school would be difficult is because of classes such as tech. ed. , design, and other software-based classes, that can only be done in-person. Tech. Ed. teacher Todd Whitlow thinks all classes would have a hard time but the tech. ed. , hands-on, and software-based classes would face the biggest challenges. The expensive software isn’t readily available, and students can’t be expected to buy it just to finish one course he said.

Without in-person school, all teachers would have to adapt. “For me, it would be demos in the woodshop or the graphics lab, so that students could see the process, but they would lose the hands-on aspect from it,” Whitlow said.

Regardless of the teaching model both students and teachers would have to adjust to any changes teacher Kevin Martin said. “It is then up to both students and teachers to figure out ways to keep the learning process moving and keep students engaged in their education,” Martin said.

Despite all the challenges HUHS is still working to keep in-person school while keeping students and staff safe.

“I am confident that in collaboration with the health department, we will know when we can no longer afford to stay open,” Walters said.