By Megan Kelley

Review Writer

Superintendent Ben Kirby, announced Wednesday during a meeting with the LOCS Board of Education some changes in the daily student schedule starting on March 8.

Before discussing the schedule changes, Kirby explained that in changing schedules, the district has also had to balance busing and food service, like “a big puzzle”.

“It’s like restarting the whole school year,” Kirby said. “So, our bus routes have to start over. Our staffing has to be readjusted to make sure we have enough people to serve food. I just want people to understand that as we make these changes.”

At the elementary level, students are attending four-hour and 15-minute morning sessions in-person with asynchronous/independent learning remotely in the afternoon.

Starting March 8, elementary students will have increased in-person instructional time with lunch included. Early start schools will begin at 8:35 a.m. and end at 3 p.m. with late start schools attending from 9 a.m. to 3:25 p.m. In-person specials will also resume.

The district is expected to maintain this schedule until the end of the school year.

“This is the schedule that we’re looking to move forward with for the remainder of the year,” said Kirby. “Obviously if things go crazy with COVID and there’s shutdowns by MDHHS (Michigan Department of Health and Human Services), those are some things that we cannot control. But operationally we feel like we will be able to continue to do this for the remainder of the year.”

Middle school students are currently attending school in a similar fashion to high school students. Student’s are split into two groups, each group alternating in-person school days, with asynchronous/independent work occurring on off days. Students are attending class from 7:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Starting on March 8, middle school students will also have increased in-person instructional time and lunch. School will begin at 7:55 a.m. and end at 2:10 p.m., similar to the schedule the district was using in November 2020.

High school and learning options are expected to maintain their current schedules.

Currently, the district is using a hybrid model with two groups of students attending in-person on alternating days. In-person learning is also operating under the regular Late Start Wednesday time schedule, with classes from 9:40 a.m. to 2:35 p.m. with no lunch included. On off days, students have asynchronous/independent work.

This high school schedule is expected to remain until at least the end of the third quarter.

“I am looking at April 12, which is the fourth quarter. I really want to do something more at the high school level,” Kirby said. “We talked about some different options, but we are looking hopefully in April to do more at the high school level.”

Pine Tree Center students are expected to also keep their current schedule from 8:50 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

“We feel really strongly we can do this. We wouldn’t put our staff and students in that situation if we didn’t think that we could be successful. We’ve seen a lot of decisions made, we’ve had to make some decisions moving forward, moving backward. I think we’re in a situation, looking at the numbers, looking at our experiences, other district’s experiences, that we can do this,” Kirby said.

Kirby reminded parents that in order for this to work everyone will have to follow safety protocols. That means keeping sick students home from school, wearing a mask, washing their hands and keeping a safe distance from others.

“Bottom line is: everybody keeps doing their part, we’re going to be able to move forward at a really good pace,” Kirby said.

Kirby has consistently based decisions off of a number of factors, including COVID-19 data in regard to positive tests, testing speed, Kirby has also taken into account is community feedback.

During the Feb. 10 meeting, Kirby informed the board about a community thought exchange that had been sent out to parents and staff in the district asking them questions on how they would like the district to proceed.

According to Kirby, the district had 2,352 people participate in the thought exchange which included almost 2,500 thoughts and over 105,000 ratings. As far as staff, 500 district staff participated in the exchange.

“From a community standpoint, they have a strong interest…in moving forward with more instructional time for our students,” Kirby said.

The thought exchange was able to find key concerns among parents as well.

At the high school level, the three largest themes for parents were learning, mental health and kids being full time. The key concerns for parents were that students need more socialization; students are barely participating on asynchronous/independent learning days; and that inconsistency and more change will be an issue.

Key themes at the middle school level included changes in schedule, learning, mental health and children being full time. The main concerns were that students need a consistent schedule; they need positive mental health/socialization; and that the current schedule is challenging for parents.

For elementary school, the main themes from the exchange were similar to that of the high school; learning, mental health and children being full time. The key concerns were that students are suffering academically and need more time; the need for positive mental health/socialization; and that the current schedule is challenging for parents.

The results from the staff’s exchange showed that the staff desired consistency and did not want to shift schedules around too much.

Staff also said that they believed vaccinations were important.

“Our staff has been very good about those who want the vaccination, getting the vaccination,” Kirby said. “Oakland County Health Division tells us that everybody that is in their system in the first week of March will be set up with at least their first round and we know that we’ve got a lot of people that have already got their second shot. Certainly the vaccination is something is going to help keep people in (school) and not have to quarantine over time.”

Additional information regarding the new schedule is expected to be shared with families through building administration.