WCPS starts new school year staring down COVID-19 related challenges

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic did not prevent Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) from starting off the 2020-2021 academic year, although some issues did crop up during the first week, according to WCPS Superintendent Chris Ballenger.

“It was a good start; we did have some challenges,” Ballenger told Warren County School Board members during their Wednesday, September 16 meeting. “But we had a good start considering the situation that we’re in with this pandemic.”

On day one at the elementary schools, for instance, Ballenger said there were some long lines getting parents through, as well as a few backups and traffic congestion on some roads. But he explained that such issues were simply due to it being the first day of school, and “of getting everybody in and being able to make sure we got them to where they were going, and getting the buses in, and getting the buses sanitized so that they could go do their next run.”

“But when you entered the buildings and you saw the interactions of the teachers and the students… you could see the students smiling underneath their masks,” said Ballenger. “It was nice to see the students there, and they wanted to be there.”

For virtual learners, technology challenges took precedent on their first day, the superintendent said, but the WCPS Technology Department worked quickly to rectify the issues, which were partly due to en masse sign-ons to the school division’s network — basically an online traffic jam of sorts.

Ballenger said that during the first week of school, WCPS corrected, made changes, and streamlined processes to solve the challenges. “Schools are getting that cycle going, so, we’re moving in some positive directions,” he said. “We still have some issues, but we will continue to address those.”

WCPS Technology Director Timothy Grant — who received a round of applause from Ballenger, the School Board, and WCPS Central Office staff for the work he and his team have accomplished to get the school year going — reported that more than 2,200 Chromebooks and tablets are expected to arrive “any day now,” and once delivered, they will be configured and deployed as soon as possible to the schools for student use.

All WCPS virtual learners have received their laptops and tablets, Grant said, adding that new parts have just come in “so we’re repairing all the Chromebooks that had some problems.”

At the same time, the WCPS Technology Help Desk has been very busy. “I can’t tell you how many calls we get, but it’s busy. It’s ringing all the time,” said Grant. “All [6] of our techs are on the help desk until it settles down.”

Technology staff also have deployed 60 hot spots around Warren County, with most of them being used in the Browntown and Bentonville areas. Grant said WCPS still has 30 more hot spots to configure that will provide teachers and students with free internet access for virtual learning.

Grant also said the tech staff is working diligently “to stay ahead of the curve” on security, and thus far has not experienced any breaches on the WCPS network and will continue to regularly monitor the network.

“I know you’ve worked a lot of hours and I think I can speak for the board — we all greatly appreciate the effort that you and your team put in to keep everybody up and running, so thank you very much,” said School Board Chairman Arnold Williams, Jr.

WCPS Assistant Superintendent Melody Sheppard updated School Board members on how WCPS transportation, food services, and custodial services fared during the first week of school.

Along with new bus runs, for example, WCPS transportation employees yesterday started delivering seven-days-worth of free school meals (breakfast and lunch) at its summer stops around the County. Some 850 students on Wednesday received meals, which will continue to be delivered through December 31 unless the program gets extended, Sheppard said.

“We’ll adjust if we need to,” she said. “We’re trying to make sure all of our students are eating.”

Additionally, more custodial employees are now working day-time hours to regularly wipe down high-touch surfaces throughout the school day, said Sheppard.

WCPS Special Services Director Michael Hirsch said that school health and wellness efforts have been followed diligently by WCPS staff and families, who have adhered to daily pre-screening and other health checklist items. “It’s been crucial for ensuring students are healthy before they enter school,” he said.

During the School Board’s work session portion of its meeting, Ballenger also provided a school enrollment update as it pertains to the WCPS budget, noting that the current population of 4,957 students is down by 60 students.

Once the school district contacts these 60 students, the population could increase to 5,017 students, which is still lower than what the current WCPS budget is based on of 5,202 students. This would reduce the district’s budget by $916,886, Ballenger reported.

“In this year’s budget, we have a contingency of around $531,366 so right now we are looking at what we need to do as far as financials,” he said. “We do have a lot of things on hold. We’re still trying to find those students.”

Currently, Ballenger also said that there are 89 students total who attended WCPS last year who now are under home instruction status, which removes them from WCPS rolls, also consequently impacting the budget. While some of these 89 students may physically return to school once the buildings open back up, “we don’t know when that may be,” said Ballenger.

At the same time, because WCPS now operates a hybrid-learning model consisting of in-person and virtual education, some numbers of students may be recovered at the high school and middle school levels once they work out scheduling, Ballenger said. “Principals and schools are calling and making contact with students that have not shown up yet to see where they are at,” the superintendent said.

To watch the entire School Board meeting, watch the Royal Examiner video.