ESCANABA — Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed Executive Order 2020-142 June 30, “Provision of preK-12 education for the 2020-2021 school year”, a basic plan to re-open school districts. From there superintendents, with the help of others in the communities, will create a COVID-19 Preparedness Plan for their school district and submit it to the state.

Escanaba’s plan will be mainly created by the Leadership Team with feedback from multiple stakeholders.

“Districts will need to create multiple plans that address all the phases, since it’s possible that we could move between phases depending on changing circumstances,” said Escanaba Superintendent Coby Fletcher. “Being in phase five results in a less restrictive plan, but we’ll need to be ready to implement something more restrictive should the prevalence of COVID-19 increase in severity in our area. As a result, planning will be more or less the same for any district across the state.”

School districts in Michigan were given “MI Safe Schools: Michigan’s 2020-21 Return to School Roadmap”, Governor Gretchen Whitmer COVID-19 Task Force on Education Return to School Advisory Council, June 30. The Roadmap aids school districts how to open in all phases of Michigan. The Upper Peninsula is in Phase five and school districts will follow the guidelines in the Roadmap listed for Phase five.

“We just received guidance from the state on the Roadmap to re-opening in the fall,” said Gladstone-Rapid River Superintendent Jay Kulbertis in a recent email. “…we will reach out to survey parents about their expectations around face-to-face instruction, blended or hybrid models of instruction, and a fully virtual model of distance instruction.”

Delta-Schoolcraft Intermediate School District Superintendent Doug Leisenring works with local school districts to collaborate on programs. Leisenring met with local principals and superintendents recently.

“I will be meeting with local district administrators throughout the summer to coordinate our plans to reopen school this fall,” he said.

Leisenring would like to see all kids back in school. He says the challenge is to determine how to do it safely.

“I look forward to collaborating with our local district administrators and health department to identify best practices we need to implement to re-open all Delta and Schoolcraft County schools safely,” said Leisenring.

In addition, Leisenring is developing a plan to reopen the Learning Center safely in its new location, Soo Hill School. Having the extra classrooms will make it easier to keep students socially distant and to maintain a safe environment, he said. The plan to open the center in August will be shared with Learning Center families, according to Leisenring.

Bark River-Harris (BRH) has created a “return to school” Task Force — consisting of teachers, support staff, parents, and board members — that will review the Roadmap provided by the state, according to Superintendent Jason Lockwood.

“We have various committees examining every operation of the district and these committees will make recommendations to the board of education,” said Lockwood.

Plans are in the works at BRH but not finalized yet.

“Our goal is to make sure we do our part to keep our doors open so that our teachers can do what they do best,” Lockwood said.

BRH school has been under construction for over a year. When the project is completed in mid-August it’ll provide the students much needed space.

“We have added eight total classrooms since 2015 and will now have two fully functioning cafeterias …,” said Lockwood.

BRH is currently preparing for a normal back to school schedule, same schedule as in previous years. They are opening an online programs for students and examining current staffing levels to make sure they meet the needs of students.

North Central School Superintendent and Elementary Principal Jennifer Eichmeier said they are surveying all stakeholders, and forming a committee to determine the best approach for the community.

School districts will share their plans with their communities after they are finalized.