Shawnee Heights’ Online Learning Experience Inspires Pivot To Old-School Classroom Model

By Tim Carpenter, the Kansas Reflector

December 15, 2020

TECUMSEH — The pandemic-challenged semester at Shawnee Heights High School began in September with a couple days a week of in-class instruction before COVID-19 forced the school board to switch to full remote learning in November.

The result: Nearly one-fourth of the high school’s 1,100 students are now failing at least two courses.

Principal Ed West said 25% of the school’s ninth, 10th and 11th grade students were on the “academic warning list.” This unfortunate roster is for anyone earning an F in at least two classes. Seniors proved themselves a statistical savior, deflating the overall rate for futility because only 13% were bombing a pair of courses.

In a normal semester when traditional instructional models weren’t being chased by a relentless virus, West said, perhaps fewer than 100 of the high school’s students would be so listed.

“Currently, this semester, we have 263,” West said.

Shawnee Heights Middle School Principal Tim Urich said performance of 23% of the 7th and 8th graders fell into a “not effective” category, meaning they had a D or F in at least half their classes. An estimated 13% of the district’s elementary school students haven’t been regularly participating in their online classes or had failed to turn in school work.

“The way to catch them up is to have them in school,” Urich said.

It’s a scholarly message that resonated with the Shawnee Heights Board of Education, which voted Monday night to return to a hybrid of in-person and online instruction when classes resumed in January. The influence of holiday gatherings on spread of COVID-19 will determine what approach the school board takes for February and beyond in USD 450.

“The information the building administrators have shared is hard to ignore,” said school board member Eric Deitcher, who has a son in middle school.

He said advance of COVID-19 justifiably convinced the school board to withdraw to remote learning three weeks ago. Returning the district to a hybrid operation Jan. 4 is worth the effort, he said.

The decision was applauded by the mask-adorned, socially distanced meeting audience dominated by people who endorsed return of students to familiar brick-and-mortar school buildings. The school board and the district’s constituents had to take into account rapid expansion of infection in Kansas, but also adoption of mitigation steps designed to shield adults and the resiliance of younger people to the virus. It’s a balancing act played out in nearly 300 districts across Kansas.

‘Heartbreaking’

Shawnee Heights isn’t alone in experiencing mixed academic results while attempting to minimize spread of coronavirus among students, teachers and staff as well as parents and the larger community. The strategy of avoiding mass gatherings in schools frustrated parents and students while inspiring activists intrigued by the prospect of voting out school board members who refused to bend to their will.

There is consensus among Kansas educators that in-person instruction with a quality teacher worked best for the most students. While some students excel in any framework, a segment of students required connections that technology cannot deliver.

Jeremy Rathbun, who has three children in elementary school in Shawnee Heights, said reliance on at-home learning, which turned some parents into ad hoc instructional aides, had been a struggle. He said teachers and support staff in the district worked diligently to help parents carry this unfamiliar load. He offered the school board a peek into his life.

“It is very heartbreaking to see my child failing at school. I am at the point where my kids’ mental health and academics need to come first,” Rathbun told the seven-member board.

Shawnee Heights parent Grant Peters said his son frequently struggled in school until a light bulb went off in the seventh grade. He became a straight-A student while taking advance-placement classes.

“Or was,” he corrected himself, “until the last month or so. My son now has a C-, two Ds and an F. Hopefully, we can get the kids back in school.”

Students in stress

Jacalyn Koch, a student at Shawnee Heights High School who took part in protests on behalf of in-person instruction, said politics of COVID-19 stood in the way of what was best for her peers. She said lack of structure and the perpetuation of isolation was a cause of stress that diminished students’ motivation to learn.

“I know many people, including myself, who have become very depressed and suicidal,” she said. “They didn’t feel like that until this school year. Several are also going through hard things at home and school is a place to get away and get a break from those problems.”

Superintendent Matt Hirsch said a survey of the Shawnee Heights elementary teachers demonstrated in-person instruction was considered the best academic option by 81% of respondents. Twelve percent said hybrid teaching was at the head of the class, while 6% pointed to remote learning as the path forward.

“Overwhelmingly, they felt like when … kids are here, they learn best,” Hirsch said. “Don’t think that’s a shock to anybody. Same thing with social-emotional learning. They felt like in-school was the best situation.”

However, teachers had a fractured response when asked in the survey to reveal their preferred work environment as COVID-19 persisted. Here’s how their choices fell out: in-person, 31%; remote, 30%; hybrid, 19%; and unknown, 18%.

Hirsch recommended the district transition to hybrid teaching Jan. 4 or Jan. 19. At the same time, he said, building administrators would figure out ways to pull more struggling students from pre-K through 12th grade into school for three or four days of in-person instruction. The school board agreed and chose to implement the change Jan. 4.

School board member Rosa Cavazos, who moved to the Shawnee Heights district in 2005, said burden of the pandemic, educational needs of students, pressure from parents and necessity for compromise was exhausting. It’s the kind of drama that produces sleepless nights, she said.

“I’m struggling. I tell you this is hard,” she said. “At some point, were going to have to let them fly.”

Fellow board member Lauren Tice Miller, who graduated from the district and has three kids, said the real enemy in this situation was COVID-19 rather than people who had different ideas about how to proceed in the pandemic. She also announced at close of the school board meeting that she wouldn’t seek another term as the board’s president.

Rocky Busenitz, a school board member who graduated from high school in the district during 1994, said the best option given philosophical realities was a hybrid instructional approach, and the sooner the better. He told colleagues nine months in the COVID-19 pressure cooker wouldn’t be easily forgotten.

“The negativity at times can wear you down,” he said. “I’m praying for each and every one of you.”

The Kansas Reflector seeks to increase people's awareness of how decisions made by elected representatives and other public servants affect our day-to-day lives. We hope to empower and inspire greater participation in democracy throughout Kansas.