Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Houghton Middle School Principal Julie Filpus shows one of the standing desks purchased through the Houghton-Portage Township Schools Foundation during a tour of the middle school last October.

HOUGHTON — Houghton-Portage Township Schools students will have their choice of in-person or virtual learning, the district announced at Monday’s board meeting.

The board approved the district’s plan for returning to school, which includes methods of learning and plans for cleaning and maintaining social distancing. It now goes to the Copper Country Intermediate School District, which must submit it to the state by Saturday. 

“There are no easy answers,” said Superintendent Doreen Kramer. “The environment is fluid, and things can change week to week, as we have all seen. We have four weeks to be prepared for a new and different-looking school year.”

Students will choose between in-person and online learning for the first semester, with the freedom to change afterward. 

The plan includes preparing for the possibilities of the Upper Peninsula’s current stage of Phase 5, which allows for full in-person education; Phase 4, which allows in-person school but has more stringent requirements; and Phase 3 and below, which would require remote learning. 

“Because we are going to be following the ‘highly recommended’ protocols in Phase 4, we would have very few changes if we moved from Phase 5 to Phase 4,” Superintendent Doreen Kramer said. 

Elementary School Principal Anders Hill said with the advantage of planning, remote learning options will be comparable to classroom education. 

“Last March was more emergency learning, and this will be true virtual learning,” he said. 

There will also be higher expectations. Unlike the online learning last spring, students will go back to letter grades instead of pass/fail, Kramer said. Their attendance will also be monitored. 

The district surveyed parents on what they wanted for the coming school year; 75% responded. Of those, 60% wanted face-to-face instruction, 23% wanted online options and the remainder were undecided. 

Parents are asked to choose a form of instruction by Monday, and also select options regarding transportation and busing. 

Kramer said staff will be required to wear face coverings, except when they are eating, working outside or keeping a six-foot distance from others. 

In kindergarten through second grades, students will not be required to wear face coverings once in the classroom, unless their activity places them near another cohort of classes. 

In third grade and higher, students will be required to wear face coverings unless they’re eating or taking part in socially-distanced activities outside. 

Medical exemptions will be handled on a case-by-case basis, Kramer said. 

Classrooms will be stocked with supplies such as paper towels, soap and hand sanitizer. 

Frequently-used areas will be wiped down daily. Staff will also wipe down tables, desks and other hands-on areas. Playground areas will undergo routine cleaning. 

Staff will have to conduct a self-assessment of symptoms before coming to work. Students must also stay home if they have a temperature of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. 

Any students showing symptoms of COVID-19 will be sent home. Instead of taking the bus, sick students must be picked up. 

If a case of COVID is confirmed, the school must cooperate with the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department, Kramer said. 

Children riding buses will be required to wear masks. Buses will be cleaned thoroughly after the last child is dropped off on each run, Kramer said. 

For online options, elementary students will use Accelerate Education, through the Genesee Intermediate School District, which is housing options for 20,000 students across Michigan. A Houghton teacher will be the teacher of record and give guidance, while Accelerate Education will provide content. 

To aid in social distancing, there will be a focus on keeping students with their classrooms and grade levels. young 5s, first and second grades will eat lunch in their classrooms. Third, fourth and fifth grade will eat lunch one grade level at a time. 

For classes such as art and music, teachers will go to the students’ classrooms. 

In the middle school and high school, to minimize congestion in the hallways, students will be asked to go to their locker when they arrive to school, then go to their first-period class. They will also be asked to stagger their trips to lockers during the day: some after odd-numbered periods, some even. 

In the middle school, students will stay in their homeroom for core classes, and possibly some block classes, Principal Julie Filpus said. 

“The teachers are going to rotate from classroom to classroom, and the students will stay in the classroom,” she said. “That’s something we feel is going to be a great intervention to eliminate some of that congestion in the classes and in the hallways.”

To space students out in lunch, students were split into three groups, one mixing eighth and ninth. That will reduce the number in the high school lunch, Filpus said. 

The space allowed for eating was also expanded to include the library and an area behind the stage. Grade levels might also be assigned an area to eat.

Students will also be encouraged to get outside during lunch while warm weather lasts. Going to the gym during lunch will have to wait, Filpus said. 

“We’d like to get the school year off and running and kind of see how things go before we get back to some of those things that we were able to do before the virus hit us,” she said. 

For online learning, classrooms in sixth through 12th grades will be outfitted with web cameras, High School Principal Cole Klein said. Teachers will also have document cameras to display text and writing which can be used in Google Meet and recording. 

The Houghton teachers will run the virtual courses, which will be as close as possible to the schedules students requested in the spring, Klein said. 

In the middle school and for high school students who request it, students will take online classes through the online vendor Edgenuity, with their teacher monitoring their progress.

High school students can also use Google Classroom, which would include a mix of simulcast live instruction, recordings being made available and homework assignments given online.