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Compared with the toll that COVID has taken in cities such as New York, Miami and Chicago, the 1,427 infections and 57 deaths in Vermont鈥檚 Montpelier-Roxbury region don鈥檛 sound like a lot.

Then again, the area鈥檚 population stands at just under 8,000 people. And with COVID, for which there is still no cure and no vaccine, even a small number of infections is sufficient to turn the world upside down.

Elizabeth Bonesteel (M.A. 鈥�03, Curriculum & Teaching), Superintendent of the Montpelier-Roxbury Public Schools, underscored that point in a letter she sent to her community on July 30^th.

鈥淭he situation that everyone in this community finds ourselves in is excruciatingly hard,鈥� wrote Bonesteel, who is entering her second year as superintendent. 鈥淚 am feeling it acutely from all sides 鈥� parents, students, teachers, custodians, administrators, my own family 鈥� everyone.鈥�

The good news is that the district has received the state鈥檚 permission to reopen schools on a full, five-day-per-week schedule. But creating a plan to serve four schools, 1,200 students and a group of stakeholders whose skills and needs do not always align has taken all that Bonesteel and her staff have to give, and now comes the hard part: putting it into effect.

Among the plan鈥檚 many intricacies:

As per orders from Vermont鈥檚 governor, all students and adults will wear masks, unless they can't for a diagnosed medical reason, and will be distanced from one another by six feet in every classroom. To ensure that building ventilation systems are working at maximum capacity, Montpelier-Roxbury鈥檚 engineers are working with Efficiency Vermont to clean out the systems and equip them with new, high-grade filters and a feature that responds as if there were more people in the buildings earlier and later in the day.

The district鈥檚 elementary and middle schools will close early, at 1 p.m., to minimize students鈥� time in the classroom and exposure to COVID-19. At the high school level, to accommodate state distancing requirements intended to combat disease transmission, the year will be divided into quarters, with students taking two courses per quarter and dividing into morning and afternoon cohorts.

The economy doesn鈥檛 work without our schools, yet not once has anyone called our educators 鈥榚ssential workers.鈥�

鈥擡lizabeth Bonesteel

Montpelier-Roxbury will use a 鈥減od model,鈥� developed in Europe, in which every classroom will have two adults in it. Teachers and students will stay in the same room all day, avoiding exposures that could increase the risk of transmission. One possible side-benefit of the pod model: It raises 鈥渢he possibility of true collaboration across disciplines,鈥� Bonesteel says, through pairings of, say, a science teacher and physical education teacher.

Because the district also must accommodate students with health issues or fears, Bonesteel and her team also are creating a 鈥渇ully-integrated, fully staffed, online school鈥� for K-8 students, staffed with separate teachers who will not be asked to do double duty in both online and in physical schools. The virtual academy will be led by Montpelier-Roxbury鈥檚 director of technology and curriculum, who will provide two and a half weeks of intensive training for teachers on how to develop online relationships and partner virtually with parents. The reopening of schools has been postponed by one week, until September 8th, to allow time for that training and for parent-teacher conferences to review how each K-8 student fared this past spring, both emotionally and in adjusting to online learning. Through the conferences, parents will determine which option 鈥� online or in-person 鈥� will serve their child best this fall. As of now, whichever choice parents make, they鈥檒l have to stick with it for the entire school year.

鈥淚 am confident that we are on a path that will allow us to open in a manner that not only mitigates risk, but also supports the majority of our students, families, and staff in what they need,鈥� Bonesteel wrote in her letter.

Still, with new challenges surfacing nearly daily across the nation, it seems a given that at some point, things will not go smoothly. In some ways, Montpelier-Roxbury is prepared for that, too. For example, should the schools have to return to all-online instruction in the event of a spike in COVID-19 cases, the virtual academy鈥檚 teachers 鈥渁re forming a professional community that will be ready to help the in-school teachers if needed,鈥� Bonesteel said in a recent interview

But, she warned, there are only so many times that an entire system can pivot. Things could 鈥渇all apart in a heartbeat鈥� if the district can鈥檛 hire enough teachers to meet the demand for either in-person or online instruction. The latter scenario could materialize because, under a state ruling, teachers who taught in the schools last year cannot elect to teach online, even if they have health or childcare needs. Instead, they must choose between returning to school or leaving the district.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been put in an absolutely impossible situation,鈥� Bonesteel said. 鈥淥ur teachers are anxious, and many are scared, regardless of whether they have health concerns or not.鈥�

Collaboration and community spirit have been the Montpelier-Roxbury district鈥檚 salvation through the crisis, Bonesteel said. For example, when the schools shut down last March, teachers and administrators remained in a working community through the summer and will continue to support one another in the fall. For Bonesteel, their efforts amid the chaos and anxiety of the pandemic should be a wake-up call to the entire nation.

鈥淭he economy doesn鈥檛 work without our schools, yet not once has anyone called them educators 鈥榚ssential workers,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淎s a country, we need to think about what we are paying our teachers and how we are treating them. If you鈥檙e just talking about teachers delivering child care, you鈥檙e missing the boat.  We take care of children, yes, but we do so much more. We鈥檙e making something of your kids. I鈥檝e got your kid, and I鈥檓 making something of them. That is the economic driver; that is the force.鈥�

— Patricia Lamiell