SJSD Enrollment Deadline (8-7-20)

SJSD Enrollment Deadline (8-7-20)

Joseph school district students should know by now if their children will be attending classes in-person or opt out for online learning this fall semester.

Good evening, i'm alan van zandt.

Today was the last day to enroll in st.

Joseph school district's virtual academy online option for the fall... the first day of classes will be august 31st, pushed back a week from it's original start date.

Kq2's madeline mcclain found how district faculty, staff and administrators will use that extra time.

<<teachers in america's streets are protesting in- person learning ((nats protest)) georgia, mississippi, wisconsin here in missouri.

Nat: horns beeping/ protestors holding signs dr. tom frieden, former cdc director: "when you look at the number of infections and the number of deaths, it really is quite, quite concerning.

The numbers don't lie."

The coronavirus pandemic has now killed at least 160,000 people in the u.s. with more than 4.8 million diagnosed cases.

These figures come as schools weigh the risks of getting kids back into the classroom.

Doug van zyl, superintendent of st.

Joseph school district: we are still doing what we planned to do but we continue to monitor all the information that is there.

The challenge as i think we've shared before is that st.

Joe is not the same as some of the communities around us.

With kansas city and st.

Louis's attracting national attention as they grapple with a surge in new cases.

St.

Joseph hasn't seen the same concerning numbers.

Doug van zyl, superintendent of st.

Joseph school district: things in our community are pretty stable listening to the health experts and talking to mosaic about the number of cases that are there but we also will have to monitor what if.

But that doesn't mean there aren't concerns as public schools inch closer to re-opening.

Doug van zyl, superintendent of st.

Joseph school district: what if there is an increase.

What if there is a spike, what if we do get back to school and all of a sudden there is a case or two that happen in school how does that impact us so we are trying to work through all of that and put together what we think is the right thing to do.

The superintendent spent about an hour and a half talking to two teachers associations thursday.

Saying the feedback from teachers and parents is driving changes to the re-opening plan.

Doug van zyl, superintendent of st.

Joseph school district: that's also part of the reason that we made the adjustment in our starting date.

You know, we moved back the start of school five days so we could have an extra five days for staff to get into our buildings work with each other work with our administrative team to set up what exactly is it going to look like for drop off for pick up for dismissal for lunch cause just the sheer number of kids in our schools is different from one building to another.

Another change the superintendent says spurred by discussions with teachers and parents?

Masks are now required in school buildings.

Doug van zyl, superintendent of st.

Joseph school district: i think that we are trying to be responsive to the things that we are hearing but it's awfully hard to be able to answer every question because some of them are what if questions.

What if this happens, what if that happens, and in all honesty you don't necessarily know until you get there because none of us have experienced that before.

And that's the hardest part -- every move has a risk -- and there are no experts who can tell them what to do.

Doug van zyl, superintendent of st.

Joseph school district: we are having to take a look at plan b, plan c.

You know, for some of those what if scenarios so we are in the process.

I can't tell you they are all set in stone cause even the plan that we have right now is fluid.

Reporting in st.

Madeline mcclain kq2 news.>> as of the middle of the week, more than 2,600 students -- or about 25 percent of the entire student population -- had chosen the virtual academy option, getting their lessons online.

Whatever choice families make for their kids -- either in class learning or online -- they will required to stay with that option through the conclusion of the fall semester.