SPRING VALLEY – The Spring Valley School Board held a regular meeting Monday, Aug. 16 and discussed some future return to learning plans regarding COVID-19, achievement gaps among elementary students and the new elementary school building opening.

The board held public comment before taking any action on agenda items; many commenters were concerned parents worried about masking in the upcoming school year. The majority of parents at the meeting were in favor of keeping masks optional, despite rising infection rates in the county.

Others had concerns about reintegrating students into the school district after home-schooling as well. Parents who chose to keep their children home during the last school year might face challenges when helping their students reintegrate into the district and in-person learning.

The meeting started with elementary school principal Daniel McGuire presenting Achievement Gap Reduction data from the last semester of the 2020-21 school year. The data is a performance review of kindergarten through third grade.

The numbers reflect the impact of COVID19; with only one semester being recorded during the past school year, it is difficult to really see the full scope of any achievement gaps that might be present.

“We weren’t able to do spring assessments during lockdown and we don’t have that comparable end of the year data,” he said.

By the time the school year starts, the new elementary school building will be open and the district is planning to hold an open house for all community members to attend. The open house will be held 5-7 p.m. Sept. 13 and is completely open to the public. During that time there will be self-guided tours and speeches from district leaders at 7 p.m.

After a July 28 storm damaged the middle/high school gym, the repairs are starting as soon as possible. Middle/High School Principal Chris Segerstrom went through what that process will look like.

“Right now, the gymnasium floor is removed and drying and we are working on the base board flooring first and that is set to be repaired mid-October or early November,” he said.

No events or athletic games will need to be cancelled, and the elementary gymnasium will be used while repairs are being made.

“Fortunately, the elementary has a nice space for us to use and middle school and varsity volleyball will be able to use that space and we will also use that for our back-to-school orientations,” said Segerstrom.

For the upcoming school year, athletic spectators can attend in person. The district hopes to have spectators at all sporting events in the upcoming school year; however, they are also planning to continue livestreaming these events.

“This was something we had in place prior to COVID and we still have the equipment and a service,” Segerstrom said. “We looked at some options and we are ensuring that livestreaming will continue this year.”

The board revisited the return to learning plan, with a focus on masking and other mitigation plans.

Superintendent John Groh said, “The policy is up to the board to decide; with the plan, the two biggest things people are concerned about is face coverings and quarantine and contact tracing policies. Some factors that are taken into consideration, almost every form of government is strongly recommending universal face coverings for all staff and students, vaccinated or not.”

School nurse Jenny Sauve explained some of the changes suggested by Pierce County Health Officer AZ Snyder.

“The state of Wisconsin wants to partner with schools to offer testing in schools,” Sauve said. “It’s free for the school district for families, students and staff. It is not required but it is available to help with that.”

The board voted on highly recommending and encouraging masking going into the school year; however, the district is not mandating mask-wearing and is only requiring it on bus transportation at this time, due to CDC guidelines concerning public transportation.

The plan states, “Universal and correct wearing of coverings is strongly recommended for all students, staff and visitors but is not being mandated by the Spring Valley School District.” The verbiage here was changed from optional to universal from the original approved plan on Aug 2.

Policy updates

After approval of the return to learning plan, the board moved into policy updates. The policies approved at the meeting included School Board Member Development Opportunities, which consisted of a change in language to be more relevant and accurate.

The other approved policy was the Line and Staff Designated Hierarchy, which was another language change that listed the job title in the hierarchy rather than names of people holding those positions.

The other discussed policies that were presented as a first reading were Public Participation and Board Meetings and Student Records Notice. The Public Participation policy included a suggestion to refine and structure the policy for organization in the future.

The Student Records Notice policy will be changed to comply with a new law that allows for military recruitment to have access to student email addresses. After personnel reports there was brief discussion of strategic planning updates. The meeting then went into closed session and adjourned.