River Falls School District superintendent, Jamie Benson provided a look at some of the options the district is exploring for the new school year.
With a vision statement that says, "We will create an equitable system within the River Falls school district to support the social-emotional and academic learning needs of ALL our students and their families," the Wildcat Roadmap is a living document that outlines possibilities for reopening the education system in the 2020-2021 school year.
 
"It's the result of hours of work by a task force that includes primarily internal administration and coordinators who also reached out to area regional superintendents and the county health department," said Jamie. "Lots of information resource and gathering went into it."
 
"You should be very proud of the administrators who work in this district," said Jamie. "The team surrounds us and represents the values of our community very well. Our hope is that it will align with public opinion."
 
Jamie stated that the task force is trying to educate people using math and science rather than emotions. This isn't always easy, and it's made even more difficult by the first-time nature of a worldwide pandemic. It's a situation no one has faced before.
 
With active cases being the "bottom line" to judge how the county and surrounding areas are doing, Jamie said that it is important to keep the school district's options open, while retaining a commitment to continuing to provide education options for all students.
 
Limiting class size, changing the school week's format, hygiene practices and transportation issues are all under consideration.  Everyone has been working hard to improve the process for re-starting school, whatever that looks like.
 
"We have been talking with area school districts and sharing documents. We are working together to share ideas and format and everything in between," he added.
 
The economics of having kids at home versus school are also part of the picture.

"We all want everyone back in school," he said. "But the numbers have to drive this decision. We are trying to keep our options open because our actions as a community will determine our children's fate, whether they will be in school or not."
 
Jamie asked for feedback and ideas and said that any factor can change, depending on what happens with the virus's spread.
 
"We will watch the numbers in our region and that is what will determine whether kids are coming back to school or not," he concluded.
 
Thank you, Jamie, and everyone who has been working so hard to respond to this unprecedented world event! You have our support!