The Shorewood School District, like many across the country, saw a rise in Covid-19 numbers as students returned back to school after winter break. With the Omicron variant of the virus spreading rapidly across the country, positive cases rose to an all-time high. 

According to district data collected before Jan. 7, the first week after students returned from break, there were at least 72 new student cases of Covid across the district, and 92 students remained home due to either quarantine or isolation. Many other students chose to stay home because of Covid concerns. In the next two collections of Covid data (on Jan. 21 and 25) the number of positive cases in the district decreased. 

In response to the surge, the district increased enforcement of safety measures, which included making sure that masks were worn properly and contact tracing was done for unvaccinated students. They also limited the amount of spectators that every athlete and coach could bring to athletic events and rescheduled the drama production. 

The district testing center, located on the first floor of the Shorewood Public Library, currently offers PCR testing. Hours for testing at the village center have increased following the Omicron surge to allow for more students, families and staff to get tested, regardless of their schedule. Previously, the site was open for two hours on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Currently, from Jan. 24 to Mar. 1, the site will be open Monday-Friday testing from 7:30–9:30 a.m. and 3-5 p.m. most days (the specific schedule can be found on the district website). After Mar. 1, hours will return to their previous schedule.

According to Dr. JoAnn Sternke, interim superintendent, the district is exploring the possibility of offering rapid testing at the Village Center in addition to already offered PCR testing. Sternke suggests that students at the high school level should be getting tested twice a week. 

“Tests are more available, and I think it’s the best way at the high school to feel safe around, given how many classes you’re in and how mobile you are around this campus at lunch and outside as well,” Sternke said.

Many students had to quarantine or chose to isolate during the Omicron surge, and teachers made all classwork available through Google Classroom; however, a live virtual option –– where teachers host a video meeting so that students at home can attend class virtually –– was not required by the administration. Eric Mathews, science teacher, has found that this asynchronous model was a more appropriate option for both teachers and students at home.

“I think the approach of allowing students to follow along asynchronously or at their own pace has allowed teachers to have a little bit more flexibility in terms of meeting student needs regardless of their learning context,” Mathews said. 

Both Sternke and Tim Kenney, SHS principal, stressed that going virtual was a pathway that they will try to avoid. Sternke stated that there are two main factors that would influence the decision to go virtual: a shortage in staff or at least three percent of the student body having been infected with Covid.

“Three percent begins the discussion. It’s not a threshold but that’s used in tandem with other data points. That’s a trigger that we look at –– it’s used in conjunction with if we can staff [classes],” Sternke said.

In addition to Sternke and Kenney, Mathews does not think offering a live virtual option during every surge would be the best solution.

“My personal opinion on that… I think that kind of the split classroom live stream approach that we did a bit of last year –– to me that is more challenging as a teacher than communicating with individual students and helping them have access to materials on Google Classroom,” Mathews said. “I think both approaches come with positives and negatives, I think the live stream approach adds more variables that have to be juggled which ultimately brings more negatives than positives.”

Some high-school students have found the district’s response to the Omicron surge insufficient. A group of students started a petition in protest of some of the current district protocols, directly addressing Sternke and School Board members. The petition requests increased access to N95 and KN95 masks, as well as a live virtual option for students at home. Although the petition was planned to be presented to the school board January 25, this presentation was delayed.

One student who stayed home due to Covid concerns was Bobby Gronert, a sophomore who began school virtually after winter break. Gronert is aware of and supports some of the petition. Before Gronert began virtual school, he noticed some students in classes were not following the proper mask protocol.

“There are definitely a lot of classes where I see kids not wearing masks. That needs to be regulated more, in my opinion,” Gronert said. “Some teachers are great at it, some teachers are not so great at it, but it needs to be complete, 100 percent.”

Some may question how school will be able to remain consistent if variants like Omicron keep causing short yet hard-hitting surges. Mathews believes that adjusting and changing protocols and learning models when needed is essential.

“I think for the most part our teachers and students and district leaders have done a pretty good job of being flexible and being responsive to change and that’s the biggest thing,” Mathews said. “Because we don’t know a lot about what the future holds for the pandemic but we know that things are going to change, in one way or the other, and being responsive to that change is the best thing we can do.”