West Carrollton to stagger start of delayed school year launch

West Carrollton school district will stagger its start to the beginning of the previously delayed school year for grades 1 through 12.

Smaller groups of students throughout the week will allow staff to give greater attention to every child as well as introduce new building routines and expectations, the district said today via a release. All students in grades 1 through 12 will return Aug. 31.

The district’s school board previously approved delaying the start of the school year from Aug. 19 to Aug. 24. The staggered start will see all students in first, sixth and ninth grades report to school Aug 24.

Students in grades 1 to 12 will attend classes for the remainder of the week based on a alphabetical-order system. All students with names beginning with A-D will attend classe Aug. 25, E-K on Aug. 26, L-Q on Aug. 27 and R-Z Aug. 28.

The Walter Shade Early Childhood Center will be scheduling kindergarten screening for Aug. 24 and 25, the district said in the release. Incoming kindergarten students will have a staggered start with half of the class beginning Aug. 26 and the other half beginning Aug. 27. Teachers will be contacting families regarding the start date.

The combined class will begin Aug. 28. Preschool students will begin Sept. 1.

All students will move forward under one of two models, either in class 5 days per week, or 100% online, according to district spokeswoman Janine Corbett.

The percentage of students who have signed up for the 100% online option is not yet available, Corbett said.

“In light of the governor’s announcement regarding face masks, students and staff will no longer be able to use the face shields we had planned to make available to them,” Corbett said. “We announced to parents on Wednesday that they would still be able to sign up for remote learning due to the changes.”

Anyone interested can contact Tammy Pierce at tpierce@wcsd.k12.oh.us with student information including name, grade and school, Corbett said.

Andrea Townsend, the West Carrollton’s superintendent, said the district has eight professional development days throughout the school year.

“We decided that if we decided to go remote or if our classroom needed to be blended, we were closed down for contact tracing or something, that the teachers would be better prepared, so we moved the training to the front of the school year instead of the middle,” Townsend said.

Townsend said both in-class and online options are being made available in the district and the online option is “significantly different” than what was implemented in the fourth quarter of the school year and “very structured” and student driven.

Staff Writer Jeremy Kelley contributed to this report.

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