LETTER: Start second semester with PW-S students in school every day

Can our Port Washington-Saukville School District students return, with relative safety, to full time in-person school?  Many of our neighboring communities are doing it.

 Living during this pandemic has been scary, challenging and full of unknowns.  Based on these unknowns, PWSSD has been using a hybrid schedule. Elementary students are in person four days a week and one day virtual. The middle and high school students are in person two days and at home virtual three days each week. During the two days in person, students have 90-minute block scheduled classes and see their content teachers face-to-face only one class period a week.

First semester ends soon and students need to return to their classrooms full time to realistically learn the curriculums.  Social and emotional needs of students are an essential consideration when creating effective learning environments. Relying on virtual teaching and learning is not working well for so many of our students.

Teachers are doing their best to adjust to this hybrid model and use the necessary technology, but they, and parents, are frustrated, knowing that adequately learning all of the essential curriculum is not happening for many students. Many students who typically get A and B grades are getting C and D grades and students who typically get C grades are now getting more D and F grades.  This will have long term effects on so many students.  

Going into the school year, no one knew how things were going to play out and it was thought that in-person classes of any form would be short lived. Most districts in the surrounding Ozaukee County area have done a great job of preventing and mitigating the spread of the virus while staying in person five days a week.  

The pandemic is causing long term effects on students both academically and emotionally. Let’s have a full-time, in-person school schedule for the start of the second semester. Students, parents, educators and our community must work together to bring our schools back to full-time in-person education with necessary safety protocols in place.

Please contact PWSSD administrators and our school board to share your concerns. Let’s get our students back in the classroom full time just like our neighboring districts. Our students deserve their education back in the classroom every day.

Signed by Melissa Niemeyer, Gary Knaub, Kari and Vince Anewenter, Malayna Struckman, Jen Mrozek, Korey Gierach and Tracy Modjescki, parents of students in Port Washington-Saukville School District schools.