Plymouth Canton schools revert to full remote learning

Nov. 19, 2020  PLYMOUTH VOICE.

Plymouth Michigan News

One day after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer set in place new COVID-19 restrictions, Plymouth Canton Community Schools Superintendent Monica Merritt announced that the school district will move to a fully-remote learning environment, effective almost immediately.

Merritt said the changes will be effective staring Monday Nov 23 for all levels, early childhood, elementary, special education, and post-secondary programs, with a planned return to in-person learning for these programs on Dec. 7, 2020.

Read the superintendent’s letter below.

P-CCS Families:

As our region and state continue to see a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases, P-CCS has remained committed to monitoring our local transmission data on a daily basis and has been in frequent consultation with the Wayne County Health Department (WCHD) as well as leaders at Wayne RESA Intermediate School District as we make decisions around our instructional delivery models at all levels. During the past few weeks, we have seen transmission increases in our local municipalities, and this trend has started to impact our school settings as well.

Last evening the State announced new restrictions for Michigan residents during the next three weeks, and we will work to make sure P-CCS actively enforces these regulations to best protect the health and safety of our students, staff, and school community.

P-CCS students, staff and families have done a remarkable job of doing their part to combat the transmission of the virus in our schools by adhering to our strict mitigation measures and complying with the safety protocols that are in place, but unfortunately, we are facing an intense battle with this new surge of COVID-19. Despite our best efforts, we are beginning to experience a strain on our human resources. Within our district, we currently have 193 students and 82 staff members in quarantine due to COVID-related reasons (positive, probable, or close contacts). The requirement to quarantine staff and students compromises our ability to provide a consistent, high-quality instructional program for our in-person students.

Effective Monday, November 23, P-CCS will pivot to a fully-remote learning environment for all students in our early childhood, elementary, special education, and post-secondary programs, with a planned return to in-person learning for these programs on Monday, December 7, 2020.

All organized sports (practices and contests) as well as in-person activities / clubs are suspended effective immediately through at least December 8, unless amended.

This change does not impact the schedule for our secondary (middle and high school) students already receiving remote instruction, and our P-CCS Virtual Academy students at all levels.|

Below is a breakdown of how this affects individual programs in the coming days:

• Elementary K-5 Safe Start students: 
  • November 17: Last day of in-person learning for elementary Safe Start students.
  • November 18 and 19: Virtual Learning. No in-person instruction for elementary Safe Start students. Both days were previously-scheduled as virtual learning days for all elementary students due to parent-teacher conferences.
    • All elementary Safe Start students in a.m.: Check-in meeting live with asynchronous instruction (no in-person instruction).
    • All elementary Safe Start students in p.m.: Virtual Parent-Teacher Conferences.
  • November 20: No in-person, live (synchronous), or asynchronous classroom instruction with their classroom teacher will take place for Safe Start students.
    • Safe Start students may continue with virtual individual support as previously scheduled on this day (for example, Resource Room support, EL support, Intervention Support, scheduled Specials classes virtually).
    • Elementary Safe Start classroom teachers will spend the day preparing materials for instruction for remote learning.
  • November 23: Opportunity for families to pick up learning materials from schools.
  • December 7: Planned resuming of in-person instruction.

• Early Childhood / IPSEP: 
  • IPSEP: November 19 is the last day of in-person learning for IPSEP students.
  • Early Childhood: November 20 is the last day of in-person learning for early childhood students.
  • December 7: Planned resuming of in-person instruction.

• Special Education Center-Based Programs / Post-Secondary Programs:
  • November 20: Last day of in-person learning for center-based and post-secondary programs.
  • December 7:  Planned resuming of in-person instruction.

• Madonna ASD Program: Will follow the building schedule from Madonna University.

*** A daily schedule for remote learning for any program currently providing in-person instruction that is shifting to virtual learning during this pause will be shared with families from your respective building principal or program leader once it is confirmed. ***

The health data in our local area at this time supports this planned pause as an appropriate strategy to further mitigate unintended transmission throughout our school buildings. We will continue monitoring local transmission data in consultation with WCHD during this time and will make any adjustments to this plan if it is deemed necessary. We all agree that an in-person model is best for student learning, and this pause provides us the best opportunity to preserve our in-person instructional model for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year.

We encourage all members of our school community to adhere to recommended health and safety practices for mitigating the spread of COVID-19. This includes wearing a face covering or mask, practicing frequent hand washing, allowing for physical distancing whenever possible, and staying home when sick and watching for potential symptoms of illness before going to school each day. We encourage all to adhere to the new restrictions regarding gatherings and other indoor activities that increase the risk of exposure to COVID-19, particularly during the Thanksgiving holiday break.

The health and safety of all members of our school community remains our number one priority.

Thank you for your continued patience and support of Plymouth-Canton Community Schools.

Monica L. Merritt
P-CCS Superintendent of Schools

Plymouth Voice.