Marathon OKs plan to re-open
Parents will have virtual, four day in-person school options
The Marathon Board of Education approved a school-reopening plan Thursday morning at a special meeting.
School board members voted unanimously to have 4K12 students, whose parents want them to attend school in person this fall, to begin the 2020-21 school year going to school four days each week on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
Parents of 5K-12 students have the option of having their children learn virtually from home during the first half of the school year until Jan. 23, 2021. Parents of 5K12 students would need to contact Marathon School District before this Friday, Aug. 14, if they want their children to learn virtually from home.
Dave Beranek, Marathon High School principal, presented the reopen schools safety plan, developed by the school district committee for reopening schools.
“Hopefully when we have everything under control, then we can return to having students attend school in person five days per week,” he said. He said all students and school staff would be required to wear a mask inside the school buildings, regardless of whether Marathon County’s risk level for COVID-19 decreases over time. Students in 5K-12 who partake in distance “real time” learning will attend classes from home, along with students who are attending school in person. Students will connect online to their class; ask questions and experience class instruction and activities in “real time” for core subjects’ math, science, social studies and English language arts. Beranek said some hands-on classes, such as welding, wouldn’t be available to students learning virtually from their homes.
“Expectations, including attendance and rigor of assignments, will be the same as if students were attending in person,” he said.
All students will work from home on Wednesdays, in which they may partake in remote learning with their teachers or independent homework time. School district janitorial staff will deep clean the school buildings on Wednesdays.
