Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By CHARITY SMITH
Bessemer — The Bessemer Area School District has announced that it is “anticipating” a return to in-person learning this fall, but officials are also preparing for an exclusively online method of learning, as well as a method that will combine both.
“There are so many questions that all the superintendents have, we just want some sort of direction on what is going to happen, so we are making these three plans up for any direction the state says we have to follow,” said Dan Niemi, superintendent of Bessemer Area Schools.
Niemi said that he believes all schools in the Gogebic-Ontonogon Intermediate School District are planning for three different methods of learning this year, as everything is “very fluid” because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What we can do, how we can hold classes, it all depends really on how the population goes in the next three weeks, we’ve had some large gatherings, and it (COVID-19) seemed to spread a bit, but we have also had more testing,” Niemi said. “It is so fluid, I can’t nail it down and give you a definite answer now on whether we are going to be in-person, online, or blended. It throws me off because I’m a planning person, but we gotta be flexible, I guess.”
The return to learning plans must be in to the state by Aug. 17, according to Niemi. He said they have a rough draft now and know what they want to look at. Niemi said that because it is so fluid it, “keeps you on the hook a bit.”
“We are looking at three-headed dragon. It’s a lot of preparation and we’re looking at what is best for kids and how they’re going back to school, but it depends what the state says,” Niemi said.
Niemi said they are looking at the safety of not only the children and staff, but also considering who they might be going home to. He said they don’t want the kids or staff to be unknowingly exposed and bring it home to “grandma and grandpa.”
“I think the saying is, ‘If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail,’ so we’re preparing for everything,” he said.
Niemi said the area superintendents have been meeting a lot as their districts are working on the same set of problems. He said the ultimate goal is to have in-person schooling again in the fall, but there are so many things up in the air.
“Hopefully, we can get the kids in and that will be the big payoff,” he said.
