Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By CHARITY SMITH
Bessemer — The majority of Bessemer students have elected to go for in-person education, with only 10% of the student population choosing to go for virtual education.
“Kids are finding that it is easier for them to come in to school,” said superintendent Dan Niemi.
The remote learning program is run on the same time line as the in-person classes, according to Niemi. He said if a student has a homeroom at 8 a.m., they must log in to the class at 8 a.m. This helps the school keep track of attendance, required contact time, and everything the school is bound by the state to do to prove accountability.
“It is difficult for (the remote students), because we added more to it,” Niemi said. “They have to be synchronous with the class, so they are Zooming right into the classroom.”
Niemi said there are two different types of remote learners, those that are focused on learning and determined, and those that thought it would be easier to do it online, which “it’s not,” he said.
Niemi said that the school district started with 50 students choosing to go remote, and by the end of the first week that number was down to 40.
“I predict in the next week that 10 to 20 more students will be back for in-person learning,” Niemi said.
For elementary students who don’t have access to the internet, the school district is offering paper packets for parents to use instead of the virtual option. These packets must be picked up and returned to the school every week and will be graded, according to Niemi.
High school students will not be offered paper packets. They can use alternative internet sites such as the library, said Niemi, adding the Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District has a van that circulates providing students with a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Niemi said that the school would also be willing to provide the student with a private room to do their work and then leave with limited contact.
After being in session for two weeks, Niemi said it has been going really well.
“I think it was probably a better first day than I have had for years, but we prepped so much for that first day, anything that could have gone wrong we prepped for, so it was really seamless. Everything that we did all summer is paying off big time,” he said. “I’m very impressed, with the amount of kids we have in the buildings, with the cooperation and small amounts of problems we have.”
The school district has five janitors, who are constantly cleaning, according to Niemi. The doors and banisters, and other heavily touched areas get wiped down three times during the school day — at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. The janitors then perform a deep cleaning every night.
“School-grade cleaning is usually a step below hospital-grade cleaning, but now we want to be as close to hospital-grade cleaning as possible,” said Niemi. “We want to strive to the standard of hospital grade cleaning and our janitors are really doing a good job.”
A new ramp was recently completed on the east side of the A.D. Johnston Junior-Senior High School. The school is still waiting on custom handrails for both the ramp and the library entrance off of South Iron Street.
