The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON—Dayton School District Superintendent Guy Strot presented updates on the opening of schools to the board of directors at their workshop last week.

“The beginning of the school year has been relatively normal. Teachers are teaching, students are learning, and there have been no real discipline issues since the start of school on Aug. 25.,” he said.

Eighteen students at the elementary level, 17 at the middle school level, and 18 in the high school are currently in distance learning mode.

Elementary school students who are distance learning using Google Classroom have access to the same assignments as in-person students get in the classroom.

Specials teachers, who typically teach electives, are being deployed to help distance learners. Hannelee Farrel is working with elementary school students, paraeducator Carly Benavides and Math teacher Kristen Frankie are helping middle school distance learning students, while Kristine Warren is helping high school distance learners.

The District is working with Verizon Wireless and Inland Cellular to provide internet access for students who aren’t connected.

Strot talked about developing centralized storage for teaching material and student assignments in Google Classroom. Teachers are currently uploading three-minute instruction videos to Google Classroom, and he hopes teachers will continue to use that material even when the pandemic is over.

In addition to centralized online storage, Strot would like to standardize the online format for the district’s meetings, using either Google Meet or Zoom.

Strot also discussed the importance of building school culture and recommended reading The Five Pillars Critical to Building a Culture of Achievement by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Ian Pumpian.

Elementary students can now eat lunch in the cafeteria. There are 19 tables with three students at each, and they are being served hot lunch on trays.

School District Food Services Director, Jana Eaton, provided information about meal times. She said there are two elementary school lunch periods with time between to sanitize cafeteria tables. Space for meal service activity is measured for six-foot distancing, allowing staff to serve all the K-5 students in the cafeteria.

Grades 6-12 students come to the cafeteria at dismissal, either 12:30 or 2 p.m., and receive meals to take off-campus.

Students can receive free or reduced-cost meals until Dec. 31 through an extension of the Summer Food Program. The program provides breakfast and lunch for students 18 years of age and younger.

The board of directors has agreed to hold a workshop on Nov. 4 at 5 p.m. to discuss possible budget cuts and other items of concern.