Under a plan that involves renting additional classroom space, Brookfield Central School could give every student a full 158 days with in-class instruction.
BCS Superintendent Jim Plows, Principal Carrie Smith and Guidance counselor Jennifer Phillips outlined to the BCS Board of Education, a dozen people in the school gym and dozens more watching at home via a livefeed one of the options for re-opening school next month.
Because the school building cannot accommodate all approximately 250 students at one time under the current state Covid-19 regulations, Plows said the Re-Opening Committee members looked at other possibilities. Parents, alumni, teachers and staff made up the 35-member committee, with everyone serving in at least roles, such as parent and teacher.
Plows said students from seventh through twelfth grades also had input. “They’ve had enough of the remote option,’’ he said. “Students want to come back to school. And we want them.’’
Called the Leonardsville Option, the way to put everyone in a classroom five days a week would be to send some students to the Leonardsville Community Center. Brookfield would rent the former elementary school, and pay for other expenses to run two buildings, at a total estimated cost of $153,400.
If no federal aid is available to offset that cost, Plows said the district could use money from its $706,000 rainy day fund. He said if ever there was a time to use the money, it was now.
“There’s a huge benefit to being in class every day,’’ he said. “We did good, but not great, with remote learning. But we needs parents to say they support it or not.’’
He cautioned there were numerous hurdles to clear beyond getting parental support. The building has to meet both school building requirements and coronavirus regulations.
The Madison County Health Department has provided key input, he said, and an architectural review was scheduled for next week. If all the hurdles…