The Wilton-Lydeborough Cooperative School Board agreed to hire an extra elementary teacher to handle remote instruction this year, in place of hiring for a position designed to identify and bolster struggling students.
While Wilton-Lyndeborough is planning to accept students for five days of in-person instruction at the start of the school year, parents also have the option of students engaging in full-time remote learning, an option about 40 percent of students are taking.
Superintendent Bryan Lane informed the School Board during its meeting Tuesday that he is most concerned about ensuring the elementary students are supported adequately in their remote environments, as older students have a great capacity to self-manage.
The first and second grades currently have three teachers each, and currently, the district plans that one of those teachers will be devoted to remote instruction. There are currently nine students signed up for remote learning for the first grade and 20 students signed up for remote learning in the second grade.
There are only five students signed up for remote learning in the fourth grade, and Lane said the district is discussing with teachers the best way to integrate their instruction.
Lane proposed hiring an additional teacher specifically for remote learners from the third – which anticipates nine students – and fifth – which anticipates 11 students – grades. The pay for the teacher would come from the budget for the district’s response to instruction coordinator, a position designed to target students falling behind and assist them in getting level with their peers.
School Board member Jonathan Vanderhoof said he didn’t like the idea of not hiring a response to instruction coordinator for the year, particularly as students may have fallen behind with remote learning in the 2020 spring, saying it would be a step “backward” for the district.
The board discussed some alternatives, such as using federal CARES Act funding for the remote position and keeping the response to instruction coordinator position intact, or using a single remote instructor for both first and second grade remote learners.
“I think remote learning can allow for bigger class sizes,” Vanderhoof said.
Lane said he did not recommend either avenue. While the district does currently still have the majority of its $64,000 CARES grant, and a teacher for remote learning could be hired with those funds, it would use up the majority of the funds remaining. And a combined remote class of first and second graders would be nearly 30 students, who are among the youngest in the district, he pointed out. The majority of the board agreed.
“I hear the number 29, it sounds too high for my comfort level,” said School Board member Mark Legere, though he agreed with Vanderhoof that the district should reinstate the response to instruction coordinator next year.