By Joe Morey
News Editor
LCO Ojibwe School Superintendent Jessica “Hutch” Hutchison gave an update to the LCO Tribal Governing Board (TGB) on current operations at the school. She reported elementary students are in school four days a week while middle school and high schoolers are only two days a week alternating with each other.
Hutch stated many of her staff are out due to Covid and this schedule allows her to move staff around. She said her plan is to continue this arrangement through the first semester.
Hutch told the TGB the school has a lot of older students who are struggling with virtual learning and that many of their students are failing.
“Not all of our students are struggling. We have some that are doing very well, but many more are failing than in the past,” Hutch noted. She explained that keeping in-person learning helps them but many when at home for virtual, simply don’t log on.
“This isn’t just us. This is a nationwide problem,” Hutch added.
“Next semester we’ll have to reorganize our schedule to be able to give a study hall type of atmosphere to give these students more one on one time so they don’t fall to far behind,” Hutch said.
Another thing the school plans is to have an extended summer school option to help students catch up.
Hutch stated the k-5 students are doing a lot better. She said the younger kids are coming to school and they plan to keep in-person learning open for them.