WENTZVILLE, Mo. — Some parents are planning a protest in Wentzville Thursday over the school district's "blended" plan for the fall that will feature both in-person days and virtual learning.
Like most school districts, planning for fall classes has consumed summer break in the Wentzville School District.
Classes are scheduled to start with a blended approach with the more than 17,000 students splitting time each week between in-person and online classes.
But parents aren't happy with that plan — on either side of this debate.
Competing petitions are circulating, demanding either a full reopen or completely virtual classes. And at least one protest is planned for Thursday.
"I would love both as superintendent and, quite honestly as a father of two in this district, is for my own kids to be there, face-to-face, five days a week," said Wentzville Superintendent Curtis Cain.
But Cain said the numbers just aren't where they need to be for five days of face-to-face.
"I do want people to understand that I hear their perspective," Cain said. "I'm listening to their perspective. I'm reading emails...I'm hearing their feedback and I want people to know that that's validated, but please understand that we are trying to work the most reasonable solutions that we can with the resources in front of us."
He's not the only administrator stuck in this spot.
"I think schools we feel as though we have an obligation as community members not to add to that transmission by bringing a bunch of people together," said Paul Ziegler with the non-profit Education Plus.
The organization is working with districts across the region on their reopening plans.
Ziegler said it's hard to settle on exact numbers for making decisions. A positive testing rate of 5% or below is a possible benchmark for fully reopening.
Right now, Missouri is closer to 8% and that number can vary from one zip code to the next.
"We haven't had kids in school since this pandemic started," said Ziegler. "So, we're a little anxious about that too. What does it look like?"
"It's not about any one indicator that's ultimately going to decide which level, the district happens to be in, but, what is the total picture saying or illustrate in in terms of the direction that we need to go," said Cain of how Wentzville will make its decisions.
One factor that concerns him is the size of the enrollment in most individual schools. With 800 kids in an elementary school, Cain said social distancing would be difficult at best.
He said the district also is concerned about crowded school buses.
As for what Cain said he needs from parents right now, he said, "The word grace is quite honestly popping in my head."
