Bedford Schools Supt. Andrea Celico told the board during a regular meeting Thursday that the district will be ready to welcome students in-person for the start of the second quarter, but surveys sent out to families will play a large part in what that exactly looks like.

She said two back-to-class scenarios currently exist for opening on Nov. 9. Option A is essentially the hybrid model originally approved by the board to start the school year but had to be jettisoned for all-virtual learning following the recommendations by the Cuyahoga County Board of Health. This choice would require students to attend school two days a week in-person, and three days a week virtually.

Option B would have a portion — around 50 percent of the district population — come back all five days, while the other portion would do online learning the whole week. The option that will work best for the district depends on how many families want their students to come back in-person, or not.

Celico said the district will be moving to re-open with some hesitancy as the recent rising numbers of COVID-19 cases have caused the county to be put back in red alert status as of Oct. 15. Compounding that, Celico said the district had two of its worker contract COVID-19 last week. In an email sent home to families, the district reported they have taken all the necessary steps to quarantine those involved, and have deep cleaned any areas those staff may have been.

The board members split 2-2 on approving the go-ahead for Nov. 9. Members Barbara Patterson and Eva Boyington were in favor of the start-back date, while Phil Stevens and Robert Kennedy were wondering whether Nov. 9 would be premature, with Bedford running the risk of just closing again if there were an outbreak. Since the vote was a tie, the district will be able to go back, if possible, starting the second quarter as planned. Celico said, as with many things with this pandemic, the start date “is subject to change.”

How the schools start back will be mostly determined by the surveys the district receives back from families. Celico said they did a similar survey during this summer, which came back at about a 50-50 split between in-school learning and distance learning. The problem with that survey was about only half of the families in the district returned it, so it didn’t give a good snapshot of what the district as a whole wanted. She said it is vitally important that everyone return the surveys this time so the district has guidance on whether to start out the quarter using Option A or Option B.

Celico said that since the students have not been in school for seven months there will be some acclimation taking place when they return, but that the hardest part has already been accomplished.

“The good news is the students are accustomed to being in school,” she said. “The bigger adjustment that I was worried about was them working at home. So, now we have the best of both worlds. If when we do return, and let’s say there’s a likelihood we may have to go back virtual, it should be seamless.”

During a slideshow presentation, Celico showed a list of all of the safety measures the district has taken in preparation for the students to return. She also discussed some of the items they still need to address, with one being the probability of needing more staffing.

In other board business:

  • Treasurer Bill Parkinson presented the highlights of a preliminary 5-year forecast for the district. He said that even with most of the district’s revenue sources being stagnant, and with enrollment slowly declining, the forecast has the budget running a surplus until fiscal year 2025.
  • Mary Catherine Ratkosky, principal at Carylwood Intermediate School gave a presentation highlighting the academic progress the school has been making. She said her staff has made a number of planned home visits to help students and families work through different issues to help increase attendance and learning.