Westerville City Schools will transition to blended learning on Sept. 21

WESTERVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) — Westerville City School District officials announced Wednesday that the district will transition to a blended learning model of instruction beginning Monday, September 21 after approximately one month of fully remote instruction.

In-person instruction provided for all students who are not enrolled in the Westerville Virtual Academy will be phased in, which will allow teachers and other staff to first work with smaller groups of students to help them in the transition.

During this phase-in process, children at the elementary level will be assigned to smaller groups of students identified within each cohort as Group 1 and Group 2. Families will be able to determine their child’s cohort and assigned group in PowerSchool.

“Phasing in our transition to blended learning will give teachers and other staff members time to work with students on important details about their school days and in-person instruction moving forward, as well as continued expectations for remote instructional days,” said Superintendent Dr. John Kellogg. “In addition to reviewing important details about classroom instruction, teachers and other staff will be covering things like new bus safety procedures, how breakfast and lunch will work while at school, what recess time will look like, mask breaks, restroom use, and many other procedural and health-related matters.”

At the secondary level, sixth-grade and ninth-grade students also will have two days where they are the only students attending in person while all others from their school remain on remote instruction.

“Our phase-in at the secondary level also allows for some orientation time and is intended to help those students who are new to middle and high school be successful,” Kellogg explained. “It’s going to allow our teachers and staff to support these incoming students by going beyond blended learning expectations and discussing life at the middle and high school level, in general.”

Families of students with special needs will soon receive information directly from the district’s Special Education Department regarding their instructional plans and important dates.

Transportation services for students will also begin on September 21, and the district remains committed to providing meals for students during remote learning and in-person instruction.

Beginning September 21, students assigned to Cohort A and Cohort B will transition to the district’s blended learning instructional model according to the following schedule of activities.