Canon-McMillan moves to hybrid plan to reopen school

The Canon-McMillan School District will no longer open its classrooms to 100% in-person learning next month, instead opting for a hybrid model with students spending some days in school and others learning from home during the school week.
The school district notified parents in an email Friday about the hybrid start to the 2020-21 school year as COVID-19 cases continue to climb in the region.
Canon-McMillan’s plan calls for the district’s students to attend in-person school two days a week and online learning three days a week. Students will be divided into two groups.
Parents will also be allowed to choose a 100% remote-learning option for their children.
The school board is slated to vote in August to move the start of the school year to Aug. 27 to allow the teaching staff to undergo six days of training, to provide more time for district planning, and to permit parents more time to decide which option to choose.
On June 25, the school board had voted to resume classes 100% in-person, but revised the plan after new school opening guidelines were issued by the state Department of Education and increasing COVID-19 cases.
“Everyone in the Canon-McMillan education community has a strong desire to get back to a normal delivery of instruction. However, we must deal with the challenge ahead of us first requiring everyone – students, teachers, parents, administrators, and staff – working together to make the best of the situation,” a portion of the letter read.