NORTH RIDGEVILLE, Ohio — North Ridgeville City Schools is leaving it up to the parents and students whether they come back in the fall or not.
"We were forced in March to do this quickly and the staff did an outstanding job immediately getting us up and running,” said Roxann Ramsey-Caserio, superintendent of North Ridgeville City Schools.
Ramsey-Caserio says they will be offering both in-person and online learning.
Families will have to pick either-or, and commit for at least a semester.
"We are continuing to plan what professional development might look like in addition to professional development for our parents and what they may need to know and understand,” said Ramsey-Caserio.
The district says all of its students will be learning the exact same material no matter which way they choose to take it in.
"For some of our families who are looking for an all-online solution, we would try to do it using Zoom to give a synchronized lesson that would be able to be sent in real-time to the students,” said Paul Hieronymus, Director of Technology at North Ridgeville City Schools.
The district with 4,700 students will have eight online sessions with parents over the next three weeks to ensure they are comfortable before making a choice.
At Lake Ridge Academy, a small, private school in North Ridgeville, the choice is easy. Just about all 420 of their students will be back in the classroom on August 21.
"We believe that students learn best in-person and after consulting the experts and the guidance and the officials at Lorain County, we’re confident that under the current guidance that we can safely reopen,” said Mitch White, the head of school at Lake Ridge Academy.
School, as those Kindergarten through 12th grade students knew, will be much different. White says they will have barriers to protect students.
"A barrier might be six feet apart, it might be a face covering,” said White.
White says even passing period won’t be the same.
"We might release them in 25 percent increments so not all students are passing in the halls at the same time,” he said.
Different plans for their students in each school, but similar sentiments as we get through this together.
“Just be patient with us, we want to get decisions out there as quickly as we can but we want to make sure that they’re decisions that are going to keep students and staff safe,” said David Pritt, Director of Curriculum and Instruction at North Ridgeville City Schools.
