Cincinnati Public School's Board of Education is plotting out a return to blended learning for next semester. CPS switched to distance learning last semester due to a lack of staffing due to COVID-19.
Chief Strategy Officer Sarah Trimble-Oliver said for blended learning to happen, COVID-19 cases need to be within a certain range.
"Forty cases per 100,000 is the range we would need to be below," Trimble-Oliver said.
Trimble-Oliver says Cincinnati is currently dealing with 70 cases per 100,000 people. The city's positivity rate is at 10.8%.
The Board of Education will start reviewing COVID-19 data Jan. 2. On Jan. 16, if cases remain below that threshold, Pre-K and specialized classrooms can return Feb. 1.
A slide shown during Wednesday's meeting says that blended learning offers both academic and COVID safety risk. Meanwhile, distance learning offers high academic risk, but low COVID risk.
Anti-Racism Policy
Cincinnati Public Schools on Wednesday also adopted an anti-racism policy.
The policy's purpose is to create processes that identify racism within the school district. The policy identifies racism as "a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on the social interpretation of how one looks."
Staff within the district will be trained on anti-racism going forward. The policy will also be included in student handbooks.
You can read the policy below:
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that if cases remain below the stated threshold by Jan. 16, Pre-K and specialized classrooms can return Feb. 1. It is actually Pre-K through grade 3 and specialized classrooms that can return at that time.
