BY MATT MACKINDER
Clarkston News Editor

Clarkston Community Schools reopened this week after being in a distance learning environment since November.
The district started the school year in a virtual mode before opening the buildings in October. A month later, schools closed again due to rising numbers of COVID-19 cases.
Now, the schools are back open.
“After consulting with the Oakland County Health Division, MDHHS, our Board of Education, and administrative leadership, it is my decision to move forward with our previously communicated transition to full face-to-face instruction, with slight adjustments,” said CCS Superintendent Dr. Shawn Ryan in a letter to the school district. “A number of factors influenced the decision, including improving county-level COVID-19 case data, reduced quarantine from 14 days to 10 days, continued hiring of support staff for sustained operations, and the beginning of the availability of a COVID vaccine for educators.”
Beginning this past Monday, February 1 and going through at least Friday, February 26, all students currently enrolled in face-to-face instruction will follow the following schedule (according to traditional building hours): elementary (grades Y5-5), face-to-face instruction for all students Monday through Friday; secondary (grades 6-12), face-to-face instruction for all students Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Distance learning is Wednesday (synchronous or asynchronous, with staff in the classroom and students at home).
All Clarkston Virtual staff and students will remain in their current instructional setting.
“Our elementaries have had the benefit of previously navigating a full return to school, and I believe that this model is sustainable at the elementary level, where cohorting is possible and virus activity is low,” Ryan said.

Secondary will remain in distance learning on Wednesdays to allow for a continued gradual transition to 100 percent capacity.
This decision to advance in phases back to full face-to-face acknowledges the complex challenges that the secondary learning environment presents, such as larger classes, heavier traffic in the hallways, and the lack of cohorting, said Ryan.
“Clarkston Community Schools remains focused on providing a safe environment for our students and staff,” noted Ryan. “We know that with proper precautions, schools are safe and the COVID transmission rates in schools are low.
“In the fall, we saw very few cases of CCS staff members or students transmitting the virus to each other while at school, but staff and students do become infected outside of school, and every time this happens, healthy staff members and students who were in close contact with an infected person at school must quarantine as a precaution.”
Ryan went on to say that if, in the next month, CCS can support bringing all secondary students back to school for five days a week, the district will transition to full face-to-face instruction on March 1.
If not, the district will postpone this final phase and move forward “when the time is right,” according to Ryan, who noted that online learning is, hopefully, a thing of the past.
“Our path forward may require adjustments and periods of hybrid learning, but I do not intend or foresee a return to district-wide distance learning,” Ryan said.
“Nothing about this pandemic has been easy and we are all ‘COVID fatigued.’ I will continue to work relentlessly for the academic success and well-being of our students.
“I will, to the greatest extent possible, continue to create a learning environment where your children are challenged, healthy, engaged, safe, and supported.”