BY MATT MACKINDER
Clarkston News Editor

Clarkston Community Schools returned to in-person learning five days a week on Monday.
Superintendent Dr. Shawn Ryan said in his weekly communication that improving COVID-19 numbers in the area helped make this decision an easy one.
“It is important to me as your superintendent to continue to look forward,” Ryan said. “The past year demanded that we adapt quickly to teaching and learning remotely, and I’m interested in looking at potential ways we can use this experience to continue to innovate and grow as a school district. Considering all we have collectively invested in distance learning – from technology and training to practical lessons learned – it makes sense to explore what this learning model has to offer outside of the pandemic.
“And, as current state guidelines afford us some flexibility in how we deliver curriculum for the rest of the school year, this is the ideal time to see what distance learning can offer as a space to create new learning opportunities.”
Distance learning for secondary students was to take place on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month, while elementary students were to participate in distance learning on just the fourth Wednesday of each month, but Ryan announced this past Monday that those plans have been scrapped.
A group of Clarkston parents have formed a Facebook group, Clarkston Schools Families in Support of Face to Face Learning, and have said they are not in favor of any distance learning.
Videos of their children explaining their struggles and emails discussing the same sent to Ryan and the CCS Board of Education.
“After communicating plans to introduce additional distance learning days last Friday, I was presented with compelling public feedback that suggests that for many, distance learning is solely a crisis education tool, and that now is not the time to reinvent its role for instructional innovation,” Ryan said. “As a result, I have decided to withdraw the proposed distance learning days for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year. I cannot in good conscience put forth a proposal to the Board of Education that has the potential to divide and detract us from our most pressing goal of moving forward. My focus remains on guiding the district forward and I want you to know that open-minded dialogue and strategic innovation will always have a place in our school district.”
“It’s about time he realizes our voice matters,” wrote Meghan Singleton in a group Facebook post. “We will continue to fight for our kids. They deserve to go to school.”
Clarkston Virtual staff and students will remain in their current instructional setting, with an opportunity to transfer back to face-to-face instruction for the 2021-22 school year.
The district’s free curbside meal pickup program will continue each Wednesday at Clarkston Junior High and Sashabaw Middle School from 12:45-1:15 p.m. Meals will be available for Clarkston Virtual students, community children not in school, and for all students on distance learning Wednesdays.
The Clarkston Junior High meal pickup will be at the back of the building near the bus garage while Sashabaw Middle School’s curbside service will be at the front entrance.
“My high school cross country coach always said to ‘finish the race with grace,’” Ryan said. “We’ve been in the race for a year now, and no one’s sure where the finish line is, yet we continue to run this race with grace.
“I believe we are in the home stretch.”