Cloverleaf halts in-person school until January

WESTFIELD TWP. — What Cloverleaf Schools officials had hoped would be a short period in remote learning will now last for at least the rest of 2020. The Cloverleaf school board unanimously voted Wednesday to keep students away from district buildings until, at the earliest, Monday, Jan. 4. On Nov. 5, the district announced an immediate move to remote learning that began the following Monday. That came just after Medina County's designation as a red/Level 3 county area with high case incidence. "We originally thought this would be a two-week decision," said Superintendent Daryl Kubilus. "With the Medina County Health Department's advisory ending Dec. 15, the potential remains for our incidence level to go up over the Thanksgiving holiday." "There's only three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas," he added. "We decided it would be better not to attempt to bring kids back for five days and wait until after the first of the year. Hopefully, our county will be in a better position by then." Over the summer, a 53-member task force made up of district employees and community members formulated a return to in-person school plan for Sept. 8, a three-week delay of the district's original Aug. 19 start date. Those talks did indicate that a negative COVID-19 turn in Medina County could trigger a quick halt to building attendance. Kubilus said board members will remain open to an earlier return for students should Medina County's COVID-19 situation drastically improve. Committee talks in the summer also determined that if Cloverleaf were to move to remote learning after a "red" COVID-19 alert in Medina County, students would not be brought back until the area moved back to orange. However, Kubilus said administrators and staff are now discussing other measures that could be used as grounds to resume in-person classes. "There's a mutual understanding among everyone that we can revisit this language," he said. "There seems to be a desire from parents who've spoke to me or emailed me to use more local measures, Cloverleaf measures, rather than county measures. I think with some of the new metrics that have come to us from the state, I'm optimistic we can come up with other measures we can use." The superintendent also thanked teachers and parents for their continued flexibility through the switch to remote learning. "The remote instruction that our teachers are delivering is far superior compared to what we were doing in the spring," Kubilus said. "We pushed back our start date and used that time for professional development where expectations were set. We're very proud of the job our teachers have done and how it's being received by our students and their parents." Contact reporter Jonathan Delozier at (330)721-4050 or jdelozier@medina-gazette.com.