With the return to campuses following a two-week holiday break, county schools have seen an increase in the number of students opting to learn via the seated model. Having sparse hallways leading up to the break, both Warren County R-III and Wright City R-II have experienced much fuller classrooms after the return. 

“When we were going into the break, we were holding the line,” said R-II Superintendent Dr. Chris Berger. “The parking lot was empty and there were much fewer kids in the hallway, the classrooms felt empty, because we had so many kids on quarantine. It’s a pretty stark contrast coming back seeing the classrooms and hallways full. It’s exciting.”

This increase is in part due to a decrease in quarantined students but also strongly influenced by families’ decisions to transition their children from the virtual learning model back to the seated model.

“About 25 percent of our students who were learning virtually have decided to come back to the classroom,” said R-III Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith. “We had some kids go to virtual and other kids come back.”

That’s a net increase of 200 more students in the buildings across the R-III campus, which leaves around 600 students learning virtually.

R-II has added around 100 previously virtual students to the seated instruction model. That’s a decrease from approximately 20 percent of the enrollment learning virtually, now down to 13 percent.

“I’m hopeful that’s a testament to our efforts during first semester and parents feeling more comfortable with kids being in the hall,” said Berger.

With the influx of students returning, this also meant a shift in staff placement. 

“At the elementary level we had to move some virtual teachers to in person and that made us change some class configurations,” said Klinginsmith. “At the high school and middle school levels there really wasn’t much of a change, because students were just added to existing classes.”

Wright City shared a similar experience of being able to accommodate incoming elementary students, while some classes at the middle school and high school grew significantly. 

“We were able to make a new class from those who came back from virtual,” said Berger. “We were able to restructure and make a new classroom at East Elementary and at West Elementary our class sizes just inflated a little bit.”

Even with the increase in students back in the building, it doesn’t necessarily decrease the odds of school having to be shut down temporarily. R-III had to close the high school two occasions, while R-II completed the first semester without any closures. Ultimately, that fate depends on staff availability, not students.

“We felt fortunate to make first semester seated everyday,” said Berger. “We could not have sustained what we were doing that last week going into break.”

Klinginsmith says he doesn’t anticipate the virtual model will go away, even as participant numbers drop.

“I think it’s something we’ll have to offer forever,” said Klinginsmith. “For some families it makes a lot of sense. It’s one of those things that was introduced by COVID but may become permanent. I think we’ll always have a percentage of our student body that’s 100-percent virtual.”

R-III had some first-year teachers who were designated exclusively to virtual teaching. Klinginsmith says that may become the new norm, meaning an educator could teach their career without every being in the same physical room as the student.