Perry School District working hard to keep students learning inside of their schools –

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in a series looking at what Lake County communities experienced in 2021 and what is facing them in 2022.

Ensuring that education could take place continuously inside buildings, in the midst of the lingering pandemic, was Perry School District’s top achievement in 2021.

That’s the assessment of Superintendent Jack Thompson.

“Thanks to a good staff and School Board, we’ve been able to traverse the waters and keep the kids learning,” Thompson said during a recent interview.   “It’s been some challenging times, for sure.”

Perry Schools began the 2021-22 academic year by making masks optional for all students who wanted to attend in-person classes at the district’s Elementary, Middle or High schools. But that masking policy was temporarily changed for the last 2 1/2 days of the semester, for reasons that Thompson explained in a Dec. 17 message on the Perry Schools website.

“Concerns about the upcoming holidays, the continuing rise in COVID-19 cases, and potential staffing shortages have placed the district in a situation we feel compelled to address,” Thompson wrote. “Therefore, we will enact a temporary mask mandate for all indoor classrooms and hallways for the final two and a half days of the semester, Monday, Dec. 20, through Wednesday, Dec. 22.”

In that same message, Thompson wrote that the safety of students and staff is the district’s No. 1 priority.

At the start of the academic year, an overwhelming number of students wanted to attend classes in-person, every day, at all of the district’s schools, Thompson said during his interview with The News-Herald.

Along with maintaining a mask-optional policy for almost the entire first half of the school year, Thompson said the district has fulfilled the desires of parents who didn’t want their children going back into classrooms because of COVID-19 fears.

“We were able to accommodate that (virtual-learning option) through various programming,” he said.

Perry Schools also has provided synchronous learning — where students are able to log into their in-person classes while being quarantined because of COVID-19, or during other extended absences.

“While we understand that’s not the optimal way for students to learn, it still can establish a sense of connectivity, where they’re able to do some work, and then be able to be a part of the classroom at some level,” Thompson said. “That’s a pretty special piece that our staff has stepped up and built their skills and are able to provide our kids.”

Thompson said Perry Schools always has been known for innovation and striving to continually improve, and in conjunction with that commitment, the district worked on a variety of important educational initiatives in 2021.

“At the elementary level, we started the Perry Ingenuity Institute, where we’re working on teaching kids in a more project-based type of situation where, instead of focusing so much on catching up at the grade level, we actually bring them from where they are and move them forward,” Thompson said.

The Perry Ingenuity Institute, which provides personalized learning plans for students, is currently operating as a “school within a school” in Perry Elementary’s second and third grades, Thompson explained.

“We’re hoping to expand that to first, second, third and fourth grades next year and grow it,” he said.

Meanwhile, at Perry Middle School, teachers are preparing to launch the Connected Authentic Learning program in the fall of 2022. This new initiative will allow students to engage in experiential learning and hands-on learning to apply the concepts and curriculum that they’re being taught, Thompson said.

At Perry High School, steps are being taken to increase career exploration opportunities for students. The district is working to connect with area businesses and workforce institutions and trying to develop an apprenticeship program to allow our students to get on-site and have some authentic experiences with jobs and careers in which they may be interested, the superintendent explained.

He said Perry Schools is very proud of these educational initiatives being pursued in each district building.

“Those kind of programs, they really provide the fuel and energy that makes it exciting to come to work each day, and to get focused on our growth and development versus just trying to survive,” he said.

For 2022, one of the biggest challenges for Thompson, the School Board and other district administrators will be trying to achieve a balanced budget.

Thompson said that the district’s budgeting process “went kind of haywire” because of challenges created by the pandemic.

“We purchased what we thought we needed to purchase,” Thompson said. “We had to make some quick decisions. So we knew we were going to be in deficit spending.”

In 2022, the district likely will go back to being more methodical in its spending, Thompson said.

“Are there ways we can continue to trim and get back to as close as we can to a balanced budget?” he said. “We’re lucky enough to have a little bit of a cash balance, but we know we need to operate as efficiently as we can. And we think that 2022 is a time when we’re going to have to get serious about getting back to that work.”

Thompson said a decision also will need to be made on the type of commencement ceremony that will be held for the Perry High School Class of 2022. Last year, graduation was held on the school’s Alumni Stadium football field, with special attention paid to social distancing to protect graduates and guests from the threat of COVID-19.

“We’re probably leaning towards doing an outside commencement again, I believe,” he said. “We’ll see where we are (with the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic), and where things are trending.”

Thompson said he anticipates that the format for the 2022 commencement will be decided upon in early 2022, so families of graduates can plan ahead.

“People need to know,” he said. “We’ll make that commitment pretty soon.”