Fairfield school district uses off-campus sites for learning

FAIRFIELD – The pandemic has forced school districts to do things they never have before and experiment with new ways of educating their students.

Since the school year began, Fairfield Community School District has been in a hybrid model where half of instruction was delivered in-person and the other half online.

As the beginning of the year approached, parents voiced their concerns about online learning. Some did not have internet at all, and others lived in the countryside where connections are poor and speeds are slow.

Still others wondered where their kids would stay since the parents had to go to work and there were no child care spots available. Many had given up their child care spot over the summer, expecting their child to be in class five days a week.

To address all these challenges, the district found places around town where students could study when they weren't in a school building. The district secured agreements with seven locations that donated space, used by 107 students. Three of the sites were churches – First United Methodist Church, First Presbyterian Church and First Baptist Church – and one was a hotel, Quality Inn and Suites, while the rest were public buildings: the Fairfield Public Library, the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center and the Roosevelt Recreation Center.

Each site hosted a different grade, five days a week. The students brought their school devices with them to work on homework or join Zoom meetings. A certified teacher and teacher associate supervised the students at each building.

School Superintendent Laurie Noll said students were given enrichment activities that went beyond their curriculum such as scavenger hunts and walks to the park. Students at the public library did activities with children's librarian Alecs Mickunas. Students at the convention center had lessons in the theater.

The district will rely on the off-campus sites less now that elementary students have returned to class full time, which they began Monday. Middle and high school students will remain in the hybrid model until Oct. 26, so the rec center will continue to host sixth- through eighth-graders until then.

Noll said she feels the off-campus sites have been a success.

She said that, as students used their time in class to learn their devices and the programs on them, they were better able to use those devices at the off-campus locations where they continued their curriculum. The district's curriculum director Chuck Benge helped supplement the students' learning with additional materials for each grade level.

Karl Kates is a substitute teacher in the district who was tasked with overseeing instruction for the middle school students at the rec center. He tried to find projects for the students that would give them hands-on experience and engage their minds.

'The opportunity to help facilitate a learning environment while supporting the well-rounded development of students during these uncertain times made me want to be part of this hybrid mode,” Kates said. 'I was very honored to be a part of this fantastic experience.”