June 1, 2021 8p
(WGTD)---Just as switching to a virtual format at the beginning of the pandemic required adjustments, so will the return of K-12 students to the classrooms this fall. That’s the view of Kenosha Unified administration.
Speaking on WGTD’s Education Matters program this past weekend, KUSD Superintendent Sue Savaglio-Jarvis said identifying any learning gaps that resulted from virtual instruction will be a top priority, especially in the area of reading. "We want all of our children by third grade to be successful or on target at that grade level in reading because we know content gets harder and harder as they grow up in the system and go on," she said.
Savaglio-Jarvis won’t be around as superintendent this fall to oversee the process. She’s retiring at the end of the month.
Taking her place, at least on an interim basis, will be Beth Ormseth, who currently serves as principal of LakeView Technology Academy.
She, too, was on the program this past Saturday, and brought up another area of concern as students return this fall. "Students who have been successful in the virtual are going to have to get in the routine of getting up, getting ready, picking out clothes and getting to the bus," she said. "And I think all of that routine will have to be reintroduced to students and reinforced."
This summer hundreds of KUSD students will have a chance to practice sticking to a schedule when summer school convenes in a few weeks. Savaglio-Jarvis says she anticipates that a couple thousand students will take advantage of the program.
Also on Saturday's show, Savaglio-Jarvis indicated that she plans to remain active in the field of education and is considering her options. "It still gives me much pleasure to think I can give back in some fashion," she said.
It’s unclear whether Dr. Sue, as she likes to be called, will follow in the foot steps of one of her predecessors and wind up in academia. Michele Hancock is on the faculty at Carthage College.
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