MONROE — Middle and high school students not in Plan H in Monroe will soon be back in the building on a weekly basis.

The School District of Monroe Board of Education voted March 8 in favor of moving middle and high school students in the district from the hybrid Plan B to Plan B+, a move that was made for elementary students in February.

Many students in the district, particularly in elementary and middle school, have struggled switching between virtual and in-person learning.

“Maintaining the hybrid format is exhausting and ultimately some students are doing very very well and some students are struggling,” District Administrator Rick Waski said.

Plan B+ differs from the previously agreed upon hybrid plan because it brings all students not in Plan H learning, or fully virtual, back into the building every week Monday through Thursday.

Waski will still have the freedom to move buildings or the full district into Plan C when needed.

“Once we go this route, Plan B is really off the books because we will have reconfigured our rooms, we won’t be dividing the kids into those cohorts anymore,” he said. “This is one of those things where we’re going to deal with outbreaks in a virtual sense and have B+ be our standard plan.”

Some students are set to return to the buildings on April 7 with the rest being brought back on April 12.

Learning will be virtual on April 5 and 6 to allow for the District to hold the second round of its vaccination clinic. 

Sixth grade students, as well as juniors and seniors in high school, will return on April 7, with the rest of the grades (7-10) coming back April 12.

The switch will make it difficult, and at times impossible, to follow the CDC recommended physical distancing length of six feet between each student, but board members hope that the benefits of having students back in the buildings more consistently will bring benefits in other aspects, including grades and mental health. 

“It’s just weighing that against what we know is best for kids and keeping as much safety as we can,” High School Vice Principal Jeriamy Jackson said.

Board members also voted to get rid of universal temperature checks at the beginning of the school day.

Since returning to school in the hybrid model in September, teachers in the district have done morning temperature checks on every student every day and only one fever was caught.

That student, Waski said, then tested negative for COVID-19.