Expect no hybrid learning this school year, Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Terry Wood told the school committee Tuesday night, Sept. 14. The backup to full-time in-person learning would be to go fully remote, Wood said.

She sees no way to do hybrid this school year, the second full one of the pandemic. Teachers and students all have devices and the department will make sure anyone who still needs a hot spot to go online will have one, Wood said. The department could survey families to see who needs internet access, she said. “We want kids here, we’re going to try to keep them in school as long as we can. But we also have to be ready ... I want to make sure no one loses out” for lack of access, Wood said.

Going remote would be the Center for Disease Control’s call, not the town’s, Wood added. “It’s not going to be brought to you. It’s not going to be my decision,” Wood told the committee. “If we go fully remote, CDC will be telling us. We don’t have any jurisdiction with that” and she did not know how much notice the school department would get.

Responding to questions from member Jason Putnam, Wood explained the CDC would decide school by school, not by district or statewide. So a whole school might go remote, go back in school, then go remote again, Putnam said.

“That’s what we’re trying not to do,” Wood said. The pooled testing that staff and students are signing up for will help, by catching a case before it becomes contagious, she said. As participants noted Maine schools that already had closures, Wood said, “This is kind of a, rolling ball down the hill, and we’re just going to do the best we can.”

The state is back to requiring 175 student days, Wood continued. Remote days count, on two conditions: Meals are provided, and everyone gets an education. Wood said Food Service Director Lorie Johnson is ready, and the schools need to make sure all students can get online to learn.

Also in the meeting at Wiscasset Middle High School and on Zoom, committee member Desiree Bailey brought up trouble she said parents have reported on Facebook over the daily wellness checks to report to the schools. Those are part of the plan passed last year, Wood said. The schools are updating their information, and parents sending in the forms on time each morning also helps, she said.

The committee upped substitutes’ pay by $15 to $105 a day for teachers and educational technicians, by $1 to $16 an hour for custodians and by $1 to $20 an hour for bus drivers. WMHS music teacher Kimberly Brewer, Wiscasset Elementary School fifth grade teacher Justin Stygles and WES educational technician Jessica Vreeland-Estrella have resigned.