As with many elementary schools across the region, Grant D. Morse Elementary in the Saugerties Central School District recently left its hybrid learning model behind in favor of returning as many students to the classroom as possible. According to Principal Donald Dieckmann, it’s been a success.
“We’re now offering every family that wants to send their child to attend four days a week,” said Dieckmann during a presentation about Morse at a virtual meeting of the Board of Education held on Tuesday, April 13. “I want to thank all of our stakeholders for their concerted effort in pulling this off…Our students and parents in the school community are so very happy to have students, not only back in person four days a week at Morse, but almost at full capacity.”
Of the 310 students enrolled at Morse, 268 are attending in-person class, with 42 remaining fully remote. Of the 49 students in pre-K and kindergarten, just one is still fully remote. The highest number of fully remote students in a single grade is ten out of 52 fifth graders.
“Eighty-six percent of our students at Morse are back in person and counting, and we’re still trying to work out transportation and other issues with bringing even more back,” Dieckmann said. “So hopefully that will continue to rise.”
While school officials believe that having kids in the classroom can only help with student achievement, Dieckmann praised the teachers at Morse for their ability to adapt to the challenges faced in education since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.
“Our school takes a holistic approach to student achievement, addressing the academic, social and emotional needs of all of our students,” Dieckmann said. “From this past year, how crazy it was, one huge positive that we can take from the year is that our teachers have stepped out of their comfort zones, have taken risks, have really embraced the technology, with live-streaming their classes and utilizing Google Meet, to simulate small group instruction. They continue to explore, research and collaborate with one another with the Google platforms and other modes of delivering our instruction. It’s really a special thing to see as the building leader, watching our teachers figuring this out and working together.”
Like other schools in the SCSD, Morse is using Grand Rounds to ensure every student is having their needs met. Grand Rounds teams are comprised of teachers, administrators, school psychologists and social workers, speech and language teachers and RTI (Response to Intervention) specialists, such as certified literacy teachers, special education teachers and teaching assistants. While the Grand Rounds teams connect on all of Morse’s 310 students, students who are at risk for a variety of reasons — everything from learning disabilities to social and emotional concerns to connectivity issues during remote learning — will get considerable focus to try and get them on track.
“By design it’s a fluid process,” said Dieckmann. “Beyond the classroom walls, obviously there’s opportunities for student help. Wednesday is a good time for our teachers to meet with students one-on-one and families, one-on-one, to get family support. And that’s what it’s all about, forming those connections with our families, letting everybody know that we’re all in this together, and we’re going to do everything we can to continue to support and to make every attempt to make our students successful here. And when all three parties are working together — the student, the school and the parents — beautiful things happen.”
In terms of passing grades, Morse is having some success with student achievement. One-hundred percent of the 82 students across the third and fourth grades are passing both ELA and math. Of the 120 students between kindergarten and second grade, 93 percent are passing ELA and 94 percent are passing math. And in grade five and six, 93 percent of the 93 students are passing both ELA and math.
But over the past year-plus, students have suffered an achievement gap at some time; data indicates the school may be getting back on track. Using iReady diagnostic data, Morse experienced a dip in the 2020-21 school year compared to the prior academic year. In 2019-20, 51 percent of students were at or above their grade’s reading level, 37 percent were approaching their grade level, and 12 percent were below their grade level. Prior to testing last September, just 32 percent were at or above their grade level, 46 percent were approaching their grade level and 22 percent were below grade level. But following recent testing, those numbers were on the rise, with 46 percent at or above their grade level, 36 percent approaching grade level and 18 percent below grade level. Similar ebbs and flows were seen in math achievement.
“There are more opportunities to close the gaps now that the students are back,” Dieckmann said, adding that students have shaken off the remote cobwebs a bit since returning to the classroom. “We’ve seen, especially in our kindergarten who’s been in the four-day week new schedule, we’re seeing their stamina to start to build up a little bit more…And although our teachers did a wonderful job providing instruction when our students were at home working remotely, obviously we can do a lot more when our students are in our buildings right in front of us.”
Dieckmann also credited expanding communication with helping foster an all-hands-on approach, helped by his decision to start a Google Classroom page and a Principal Dieckmann Facebook page.
“I have to apologize to the only two parents that were actually reading my principal monthly message on the district website and my principals page, but it has worked out to be a really positive thing,” Dieckmann said. “In our school I’ve been able to communicate with parents through my Google Classroom. My students will sometimes ask me to say one of their jokes. Some of them are funny. It’s just been a positive way to connect with the students, especially when we were out last year and I wasn’t face to face with them. And we’re going to continue to do that.
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