Thursday, March 28, 2024

JUST IN: MAISD Seiter Education Center, K-12 special education transitioning to remote learning until April 26Free Access

Decision is specific to MAISD special education programs

The Seiter Education Center, located at 1401 E. Van Deinse St. in Greenville, will transition to remote learning until April 26 due to excessive staff absences and quarantines because of COVID-19.  — DN file photo

STANTON — The Montcalm Area Intermediate School District (MAISD) is transitioning its K-12 special education programs from in-person to remote learning until April 26.

In a letter sent home to parents Thursday, MAISD Superintendent Kyle Hamlin said the MAISD has decided to temporarily move its K-12 special education programs and services to virtual/remote learning for all students attending programs at the Seiter Education Center and at the MAISD’s satellite programs housed in local school districts.

Virtual/remote learning for those programs will begin on Friday and continue through April 23, with a plan to return to in-person learning on April 26.

Hamlin told the Daily News the decision was made because the building is currently experiencing “too many staff absences and too many quarantines” due to illness and COVID-19 quarantines.

“We just have too many staff members out right now,” he said. “It might not even be COVID related, but we’re having difficulty staffing our bus routes and our classrooms.”

Hamlin said the transition to remote learning is specific to K-12 special education programs, meaning the MAISD’s other programs, including the Montcalm Area Career Center, early childhood program and young adult program will continue to operate with in-person learning.

“Please know this is not a decision that was easy to make,” Hamlin said in the letter. “We truly understand this impacts our students and their families. Again, our main goal is to keep our families and students safe from the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to follow guidelines and recommendations from our local health officials, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and the Centers for Disease Control.”

Hamlin stressed to the Daily News that the transition to remote learning is also specific to the MAISD, Seiter Education Center satellite special education programs at local districts and has no bearing on decisions made by the seven public school districts in Montcalm County, which continue to offer in-person learning at this time.

“There’s been no conversations this week at all about anybody else closing,” he said. “This is program-specific (at the MAISD). We going to let these quarantines finish and hopefully have everyone back on April 26 to finish out the school year in person.”

Hamlin, along with the superintendents from all seven public school districts in Montcalm County, released a joint statement last week stating an intention to continue with in-person learning going forward following remarks from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who requested, but did not mandate, that schools in Michigan take a “two-week pause” from in-person learning due to high COVID-19 rates.

 

 

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