Spring break starts today for schools across Leelanau County and now teachers, students and staff have their first moment of normalcy: an expected week off. As everyone catches a collective breath, The Leelanau Ticker checks in with two superintendents — Casey Petz of Suttons Bay Public Schools and Neil Wetherbee of Northport Public School — to see how their districts are navigating mandatory school closures and why Suttons Bay's foray into virtual learning a few years ago might position them differently than most districts. 

Casey Petz, Superintendent, Suttons Bay Schools
Leelanau Ticker: You just started your position, what a change to take on immediately…
Petz: I started on February 3rd, 2020. The only thing I can say right now is that even folks with 40 years in education have seen nothing like this, so we are all in the same position: learning as we go, supporting each other, and doing the very best job we can for our kids every day.

Ticker: What does school look like now?
Petz: In Suttons Bay, this isn’t a break for students and staff, this is an opportunity to learn and connect in ways that we never thought possible. We have operated a virtual school for over a decade. The good news so far is that for our virtual students it is mostly business as usual, and our in-seat students are adapting to a learning environment that is a combination of virtual learning using Zoom, emailed projects, and videos posted online by our staff. One big issue we’re working on is that some students live in remote areas of the county and don’t have great internet connectivity.

Ticker: So having Suttons Bay Virtual in place helped make unexpected leaps?
Petz: Absolutely. Our virtual teachers are experts in a learning model that the rest of Michigan is likely to hear a lot more about in the months ahead — distance learning. Right before the schools were closed, our leadership team and our virtual teachers worked with our in-seat teachers to share tools, strategies, and ideas that help to make virtual learning successful. Fortunately, we were a little ahead of this situation and were able to quickly adapt our learning model for our new reality during this closure.

Ticker: Any examples of educator innovation?
Petz: The social media account created last week by our middle school/high school counselor that features our therapy dog/counselor Butter (pictured above). Students love to hear from Butter, and students are much quicker to respond on Instagram.

Ticker: Has your school size been helpful in accomplishing what you need in this time?
Petz: Our headcount in Suttons Bay (Virtual included) is around 600 students. I cannot imagine how difficult this would be in a much larger district. I’ve never met a group of people with as much resilience as these folks, it’s our secret weapon in Suttons Bay — we never quit.

Ticker: What top concern do you have now?
Petz: We need clear direction on whether the days during this closure will be forgiven or not. I commend our Governor for taking bold steps to keep our students safe and healthy but we need the Michigan Legislature to make a decision ASAP so that districts can adjust accordingly and make plans for how we will handle things from this point forward. I’m confident that local school leaders can handle anything that comes our way, but we are in limbo right now.

Ticker: Can meal delivery continue if closures are extended?
Petz: Assuming nothing else changes at the State and Federal level, yes. We are delivering food to over 175 students as of today and the number keeps going up each day. We will continue to do this as long as it is necessary to do so. Our operations and food service team in Suttons Bay and across this state deserve more credit than they get for taking care of our families in need right now.

Neil Wetherbee, Superintendent, Northport Public School
Leelanau Ticker: What are your biggest concerns being a small, rural school with 140 students?
Wetherbee: We are blessed to be small. Everything here is personal. My concern is not size specific – it’s that I am working hard not to start and stop things. You only get buy-in to change a certain number of times. And by far the biggest concern is the students’ emotional health and loss of educational opportunities.

Ticker: What does school look like right now for Northport?
Wetherbee: School is on pause. All work and assignments sent home during this school closure are encouraged but not required to be completed. Many people do not have internet at home, nor phone coverage…this can exacerbate the learning gaps. (Editor’s Note: According to Federal Communications Commission datasets, in Leelanau County, approximately 4,000 people do not have access to 25 Mbps wired broadband and 28 percent of Northport-area residents are severely limited in wired broadband choices.)

Ticker: How are you communicating the latest?
Wetherbee: I just put out a robocall to my community, saying I see three possible scenarios: a relatively traditional school opens back up on April 14th; we move to 100 percent virtual for the remainder of the school year; the rest of the school year is canceled. For many of us, option two of moving the school to virtual causes the most panic.

Ticker: Because of the technology access hurdle?
Wetherbee: Yes. In order to gather information for the possibility of going virtual, I’ve asked households to complete a survey, on the Northport Public School homepage to determine who has internet and who has cell phone coverage. Unfortunately, that survey is online. I’ve asked families if they know of peers who do not have access to please, please help them fill out the survey. I had two years working at a virtual school as an educator prior to this role. I know how different the worlds really are. If we are going to go fully virtual, we will prepare for that…as a school and a community, we will do what is asked of us.

Photos: Therapy Dog/Counselor Butter, by Meredith Schmidt, Guidance Counselor at Suttons Bay Middle School/High School