Are hybrid classes going away in Manatee County? It depends on your school

The hybrid option, a mix of in-person and online classes implemented because of the COVID-19 pandemic, will disappear from a host of Manatee County public schools in the coming weeks.

Superintendent Cynthia Saunders recommended that hybrid classes be removed district-wide, prompting mixed reactions from the school board last week. Some said the option helped to alleviate school crowding during the COVID-19 pandemic, while other board members felt that hybrid classes burdened teachers who already had full-time students online and on campus.

The district issued a survey to parents the next day, gauging their interest in switching from one learning option to another in the new quarter, which began this week. Saunders revealed the early results and her plan for the hybrid option on Tuesday evening.

To generate a class, the district needed enough students to enroll in the same learning option and the same courses at each campus. Families have until Wednesday to answer the district survey, and schools that have enough interest in hybrid classes will maintain that option, Saunders said.

“They will be looking at those,” she said of local schools. “Where they can accommodate it, they certainly will. If they can’t, they will be calling those parents and then giving them other opportunities or options.”

Hybrid students spend two days on campus and three days in the digital classroom.

Saunders’ decision effectively ended hybrid classes at elementary schools, where the vast majority of parents chose either in-person or online learning for their children.

Hybrid classes are more likely to continue at select middle and high schools, according to the early results of Manatee’s survey:

• Elementary schools: 80 percent chose in person, 19 percent online and one percent hybrid.
• Middle Schools: 65 percent in person, 22 percent online and 13 percent hybrid.
• High schools: 48 percent in person, 29 percent online and 23 percent hybrid.

While the complete list of school-by-school data was not made available on Tuesday, the superintendent gave an example of two schools where the hybrid option may be possible. She said Johnson Middle School had 147 requests for the hybrid option, while Southeast High School had 375.

“Which is a large number,” Saunders said. “The issue is, are they requesting the same classes?”

Elementary schools are expected to move students to their chosen learning format this month, while middle and high schools are aiming to complete the transition by early November. And whether it be online, in person or hybrid (where it still exists), students will remain in their current format if the survey is not submitted by Wednesday.

Some students can also expect to have a new teacher after they move from online to in-person learning, or from campus to digital classes.

“I do want to caution and tell parents that we appreciate their patience,” Saunders said. “I know it’s been a very unusual year.”