The Fredonia Board of Education is still in the process of confirming a return plan for students at the Fredonia elementary, middle, and high school, in addition to the students at Wheelock. The plans for each grade level are still in draft form, but are more solidified than they were two weeks ago, while maintaining the ability to change.

“We were able to piece together clear plans,” said Superintendent Dr. Bradley Zilliox. “While still being ready to adjust and adapt to things that might happen in real time.”

The largest road block Fredonia is facing before the plans become finalized is waiting on the community survey that they’ve been in the process of completing the last couple weeks. Zilliox said they want all available feedback on the plans of parents and students before proceeding any further.

Currently, Fredonia has received responses from around 300 families to either the general survey sent out, or the individual survey, but are still waiting for roughly an additional 200 responses before the data collection will be complete. This data is expected to be collected by the end of the week.

“We followed up with individual emails after the general survey, and phone calls from the building to remaining families will start this week,” Zilliox said. “We should have the status of remote and private school students by the end of the week.”

Based on the numbers the school has collected so far, Zilliox is optimistic that a return to school will be possible, as the number of families who wish to remain remote will allow the school the space they need to be able to hold in person sessions safely.

“From the 300 responses, 65% of families indicate they’ll remain in their current model,” Zilliox said. “If that trend continues at most levels, it’ll provide the opportunity to move forward and take the next steps. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, we also recognize 200 additional responses could sway that number, but the initial numbers are encouraging.”

Fredonia’s plan to return includes different logistics for each grade level, with some plans involving coming back into the building for four or five days a week, but each grade is based on grade size. The school has to ensure that social distancing guidelines can be maintained in classrooms, making it trickier for grades with a higher number of kids.

“It’s based on some limitations of space in the building and the size of the class,” Zilliox said. “Sixth grade is very large with 125 students, it’s more difficult to bring them back into five or six classrooms than a grade with only 75 students.”

As the school gets additional information during the remainder of the week, the community will continue to be updated as the school finalizes their plans.

“We’re going to continue to move forward as best we can,” Zilliox said. “And there will be more information on the way.”