Even with all eight school districts in Door and Kewaunee counties allowing for at least some in-person learning for the last month, some families and students are sticking with remote instruction.

Local school districts allowed families to keep their learning virtually if they chose to for the academic year. Kewaunee, Sevastopol, and Gibraltar have used models during the year that has limited the number of students in the building at one time with students learning virtually the days they were not in the classroom.

The percentage of students opting to stick to virtual learning entirely varies from district to district and from grade to grade. Sevastopol Elementary School Principal Aaron Hilts says about seven percent of his students have remained virtual this year while Gibraltar Secondary School Principal Gereon Methner says some grades saw up to 25 percent of their kids not return to the building when they reopened their doors on January 11th.

The reasons could vary as well. While some families worried about the health of loved ones, Sevastopol senior Zoe Kuehn says she wanted to stay in virtual learning so she could give herself the best chance of having a full basketball season. When her team was quarantined at the beginning of December, Kuehn was worried for her teammates and their families. Staying at home during her final year of high school involved some long family talks, but ultimately she believes she made the right decision.

Sturgeon Bay School District Superintendent Dan Tjernagel said earlier this year that as circumstances and conditions have changed, students that started the year remotely have made their way back into the classroom. Southern Door School District went as far as developing a program to help those students interested in returning to in-person classes to transition back slowly. You can hear the rest of Kuehn’s story online at NEWRadioSportsNetwork.com.