LEWISBURG — Superintendent Bill Derringer thanked all staff in their efforts preparing for the closure and online education of Tri-County North during the Board of Education meeting on Monday, March 16.

He shared, not only is he thankful, but parents of an elementary student also sent in a thank you note.

“I wanted to share that with you and echo that thanks. From the time the governor said our schools were going to be closed for the next three weeks, our teachers sprung into action of getting things ready, the administrators started to have discussions with them, and they started preparing things,” he said.

Derringer also mentioned what seems like daily updates and changes at the state level. He promised to provide the board with the most current information possible, knowing that things could change the very next day.

He reviewed the schedule for Tri-County North, which saw students tuning in for online classes on Wednesday, March 18. For students who do not have access to the internet, they were allowed to pick up a packet of work on that same day, so everyone has access to their work for the next three weeks, or even longer if necessary.

Derringer added, he does expect schools to be out for longer than three weeks and the district is preparing for that possibility.

After Wednesday, March 18, Tri-County North teachers were permitted to stay home to do their remote teaching. Teachers are to be accessible to their students from the hours of 9:15 a.m. until 1:15 p.m. every day. That way students can get quick responses for any questions they might have.

Derringer also discussed a collaboration between all five Preble County Success Liaisons. They will be hosting a Preble County K-12 Student Food Distribution in order to feed the children of Preble County, who may now be in need without access to breakfast and lunch.

Every week, families in Preble County can have access to seven breakfasts and seven lunches for everyone in their house. There are pickup locations in each school district once a week, so everyone has access to food during this hiatus. It was decided parents would pick up food once a week, so single parents aren’t burdened with trying to meet too many times.

Derringer added, they intend this program to go through spring break and if the break from school goes longer, they hope to see this program continue.

“We’re gonna give that a shot and see how it goes,” he said. “Again, if it is a three week thing and we’re back to school, we’ll feed them at school, business as usual, but if it goes longer than that, [the success liaison’s] think this is sustainable.

“If this doesn’t work, we’ll meet again and try to come up with a way to do that.”