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School districts, universities preparing for return to classes in the fall

5 min read
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Julie Cowan, a maintenance worker at Canon-McMillan, cleans and disinfects cabinets in a classroom. The school district recently sent out a survey to patents to help determine how to prepare for the start of school in the fall.

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Robert Gostic, a custodian at Canon-McMillan High School, cleans a classroom.

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Robert Gostic, a custodian at Canon-McMillan High School, prepares to clean a classroom.

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Julie Cowan, a maintenance worker at Canon-McMillan, cleans and disinfects cabinets in a classroom. The school district recently sent out a survey to patents to help determine how to prepare for the start of school in the fall.

What will school look like in the fall?

School districts in Washington and Greene counties are trying to determine how and if they can safely bring students back to school in the fall amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Administrators said they have sent out surveys to parents and guardians to collect input they’ll use for preparing health and safety plans and deciding how classes are taught.

Carmichaels Area School District Superintendent Fred Morecraft said the district is forming a task force and sub-committees to analyze how to reopen school in September while keeping students, faculty and staff members safe from COVID-19.

“There are so many what-ifs. We’ve met about this multiple times as administrators, and you talk about one thing and you end up going down the rabbit hole,” said Morecraft. “Any time you ask a question, you end up with more questions than answers.”

School districts are weighing three main options for re-opening: in-person instruction, a hybrid system that includes students splitting time between on-campus classes and remote learning and remote learning.

The hybrid system would entail students attending classes Mondays and Tuesdays while others attend Thursdays and Fridays, while Wednesdays and weekends would be dedicated to cleaning and sanitizing.

“(Determining a plan) is absolutely our No. 1 priority right now, but we’re not going to rush to any decision. We want to be deliberate and contemplative and do what’s best for our students, staff and community,” said Burgettstown Area School District Superintendent Dr. James Walsh. “It’s very complicated for us, trying to maintain our faithfulness to the guidance of the Department of Education and doing education the way we know that it is best delivered.”

School districts have the authority to make its own decision on re-opening, but their plan must be approved by the school board and submitted to the state Department of Education for review.

Canon-McMillan Superintendent Michael Daniels said school districts face a multitude of issues besides determining which education model to adopt, such as making decisions about wearing masks, taking temperatures, maintaining social distancing, providing meals and addressing sports and extracurricular activities.

Among the biggest is transportation.

“It’s not going to be feasible for us to honor the (state Department of Education) guidelines in place that say one kid per seat, and every other row. We’d be transporting literally 12 to 14 kids on a 72-passenger bus, and there is no way we can do that unless we increase our transportation fleet by three or four times. It’s impossible,” said Daniels.

Trinity Area School District Superintendent Dr. Michael Lucas said the district has received the results of its survey, and 85% of parents and guardians who responded indicated they wanted students to return to the classroom when school starts.

The remaining 15% who responded were split between a hybrid return and remote learning.

“The overwhelming majority want our students to come back to regular, traditional school. Our goal is to have everyone back at school in September, but we need to monitor the situation and see what happens, and we want to assure the safety of everyone,” said Lucas.

The Department of Education has released guidance and a template on reopening schools, colleges and universities, based on input from administrators, teachers, parents, students and lawmakers.

Morecraft said area superintendents have worked closely to explore options and to share information and ideas for returning to school as safely as possible.

“We are trying to make the best decision for the children, that’s why we’re here,” said Morecraft. “We are going to do our due diligence and we want to hear from the perspective of parents and consider all of the factors including safety, cleaning and maintenance, finance, transportation, meals and curriculum.”

Waynesburg University announced this week it will resume in-person classes Aug. 24, but will end the fall semester Nov. 20. Finals will be conducted online from Dec. 1 through Dec. 4.

“In creating this schedule for the fall semester, safety was a paramount consideration. We are using the best possible information available at the current time. By finishing early and eliminating breaks, we are making every reasonable effort to mitigate the potential for transmission of COVID-19 on our campus and in the surrounding community,” the university said in a statement.

California University of Pennsylvania and Washington & Jefferson College have not yet released plans for the fall semester.

Daniels said the school district aims to have its health and safety plan ready for board approval June 25.

He cautioned, too, the decisions Canon-McMillan and other school districts make are based on the region operating in the green phase during the pandemic.

“The virus is still here. We could go into yellow, we could go into red, God forbid. We’re feeling like we want to open up and take off our masks, but we have to be careful and not fail to realize this is still upon us and is very real,” said Daniels. “We still need to follow social distance guidelines no matter how frustrating it is to us.”

Daniels said it won’t be an easy task, but he believes the school district will implement a plan to meet the learning needs of students, while prioritizing safety.

“If you think about it, none of us globally has ever experienced anything of the proportions of this pandemic. It is a new area we are treading in. It’s interrupted all of our lives and changed the way we go about our agenda every day. But if you told me in March, (the school district) is required to turn its brick-and-mortar traditional school into an online remote learning facility and you have two weeks to do it, I would have laughed,” said Daniels. “But through the cooperation and good will and spirit of our teams and parents, we got it done. We made the impossible possible, and I know we can do it again.”

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