South Fayette School District reopening plan presented, approval set for next week

South Fayette School District’s health and safety plan for the upcoming school year requires students and staff to wear face coverings and practice social distancing as much as possible when returning to school.

It also provides an option for parents to continue their student’s distance learning or enroll in a cyber academy if they’re not comfortable sending their son or daughter back into the buildings.

All options require a semester commitment before switching from online or in-person education.

Enrollment forms will be available for families so they can chose which educational option they want for their children.

Forms are due back by July 31.

The plan was presented during a school board meeting Tuesday evening.

It’s expected to be approved July 21.

“These are living breathing documents, updated and subjected to change weekly and/or daily as we proceed through this difficult time in our history,” board President Leonard Fornella said. “We want you to know and understand that we’re all in this together. We’re all doing what we can for the betterment of our students, the safety of our students and what we believe would be the best option for South Fayette.”

The plan also calls for parents to check their student’s temperatures and have them wear face coverings on buses.

Bus drivers will wear masks and have some available for riders who don’t have one.

The district is also expected to provide face shields for students at start of the school year.

Hand sanitizers will be available in all classrooms, and signs promoting hand washing and social distancing will be posted throughout the schools.

District officials said they’re working to provide kindergartners with iPads so every student will have a device for distance learning if necessary.

“Our goal has been and always will be to put ourselves in the best position with the most amounts of tools to provide the highest quality of education through a variety of scenarios,” said Jeffrey Evancho, assistant to the superintendent for secondary education. “That’s layered on top of an ever-changing landscape, the educational landscape as well as the health and wellness and guidance, as well as our community and student concerns.”

The plan was posted to the district website, along with a message from Superintendent Ken Lockette.

“With the constant changes that are occurring with the covid-19 crisis, the district will continue to be flexible, and the aforementioned documents will be revised as needed and communicated to the public,” Lockette said. “This crisis is not just a school district challenge, but a community, regional, and national challenge, and it will take the collected efforts of us all to navigate through this evolving crisis. We appreciate your patience, support, and understanding as we work through solutions together.”

He said the district will follow all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines as well as work with local health officials to provide the safest environment for students and staff.

If a covid-19 case occurs

Parents expressed concern about what may happen if there’s a positive covid-19 case in the district.

Lockette said that person would be quarantined, pickup arrangements would be made with their family and the Allegheny County Health Department would be notified. Further action would be directed by health officials.

The plan presentation, as well as a discussion about student/teacher/parent surveys and a cyber academy lasted about three hours Tuesday night.

Board members decided to postpone approving the plan so they’d have more time to respond to parental comments.

Surveys indicated most students and families were satisfied with their remote learning experience following the statewide school shutdowns mid-March through the rest of last school year.