Penn Hills School District planning to have students back in school 4 days a week

Penn Hills School District officials will move forward with plans to gradually bring back students for in-person instruction four days a week.

The board unanimously voted Jan. 27 to authorize administrators to proceed with their plans of having first-graders, middle-schoolers, juniors and seniors back Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays starting Feb. 16.

All students would learn online Wednesdays so staff could thoroughly clean the buildings.

The remaining grades would return Monday, March 1.

Superintendent Nancy Hines said families would still have the option of attending all classes online.

“The principals right now are trying to gauge family interest (of having more days in school),” Hines said. “It seems to be growing. I think when we first thought about this plan and we asked for board approval at the end of October, the numbers were probably less in terms of who was interested.

“Kids have been home a long time. They were home over the holidays,” Hines said “I think the families are ready to send the kids back to school. The principals I know are really excited.”

Board President Erin Vecchio said she believes most parents would welcome the opportunity to have their children in schools more often.

“These kids are not learning online,” Vecchio said. “The parents are all reaching out to us. Every single day I have a person text me, ‘Do you have any updates? Are we bringing the kids back?’”

The district’s previous plan to offer four-day, in-person learning was scrapped in November because of a spike in covid cases.

The board had authorized kindergarten students to come back to the elementary school starting that month, with the goal of extending that option to grades 1, 6, 7, 8, 11 and 12 on Dec. 1 and the remaining students in January.

Instead, the district remained in its hybrid model with students split into groups with each attending classes two days a week. Kindergartners and special-education students can come to class four days a week.

Vecchio said the district continues to monitor covid case numbers as well as safety regulations, and will reevaluate where things are after the mid-February shift, in case plans need to be altered prior to all students returning.