School reopening plans could change multiple times prior to first day

Weeks before students are expected to return to school, some districts are scrapping reopening plans in an effort to match state guidance and to account for spikes in coronavirus cases.

At least two area districts, Franklin Regional and Bethel Park, drastically altered health and safety plans school leaders worked on for most of the summer. While these are the first major revisions to plans so far, continual changes could last through the beginning of the school year, said Mark DiRocco, executive director of Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators.

“I think it’s very fluid,” DiRocco said. “As the virus spikes in certain geographical areas of the state, superintendents and school boards reassess the data, try to make a determination whether or not they think it’s safe to open their schools for in-person instruction and they make decisions from there.”

According to DiRocco, school boards can expect to revise plans through the first weeks of September.

Plans also could be impacted if new information comes from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, “just to make sure that all the processes you put in place are still valid based on new information that’s coming out,” DiRocco said.

Franklin Regional this month changed its plan, which had been approved in July, after new state guidance was released regarding social distancing, when to wear masks, one-way hallways in schools and more.

Now Franklin Regional high school students no longer have the option to attend in-person classes five day a week because of an inability to provide 6 feet of social distancing in classrooms.

School officials cited the July guidance that did not make reference to allowing masked students and staff within 3 feet of each other, something school leaders said was included in initial guidelines released in June. Superintendent Gennaro Piraino said school leaders felt an ethical obligation to update the plan.

Is a guideline really a mandate?

“Once you put guidelines in place and then you choose not to follow the guidelines, you create a liability risk for yourself,” Piraino said. “So, you might say these are guidelines, but when it comes to the Department of Education, they’re really mandates.

“At some point you may have to justify what you chose to ignore.”

Piraino added he is disappointed districts are subject to changes based on state guidance, noting several plan revisions could have been largely avoided had school leaders been included in creating initial guidance.

According to Eric Levis, spokesman for the Department of Education, state-released recommendations are meant to build on each other. He did not specify any major changes between the initial guidance, which outlined details reopening plans should include, or those released last month.

Tammy Wolicki, superintendent of Hempfield Area schools, said some of the bigger changes that came in July centered around contact tracing and how to respond to a confirmed case, loading school buses to ensure as much space as possible between students and having parents take their children’s temperature daily before attending school.

Additional recommendations required tweaksto Hempfield’s plan, which has students following a blended approach.

“These plans are fluid and may change as local conditions change,” Levis said. “A school may have originally planned for full in-person instruction, but may now be planning a hybrid approach based on a number of factors,” including a rise in covid cases, parents requesting hybrid options and schools ensuring social distancing mandates are met.

Hybrid models

Bethel Park initially called for a full in-person return. Now, school board members are considering a hybrid model because of a rise in the number of coronavirus cases in Allegheny County, “constructive criticism” received by parents and influence from other districts that chose a blended approach.

“We looked at some of the template recommendations from the Department of Education,” board president Pamela Dobos said. “One of the templates showed the hybrid model, and with the hybrid model and dividing the student population in half, we would be able to achieve that social distancing and keep everyone safer than we thought before.”

Dobos said school leaders were expecting to have to alter their plans prior to the start of school because of the fluidity of the situation.

Hybrid models are becoming a popular choice among parents across the country, a Washington Post-Schar School survey found. About 80% of parents across the country favor holding school at least partially online, while 44% want their schools to offer a mix of in-person and virtual learning. After that, 39% of parents said they would prefer a cyber option.

Based on new guidance released by Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration, schools in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties are recommended to follow that hybrid model. The recommendations are based on standard public health metrics for community transmissions and the percent of positive diagnostic tests.

Tracking will be based on county statistics over a two-week period. From that, the state has set metrics for low, moderate and substantial levels, which will be used to determine whether schools should offer in-person or online classes.

Leaders with the state’s health and education departments said districts should remain consistent but flexible in how they educate students.

“You’re going to have districts making those decisions based on the data they have at that time,” DiRocco said. “I think you might have some districts who open up with remote learning but … they might revert to some kind of in-person, whether it’s hybrid or bringing all the kids back, and vice versa.”

DiRocco said he expects additional details will be flushed out by the education department prior to the start of school.

Always changing

Kevin Hensil, deputy press secretary for Wolf, said officials will continually provide guidance and resources to districts as information becomes available, something some schools have prepared for by adding several scenarios to reopening plans.

The Fox Chapel Area School District planned for a full reopening for all students, a hybrid option and a fully online version, said Superintendent Mary Catherine Reljac. As guidance has changed over the past two months, the district has been able to alter plans based on their three models, she said.

While getting to the start of school may seem like the finish line, it is only the tip of what could be a slew of new issues to work through. Plans made in July, DiRocco said, may be irrelevant by September.

“There just aren’t any good options here,” DiRocco said. “No matter what option you choose, there’s a significant downside to it, there’s a significant risk to it and consequently, I think, in the history of public education, this has to be one of the most difficult times ever for school administrators and school board members to try and make decisions.”