Deer Lakes returning to hybrid schedule

Deer Lakes School District will return to a hybrid instruction schedule Tuesday, with modified hours that will allow high school students to have nine periods of live instruction per day.

Students have been learning remotely since November in response to rising covid-19 cases.

Remote learning will still be available for families uncomfortable with in-person learning.

“We encourage families who chose a remote learning model to remain in this model to limit the amount of students in the buildings at one time,” Superintendent Janell Logue-Belden wrote in a letter to district families, dated Monday. “For families in the hybrid model, we continue to encourage you to transport your child to school to limit exposure on buses.”

The hybrid model will split students into two groups — green and gold — that will attend in-person classes on opposite days.

Students in the green group will attend in-person classes Mondays and Tuesdays, while students in the gold group learn remotely. Students in the gold group will learn in person Wednesdays and Thursdays, while green students learn remotely. All students will learn remotely Fridays.

Students in kindergarten through fifth grade will be in school from 9:15 a.m. to 3:20 p.m., while students in sixth through 12th grades will be in school from 7:45 a.m. to 2:35 p.m.

The schedule “allows the high school staff to meet with their students for all nine periods per day for live instruction,” Logue-Belden said.

Students will not attend school this Monday because it is an in-service day for teachers.

Logue-Belden said the new schedule will be in place until further notice while Allegheny County is in the substantial risk range of covid-19 transmission. But that could change depending on state and local regulations.

Counties deemed to have a “substantial” risk have an average covid incidence rate of more than 100 cases per 100,000 residents or a test-positivity rate of greater than 10%.

Allegheny County’s incidence rate is 267.6 cases per 100,000 residents and it has a test positivity rate of 11.5%, according to the state Department of Health.

Daily health screenings will be required for each student, Logue-Belden said, and the district will continue to follow safety measures recommended by state officials, such as wearing face coverings and social distancing.