Fox Chapel Area School Board will vote Aug. 10 on its back-to-school plan, with the outside chance that elementary students would return to classes full-time.

Superintendent Mary Catherine Reljac made a lengthy presentation during a special board meeting Monday, saying that plans currently include hybrid and online options for families but added that there’s also a five-day return plan for elementary students in case that’s recommended by the state.

The board meets at 7 p.m. Aug. 10 to approve a final plan.

“We’re trying to be careful in meeting each student’s needs,” Reljac said to the more than 320 participants of the board’s Zoom meeting.

A back-to-school coalition comprising 120 people met multiple times since May to devise a strategy for returning to school amid the pandemic. There were representatives from sectors that include education, athletics, technology, special needs and more.

For elementary students, the tentative plan for families who choose hybrid learning is to send students to school twice a week, either on Mondays and Thursdays or Tuesdays and Fridays.

This would provide more regularity between students and teachers than sending children two days in a row and working from home the rest of the week, Reljac said.

Students would remain with the same teacher during face-to-face learning and online. Days in school would be partially decided by older siblings’ schedules.

Reljac said students would remain in the same class for much of the day to limit transitions and exposure but teachers would try to schedule special classes outdoors if possible.

Final groupings depend on how many students choose to return to school. The grouping are expected to be released by Aug. 13.

The four elementary schools will be cleaned every night with additional sanitization on Wednesdays.

For high-schoolers, three options include hybrid, FCA Virtual Blended and Fox Chapel Area Online. The difference between the latter two is largely the amount of guided instruction.

Bonnie Berzonski, district coordinator of communications, said FCA Virtual Blended is a fully online learning environment that includes live online studies provided by district teachers, as well as asynchronous learning. Fox Chapel Area Online is completely self-directed.

High-school and middle-school students who choose the hybrid model will move between classes.

Reljac said that guidance from state and Allegheny County health officials might make it necessary to shift between the models, depending on the number of covid-19 cases at any given time. Students will also be permitted to request a switch from their learning option at the end of every grading period.

Students and staff in all buildings will be required to wear masks at all times and stay at least 6 feet apart. Reljac said there won’t be any concessions on those rules.

When they are eating or drinking, they can take masks off but otherwise it is non-negotiable, she said.

“If we are blessed with nice weather, we’ll be having picnic lunches,” she said.

Sanitization stations will be at the entry of each building. Students and staff are expected to perform a symptom check before coming to school.

“As humans, we tend to cluster but the strict adherence will be at least 6 feet apart,” she said.

Class size will depend on how many students choose the hybrid model.

Berzonski said 87% of district families were represented in an online survey conducted earlier this summer.

Results showed 59% of those who responded said they preferred an in-school option, if available with safety precautions in place.

About 67% said they would want online interaction with teachers if a virtual class option is instituted.

Starting Wednesday, the district planned to release videos of what a typical learning day will look like for both hybrid and online methods. Commitment forms for virtual learning also were to be emailed to families this week, as well as a transportation opt-out form on Wednesday.

Reljac said buses will be cleaned between each run, and drivers will clean high-touch surfaces. The buses also will be sprayed each night. Depending on the number of students, there could be two students in a seat.

Seats will be assigned, for tracking purposes, in case of exposure.

For more on the district’s return-to-school plans, visit fcasd.edu.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)