New Kensington-Arnold delays start of school year to Sept. 8

New Kensington-Arnold School District will delay the start of the school year by eight days to provide more time for officials to make coronavirus-related preparations and to help students and staff beat the heat, officials announced late Thursday.

School will start Tuesday, Sept. 8, the day after Labor Day, rather than the originally announced Aug. 31.

District leaders have considered starting the school year later for several years, according to Assistant Superintendent John Banko. The school buildings don’t have air conditioning and can become sweltering during late summer.

The pandemic added another element to the decision, Banko said.

“We’ve talked in previous years about starting a little bit later,” he said. “We’re facing a unique situation, and this will give us another week to prepare for the start of school.”

The school board decided on the delay Wednesday during a closed-door executive session.

The board’s decision was informal and has not been finalized by a public vote. The board will make the delay official at its Aug. 28 meeting, Banko said.

Teachers and staff have been notified.

The district will soon post additional details for parents to its website and Facebook page, Banko said.

Many local school districts have decided to start the school year with online instruction or adopt a hybrid approach, in which students split their time between classrooms and home learning each week to reduce crowd sizes.

New Kensington-Arnold instead will reopen to all students Sept. 8, sticking to the plan adopted last week.

Parents who do not want their students to return to school can opt for online learning — an option 45% of parents said they would consider in a recent district survey.

Students who return will be required to wear a mask or face shield, and schools will close if there is a spike in cases.

“If we’re going to expect kids and teachers to wear masks in the school, if we can reduce the number of days they have to do that in warm classrooms the better,” Banko said.