New Kensington-Arnold School District reopening plan presented

New Kensington-Arnold School District’s health and safety plan calls for students and staff to wear face coverings and practice social distancing as much as possible when returning to schools in late August.

Wearing masks on buses and temperature checks upon arrival are also part of the plan that was discussed at a school board committee meeting Wednesday night.

“It is the intention to bring back students full time with safety protocols in place,” Superintendent John Pallone said. “There’s nominal risk in what we’re considering to do.”

District officials were still discussing the plan with parents as of press time.

Children with health conditions that make it difficult to wear face coverings will not be mandated to do so, according to the superintendent.

Those families will have to sign a waiver. A master list of those families will be stored in the administration office, and building-­specific lists will be given to principals.

The plan is still in draft form. The board plans to approve it July 28.

Parents must send in survey

Parents will have the option to continue their children’s remote learning or allow them to go back to school.

A New Kensington-Arnold Cyber Academy is also available for families who want to try a cyber school.

A survey will be sent out this month for parents to inform the district of their educational choice.

Pallone said it’s important for families to respond to the survey to help with planning.

District officials say they will assume families who do not respond will be returning their children to school buildings.

“We want the largest number of students to stay active on our roll (in the buildings) and keep staff as much as we can,” Pallone said.

Board President John Cope said he understands if families are cautious about their children returning to school.

“I don’t think anybody can feel safe going back to school,” he said. “That’s my opinion. I didn’t feel safe — I retired.”

Cope formerly worked as a teacher at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh.

Board Vice President John DeAntonio said he’d be in favor of continuing remote learning the first nine weeks and see how things are before allowing students back into the schools.

“Remotely right now seems to be the safest way (for students),” he said. “The education part of it is iffy. What we did in the spring time was adequate. Hopefully, because that they’ve had some time and hopefully will get some training, that it will become more significant.”

Plans for return intentionally vague

Cope called the 36-page proposal a “skeleton of a plan” for which more details need to be finalized.

Pallone said the plan was intentionally written vaguely and pliable for a variety of circumstances, such as Gov. Tom Wolf moving the state back to yellow or red phase because of spikes in covid-19 cases.

“This plan will allow us to be flexible enough to go through a color change,” Pallone said.

Board member Chelsea Stone said there’s not yet enough information in the plan for parents to make the best decision for their children.

The plan calls for buses to be thoroughly cleaned in between routes.

Hot spots such as doorknobs, stairwells and handrails in schools will be sanitized frequently throughout the day.

Hand sanitizers will be available in all classrooms and learning areas. Desks will all face the same way and extraneous furniture such as beanbag chairs will be stored to allow more room to social distance.

Students will not be permitted to share materials, and water fountains will be replaced with water bottle fill stations.

Student meals will be boxed for grab-and-go serving, and cafeterias will be restructured to promote social distancing.

The plan is available for review on the district’s website, nkasd.com.

It’s expected to be submitted to the state Department of Education sometime this month.

New Kensington-Arnold’s plan includes feedback from a survey of district parents and guardians. In June, based on early survey results, Pallone said the district was projecting that up to 600 students won’t come back to buildings in the fall because of covid-19.