Greater Latrobe forms health committee amid covid-prompted remote instruction

Greater Latrobe School Board is gaining a health and safety committee as it copes with the impact of the covid-19 pandemic.

The board, at a Tuesday meeting that was held virtually, also moved to bolster its school police force while offering an early retirement incentive for veteran instructors.

Board member Dr. Michael Zorch, a retired emergency room physician, was appointed to chair the new committee and will recommend additional members, according to district Superintendent Georgia Teppert.

She noted Zorch has been involved when district officials have consulted with a panel of other area medical professionals before deciding whether to make changes to the Greater Latrobe instructional model.

Zorch “speaks frequently with other physicians,” Teppert said. “Throughout the entire process, he has had input and contact with other medical personnel.”

In light of a recent surge in covid-19 cases in Westmoreland County, and related guidance from state education and health officials, Greater Latrobe moved to full-time remote instruction for all district students, beginning Dec. 4 and continuing through Jan. 18. Teppert said the move was intended to “provide the best continuity of education for our students” while considering the safety of the school community.

As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, the district reported six active covid-19 cases among students and five among staff. There were 87 inactive cases, signifying students or staff who are more than 10 days beyond the onset of their illness and are no longer considered contagious.

When the district contemplates any additional changes in instructional formats and protocols, it will seek input and recommendations from the health and safety committee on “what’s best for the school district,” Teppert said.

She said the board will review the instructional model at its Jan. 12 committee-of-the-whole meeting.

A Greater Latrobe parent of two high school students urged the district to provide more live, synchronous sessions with teachers as part of its online instruction, instead of asynchronous learning where the student works on a lesson on their own or views a pre-recorded presentation by the teacher

The ratio between the synchronous and asynchronous instruction presented in a given course is “a professional decision based on content that needs to be taught” and the amount of remedial help students may need, Teppert said.

The school board voted to offer an early retirement incentive to any professional employee who is part of the teacher bargaining unit and has at least 17 years of experience at Greater Latrobe and at least 20 years of service under the Pennsylvania School Employees Retirement System. The offer includes payment for continued medical benefits for eight years, or until the retiree is eligible for Medicare.

District business administrator Dan Watson noted the retirement of more experienced, higher paid faculty “could provide some budgetary relief”at a time when the pandemic is affecting local tax collections. Also, he indicated, it could provide instructors the chance to move on if they don’t find the new covid-prompted instructional models a good fit.

Eligible union members will have until March 31 to take advantage of the retirement incentive.

Meanwhile, the board accepted the retirement of Margaret Mears, coordinator of transportation and facilities, effective Jan. 22, and it hired retired state trooper Jeffrey Lewis as the sixth member of Greater Latrobe’s contingent of school police officers.