Hempfield Area outlines phased reopening for high school students returning full time

Leaders in the Hempfield Area School District have laid out a schedule for when high school students will return to in-person classes five days a week.

Starting March 26, senior students will be the first to fully return as part of the phased reopening. They will be followed by the junior class, which will return March 30. Sophomores go back April 7 and freshman return April 9.

High school students have been attending classes through a hybrid model of learning, or a mix of in-person and online learning. When students return, they will continue to follow an A/B schedule. However, if there are too many students to maintain social distancing in the classroom, overflow spaces will be utilized, and students will attend class virtually.

Students will be rotated to attend class in person when seats become available.

“We’re excited about the high school, welcoming students back fourth quarter,” Superintendent Tammy Wolicki said during Monday’s school board meeting.

The move to return high school students to the classroom comes almost a month after middle school students returned and weeks after school officials sent out surveys for high school students to indicate their preference of how they would like to attend classes. Middle school students returned to in-person classes five days a week on Feb. 22.

Since surveys were first sent out at the start of the month, district leaders have been working to create overflow spaces, determine where students can safely eat breakfast and lunch, and solve other issues such as parking and staffing.

“There’s a lot more logistics with the high school, bigger kids, bigger problems, but we’re excited about that,” Matthew Conner, assistant superintendent of secondary education, said during a board meeting earlier this month.