Norwin middle, high school students to stay in virtual learning mode through December

With covid cases rising in Norwin schools and high absenteeism among employees, middle and high school students will have virtual instruction for the remainder of December, the district announced Thursday.

Elementary and intermediate middle school students will return to a hybrid mode two days of in-person learning and three days of remote learning on Monday. The district has been teaching all 5,300 students virtually since they returned from Thanksgiving break.

Norwin Superintendent Jeff Taylor said the district does not have a sufficient number of adults to safely have students in the middle and high schools four days a week under a hybrid mode.

“The lack of substitutes across all categories of employees continues to be a critical issue for us — especially at the secondary schools,” Taylor said.

The absenteeism rates can be attributed to non-covid-related illnesses, covid positive cases, state-mandated quarantines and leaves of absences, both covid-related and for other reasons, Taylor said. Norwin has reported 114 students and staff have tested positive for coronavirus since the beginning of the school year, as of Wednesday.

While the 2,400 high school and middle school students will be taught remotely, they will receive instruction through a live synchronous mode beginning Monday.

Since Aug. 31, Norwin has been conducting its remote learning in an asynchronous mode because it did not have sufficient bandwidth, Taylor said. That technology has been upgraded.

A small group of special education students may be attending school in-person during this time period.

Taylor did not say when the district will announce its instruction plans for when school resumes in January, after the holiday break.

Norwin’s neighboring districts — Hempfield Area and Penn-Trafford — will have some students in class next week.

While the state health department has said covid-19 has not been transmitted in the schools, it is being transmitted in the Norwin community. Data for Dec. 3 shows there is an covid incidence rate of 346 and a positivity rate of 31% — which is double the positivity rate of Westmoreland County, Taylor said.

On Thursday, the district announced an additional seven students and staff have reported they had tested positive for coronavirus, while reducing the previous total to 113. The district was notified that two high school students, two Hillcrest Intermediate students, one Sheridan Terrance student and one Hillcrest staff member and one Stewartsville Elementary staff member have covid, raising the total to 120 since school began.