Portsmouth makes plans for school staff to return
PORTSMOUTH — All employees in the Portsmouth school division will head back to their physical work locations in two weeks, and students will return in phases starting in January, the School Board decided this week.
All employees will return Nov. 23, following their normal operating schedules, the board voted Thursday.
Pre-K through third grade students will return Jan. 4. Those in fourth, fifth and sixth grades will return Jan. 19, and middle and high school students will follow suit on Feb. 2.
So classrooms can be set up for social distancing, with fewer people there at a time, each student will only be in class two days a week — either Monday and Tuesday or Thursday and Friday. They’ll learn from home the other three days.
The board approved the plan 6-1, with member De’Andre Barnes opposed.
Thursday evening, Barnes asked in a Facebook post how the division’s staff feel about staff returning.
Superintendent Elie Bracy III said one major reason for the return is to help special education students who need extra support that’s hard to give remotely.
At staff’s recommendation, the board agreed teachers will be able to work remotely on Wednesdays, otherwise known as “flipped learning days,” school division spokeswoman Kathy O’Hara said in an email.
The division said its human resources department will survey all employees between now and Nov. 13 to “assess their return-towork intentions.”
That will let officials know how many employees are unable or unwilling to come back in person.
“The survey ... will identify how employees with personal circumstances can proceed with filing for the appropriate leave or an ADA accommodation,” O’Hara said.
The division also has started surveying younger students’ families and guardians to see how many plan to return after the new year.
They can either choose the “hybrid” model of two days in class and three days at home, or a 100% online model.
Secondary parents will be surveyed in the near future, the school division said.