Schools returning to hybrid education on Jan. 11
Superintendent: Rules for closures ‘more clear’
The North Hills School District will return to hybrid instruction Jan. 11 and, under new guidelines from the state, will not have to close schools despite substantial spread of COVID-19 in the community, Superintendent Patrick Mannarino told board members Tuesday.
Mr. Mannarino said he chose Jan. 11 to provide students, faculty and staff a two-week quarantine period after the holiday break.
After reopening, the district will not close schools unless cases are reported within the building.
The number of cases that would cause a closure depends on the size of the school.
For example, two cases would close West View Elementary, the smallest school in the district, for three days to clean the building. Everybody who was not in direct contact with the infected person could return after those three days.
“The guidelines are a little more clear about when we should close and for how long,” he said.
Two board members, Katie Poniatowski and Rachael Rennebeck, said the district needs to bring students back into schools.
“I do not support remote learning until Jan. 8,” Ms. Poniatowski said, adding that the district “is able to adhere to mitigation guidelines in the hybrid model.”
She also said many families feel in-person instruction via the hybrid model is the “best way for their children to learn.”
“I strongly believe that we need to give families choices and let them make the decision about what is best for their families,” Ms. Poniatowski said.
Ms. Rennebeck said the district needs to “put the stake in the ground and move forward to give students the education they deserve.”
The district recently revised its attendance policy to make it mandatory for students in grades 6 through 12 to log into their classes and turn on their cameras. Some students are skipping virtual classes by using a photo of themselves to make it look like they are in attendance.
“I’m concerned that we do have students who are failing classes, and they are failing classes because they aren’t attending,” he said. “We need our students to be active and engaged in our live sessions.” Since the new policy went into effect, he said he has received comments from teachers and emails from parents about the increase in attendance and participation.
In other business, Allison Mathis was re-elected as president and Helen “Dee” Spade was reelected vice president.
Ms. Mathis said when she was first elected last year, “we had no idea what lay ahead of us in 2020.”
She added that she hopes in 2021 she can “hopefully retire the word ‘unprecedented’ from my vocabulary.”
The board set its 2021 meeting dates as Jan. 14, Feb. 4 and 18, March 4 and 18, April 8, 15 and 19, May 13, June 3 and 10, Aug. 5, Sept. 2 and 16, Oct. 7 and 28, and Dec. 7.