Elementary students to return for 4 days in school

Parkland School District elementary students will be able to return to their buildings four days a week starting April 12.

Elementary students can attend school Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, with remote learning on Wednesdays, according to an announcement from the district sent Friday. Students in classrooms will maintain 3-6 of social distancing, closer than the 6 feet students in hybrid learning maintain now.

The district will continue to offer an all-remote option.

In an email sent to families of middle and high school students, district Superintendent Richard Sniscak said the district isn’t ready to open secondary schools to more in-person learning. Obstacles to opening include staff vaccinations, maintaining 6 feet of social distancing while students’ masks are off for lunch, and the ability to maintain 6 feet of social distancing while students move between classes.

“As the weather breaks, it increases our ability to take classes outdoors in order to relieve the space obstacles that our current facilities are facing,” he wrote. “Our goal is to bring more students back for more in-person learning while keeping the health and safety of everyone at the forefront of our decision-making process.”

Sniscak wrote that the district will be back in touch with secondary families by March 31.

In the message to elementary families, Sniscak noted that because close contacts are considered to be those who have spent more than 15 minutes within 6 feet of someone, the “likelihood exists” that more individuals may need to quarantine because of confirmed COVID cases.

Parkland’s announcement comes as other Lehigh Valley school districts are announcing reopening plans, which often call for elementary students to return first. Districts’ reopening plans have been shaped in part by an announcement this month that school staff would get the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine and be able to be vaccinated this month. The state prioritized elementary teachers and support staff, among others, for the first round of the vaccine.