Board OKs modified plan for schools reopening
New parents’ survey shows 28 percent prefer online classes
LANSDALE » The numbers are in, and so are the teachers — and most, if not quite all, of the equipment.
The North Penn School Board heard an update Thursday night on the most recent survey of parents on how they’d like to return to school, and authorized an updated return plan sending students in the youngest grades back first.“We look forward to Kthrough-2 returning on October 26th, and then 3-through-12 on November 9th,” said Superintendent Curt Dietrich.
In late July the board voted to return students to online-only instruction at the start of school, with a goal of returning at least
some to classrooms by ea rly November. Since then, st a f f have g iven frequent updates on the return plans, including hear ing from tea chers about what has and has not gone well so far, while the district surveyed parents for a second time on whether they’d prefer for their children to stay online or return to school.
On Thursday night, Dietrich announced the results of the second survey, and how it has given staff a clearer picture of how full schools will be.
“The results are in now f rom t he e duc at ion a l choice selection of our families, and 28 percent of our families selected 100 percent v ir tual,” he said.
“Sixty-eight percent of our families chose hybrid, and you’ ll rec a ll we’re splitting those into two groups, so that would be 34 percent on a particular day,” Dietrich said.
That 34 percent of students in regular classes each day would be joined by roughly four percent more students who have special education needs and would be eligible to come into schools multiple days, more than the split hybrid groups.
“So on any one day, we’re expecting about 38 percent of our student population to be in the building, so we’ ll ease into this via that hybrid mode, and stay tuned to
see how things play out,” said Dietrich.
“I’m ver y encouraged by the progress that we’ve seen in the readying of our buildings for the return of our students,” he said.
The board also voted in September to order $500,000 worth of largescreen monitors to help teachers see and stream to s t udent s at home, equipment demonstrated for the board in early October. All of the roughly 800 telev ision set s ordered have now been delivered, Dietrich told the board, and while some are still awaiting the mobile carts they’ll be mounted on, teachers have already st a r ted v i sit i n g cla ssrooms again to train to use it.
“There’s a lot of excitement for the use of this audio-visual equipment, as a way to deliver instruction, so we’re really excited and pleased about
that,” he said.
A rev ised ret ur n to school plan was unanimously approved by the board, with modifications to specif y that students w ill retur n in g roups, with a “Group A” attending in person on Mondays and Wednesdays, a “Group B” in schools on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the two groups a lter nating attendance on Fridays. The revised plan a lso says cla sse s on Fridays “w ill be dismissed two hours early for all students in order for teachers to have additional preparation time” starting on Nov. 6, and includes updated guidance on maintaining safe distancing and sanitizing for those in schools.
“I recommend the approva l of t he pha sed school reopening health and safety plan, that has been revised to address the shif t to a blended model of instruction, beg inning October 26th, 2020,” Dietrich said, before the board unanimously approved it.
Board President Tina Stoll added her thanks to Assistant Superintendent Jenna Rufo for her work on developing the plan and the most recent revisions, and board member Jonathan Kassa added his own thanks to the district’s employees, particularly support staf f, for their efforts so far.
“T hey’ve been in the bu i ld i n g s f or over a month already. T hey ’re working with students in homes, in buildings, preparing food, cleaning buildings, transpor ting students,” he said.
“They’ve already faced some of the r isk s that many of us are dealing with as well. And, though their hours were cut earlier, and we’ve gone over those rea sons, they ’ ve continued to perform at just the highest levels possible,” Kassa said.
T he s c ho ol boa rd fielded one public comment during the meeting Thursday night, from parent Owen Wilcox of Hatfield who said he was glad to hear students are returning in groups, and hopes they will be back in larger numbers soon.
“I hope, when all of the kids are eventually back in November, the board and administration can kind of keep their foot on the pedal, and really start to develop plans for if and when we can expand that,” he said.
Wilcox also asked if the board could post updated COVID-19 testing data for the district on the district’s website, and maintain an online option for residents to watch and take part in school board meetings, and Dietrich said he would make sure both are done.
North Penn’s full school board next meets at 7 p.m. on Nov. 10 and upcoming committee meetings include the Safe Schools and Facilities and Operations committee at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. respectively on Oct. 26. All meetings are planned to be held at the district Educational Services Center, 401 E. Hancock St., with limited inperson attendance and a streaming option available. For more information, visit www. NPenn.org.