Times Chronicle & Public Spirit
Superintendent addresses plan for reopening
CHELTENHAM » More than 250 people tuned into a virtual Cheltenham School Board meeting June 11 to talk about a path to resuming educational practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is really an introduction to a number of meetings we’re going to have regarding what’s next for Cheltenham, but at the same time everyone’s having that conversation what’s next for the commonwealth, and I’m sure for the country as we continue to navigate through COVID-19,” said Cheltenham School District Superintendent Wagner Marseille .
Marseille made the decision to shut down all district buildings for cleaning purposes on March 9. A few days later, Gov. Tom Wolf mandated that all schools close in order to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Since then, Wolf implemented a color phased approach to ease restrictions when reopening the state. All remaining counties advanced to the yellow phase on June 5. The Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have since issued guidelines regarding resuming educational practices and youth sports. School districts in the yellow phase can reopen with in-person instruction on July
1, but there needs to be a health and safety plan implemented, according to Marseille.
Marseille encouraged public input and plans to form several committees with participants ranging from parents to students to area residents.
The groups will cover four areas: curriculum and instruction, health and wellness, operations, and extracurricular activities, Marseille said in his presentation.
Marseille said that the district will have to implement policies that adhere to social distancing guidelines including having temperature checks, ensuring older students wear masks and spacing out desks.
“The work of public school education is a social endeavor and to try to keep kids four feet, five feet, six feet apart while they’re in the classroom will be challenging,” he said.
Once Montgomery County receives the all clear to move to the green phase, restrictions are expected to ease, but social distancing would be encouraged with limiting gatherings to 250 people, Marseille said in his presentation. There would also need to be procedures accounted in the cafeteria, as well as overall cleaning and transportation schedules.
Accounting for additional resources would also put a strain on the district’s budget, Marseille warned. He used busing as an example, as the district currently transports 3,800 students to and from school. Limiting the number of students on each bus would call for more buses and bus drivers, both of which the district does not have.
“It creates staffing issues. It creates busing issues. It creates facilities issues if that is the case. So we’re going to have to work through what that looks like,” he said.
Marseille also used a portion of Thursday’s meeting to address the topic of youth sports. He said that all school districts, including Cheltenham School District, must have an “Athletics Health and Safety Plan,” published on the district website that adheres to guidelines from the state education department’s “Preliminary Guidance for Phased Reopening of Pre-K to 12 Schools.” There also needs to be language relating to reduced capacity and limiting the number of people at games or on a field at a given time.
“I want to be very clear that we will follow the guidelines. We will get things in place,” he said.
Marseille introduced the following proposed scenarios for Cheltenham School District to resume educational practices during the COVID-19 pandemic:
One day rotation: students would report to elementary, middle and high schools one full day a week. Students would receive assignments to support their learning for the four days they are not in school.
Two day rotation: all students report to school two full days a week (Tuesday/Thursday or Wednesday/Friday).
A/B Week: half of the students report to school for four full days one week, while the remaining students participate in distance learning at home. The two halves of the student body alternate weeks.
Elementary face-toface and secondary distance learning: to support social distancing, kindergarten through sixth grade students would attend school at the school district’s seven buildings, while seventh through twelfth grade students have a virtual experience.
Full online: all K-12 students participate in synchronous learning from home.
“The reality and the challenge that we have as a district regardless of which model we choose — we have to be prepared that in the event that something goes wrong, and we have to close school, we have to be able to immediately launch a synchronous learning experience for our students for as long as they remain out of the district until they come back after appropriate protocols have been placed,” he said.
When asked about federal funding, Marseille said, “There has yet to be a bailout for public schools to reopen.”
Marseille said that “we’re getting what I believe to be nominal dollars … for COVID-related expenses,” while it costs around an average of $1.8 million to carry out these guidelines.
“There absolutely is not enough federal dollars with the tall ask that is being placed on the shoulders of school systems,” he said.