At a special meeting held online on Monday, the Weatherly Area School Board heard proposals for what school could be like this fall.

As a start, an extensive list of health and safety changes and upgrades was listed. Some of these are rules about masks, designating an up staircase and down staircase in the high school, rules if someone become sick including a quarantine space, and rules about the cafeteria - including K-8 grade students being served lunch in their classrooms, while high school students will go get their lunches and return to their classrooms to eat.

The list of these rules will soon be posted on the district website.

This plan follows guidelines set by the state, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and federal guidelines on phased reopening of schools.

Board members approved the health and safety plan unanimously.

Three options

For attendance this fall, three options were presented, to be put out to parents as a survey to get comments, ideas and answers as to which option they would choose for their children. That survey will be out soon, with answers due by July 24.

Option one is for in-school learning: grades K to 6 to attend school daily from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; with grades 7 and 8 attending three days a week from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and online teaching during those same hours the other two days.

Grades 9 to 12 would get in-person classes for two days from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and two days of synchronous online instruction - similar to being in class, with one day of online learning on the student’s own with support from teachers, and in person office hours available.

Pre-K would be every other day, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., with a maximum 10 students per class.

Option two is that students in any grade can choose synchronous learning with Weatherly staff (attendance taken daily).

Superintendent Teresa Young explained that grading expectations with this option would be the same as if in person.

Option three would be going virtual, using “Weatherly Area Virtual Education” - online learning students do on a schedule they set themselves. Teachers would not be Weatherly district staff, but students who choose WAVE would still be part of the district.

Questions remain

There was a great deal of discussion. One big question was how busing might and might not work. Another was about staffing depending on how many students choose to study online.

Answers parents give on the survey will guide district administrators with the logistics of busing. Administrators also explained that the gap in the hours of busing the elementary students and then the upper grades was to allow for full disinfecting in between uses.

Decisions made by parents will be considered final for the school year so full transportation plans can be made, and class schedules developed. The busing plan has to work within the set budget as there is no additional money coming if costs rise. It is also hoped that high school students will drive themselves to school as part of keeping costs down.

If winter weather or similar threatens, teaching can go fully online instead of school being canceled, so class days are not missed. The shorter hours will nearly eliminate early dismissals.

Board members voted 5-1 to approve the reopening options.

Director Brian O’Donnell was opposed, wanting five days attendance for all.

Director Gerry Grega was in the online audience, but was “locked out of the meeting.” He would have been another no vote.

The health and safety plan, as well as the reopening options, will be posted on weatherlysd.org.

For the health and the reopening plans, district administrators are expecting lots of emails and lots of questions.

Other business

In other business, the board approved a resolution factoring in online learning into the school’s calendar so the district can complete the 990 instructional hours/180 equivalent days of teaching for the 2020-21 year. This change can extend three more years if needed.

Among public complaints heard at the meeting’s end, a few pointed out that local internet supplier Atlantic Broadband has provided unreliable service. That problem has to be fixed for these proposals to work.

Young said Atlantic Broadband is “working on it.”