Lehighton Area School District’s board of directors on Wednesday night officially adopted the health and safety plan released last week, getting the five necessary votes to submit it to the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

The plan calls for elementary and middle school students to have in-person classes five days a week, while high school students would be on a rotating schedule. The first day of school is currently scheduled for Sept. 8.

“We had teams at all three levels including elementary, middle and high school working on this and met with the Lehigh Valley Health Network pandemic team as well,” Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said of the plan. “The plan was built with their guidance as well as that of the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Center For Disease Control.”

The amount of space at the elementary and middle schools allow for a five-day in-person schedule while still meeting 6-foot social distancing guidelines for classes, Cleaver said.

High school students would attend on an every other day schedule. Students with last names A-K would attend one day, starting Sept. 8, and students with the last name L-Z would attend the next day. Siblings with different last names would attend on the same day, based on the older student’s last name.

Families at all levels can also choose full remote instruction through the Lehighton Area Virtual Academy.

“I’d like to thank everyone participating tonight and the district and staff for their continued to work toward getting our students back in the safest manner possible,” Board President Larry Stern said.

Stern voted in favor of adopting the health and safety plan, along with Rita Spinelli, Stephen Holland, Wayne Wentz and Nathan Foeller. Richard Beltz and Gail Maholick voted no, while David Bradley abstained.

Students at all levels must wear face coverings while entering the building and during transition periods, but would have enough space to remove them in the classroom during instruction periods.

Parents are asked to screen children before sending them to school. Anyone with a 100 degree fever or higher must stay home.

If a student begins to feel ill during the school day, he/she should notify the teacher immediately. The student will be sent to the school nurse, wearing his/her face covering, and the nurse will assess the student’s symptoms. If the student is exhibiting COVID-19 related symptoms, every effort will be made to isolate the student and parents/guardians will be called to immediately pick up their student. Parents/guardians will be asked to contact their physician and/or appropriate health care professional for further directions.

With the plan approved, Cleaver said the district would turn its efforts toward finalizing a transportation plan for the upcoming school year. The plan would also require a funding source as transportation was cut from the 2020-21 budget, which was approved in June.

“Our ultimate goal is to have something before the board at the Aug. 24 meeting before school starts,” Cleaver said.

The plan would include two students to a seat, which would be assigned, making for around 48 students on each bus. Students would be required to wear face coverings on the bus.

Bradley and several parents taking part in Wednesday’s virtual meeting questioned the safety of having 48 students on a bus and having K-8 students riding the same bus.

“We’ve had bullying issues in the past,” Bradley said, “and now we’re going to have middle school students riding with elementary students. The bulk of our disciplinary issues have been with middle schoolers. I foresee a lot of issues here.”

Cleaver said the schedule was made the way it is so that parents who have children in both elementary and middle school could make those drop offs at the same time.

“With our assigned seating, the younger students would be up front and that should help to address some of those concerns of being together,” he said.

Transportation dominated a large chunk of Wednesday’s meeting, which reached capacity on Zoom. Lehighton said its license only allows for a maximum of 100 participants.

“Trust me, it’s keeping us all up at night trying to restore funding for transportation and figure out what we need to do to transport students safely,” Stern said. “I don’t think any member of this board is happy concerning transportation right now. The concerns are not falling on deaf ears.”

Lehighton’s return to school plan as well as a full list of over 70 frequently asked questions is available on the district’s website.