BELLEFONTE, Pa — Just last week, the Bellefonte Area School District updated their back-to-school plan for the fall. They already had two options in place, but, after hearing community feedback and seeing additional state guidelines, school district officials added a third option.
Students living in the district now have the choice to participate in a hybrid learning plan.
Officials say this will allow them to attend in-person classes twice a week, and then virtual classrooms for the other remaining days. The standard school day varies from the high school to elementary.
"At the high school level, if the student is learning remotely and in the hybrid option, we do expect them to follow their normal school day schedule," says Michael Fedisson. "So if they have math during the first block of the day, and they are learning remotely that day, they should be logged on doing whatever activity that is for the day at that time."
School district officials say that this option will be provided in two groups, group A and b, this way students can rotate days and the school can monitor how many people are in the building at once.
Students will also have assigned seating for everything they do including transportation to and from school, lunchtime, and zones for recess. This is for contact tracing purposes.
The other two options are return-to-school full time and the 'BELA' program, which is online.
"This is not easy to figure out what's right for your students. I just want to say whatever you choose, that's right for you. There is no judgement that anyone can put on anyone for choosing what is right for your student," says Sommer Garman, BELA principal.
On Wednesday night’s zoom conference, parents and staff had several questions about the back to school plan, including travel.
"The current guidelines from the governor’s offices are that if you travel to a hot spot state, you are recommended to quarantine for 14 days. We are asking people to please honor that," says Karen Krisch, BASD pandemic coordinator. "If you have been relatively safe on your trip and you feel like you do not have a risk of exposure to COVID-19 you can contact your physician and they can give you a medical release that the quarantine can be waived."
Discussions also took place about mask wearing for all children. It’s a statewide mandate, and the BASD is planning on enforcing it in their own unique way.
"We do not want to become the mask police. We will be handling this in an educational way rather than a disciplinary way."
Parents must make decisions on their students back to school plan by August 11th.
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