It’s official. Pleasant Valley School District is going back to school five days a week for all students in all of the school buildings.

The school board voted Thursday night seven to two to return to full time instruction on March 29.

According to the school calendar, the students will be in class three days that first week, March 29 to 31, because spring recess is April 1, 2 and 5. Easter is on April 4.

School director Dan Wunder said he voted no, because he thought they should return a week later after Easter. This would have given the teachers more time to get vaccinated. They began getting their vaccines this month.

School director Susan Kresge voted no, because she thought the buildings should open in stages with elementary first.

The teachers at the elementary school are the first to get vaccinated, so they will be the first to be protected from the virus. Stages would have allowed the teachers in the older grades to get vaccinated before returning to full-time in-person classes.

Rae Lin Howard, the assistant to the superintendent, said some teachers are concerned about going back before they are vaccinated.

Choices

The reopening plan is essentially the same at all of the buildings, but the principals went over the specifics at their buildings.

The district is offering three choices.

• Full in-person instruction five days a week;

• Full remote synchronous learning.

• The Pleasant Valley Cyber Academy’s asynchronous learning.

Synchronous learning means the students are being taught by a teacher via an online platform. In some cases, the in-person class will be streamed to the online students. In other cases, a specialist will be teaching the online class.

Some subjects, known as specials, will not be synchronous at the intermediate school. The principals at the other schools did not say how specials will be handled.

The hybrid program will not be offered in the school district, but students at the middle school who need a little help in-person but want to remain online most of the time will be able to participate in a program called PVMS Flex Ed.

Hybrid option?

During public comment, some parents would like to see the hybrid included in the options. These parents like the idea of their children being able to be with classmates a couple days a week, but don’t want to jump in full time.

The reopening plan has the students spaced 3 feet to 6 feet apart in the classrooms with a cap on the number of students allowed.

For lunch, they will be spaced 6 feet apart. Other areas on the campuses will be used to accommodate all of the students.

If too many students return to full-time instruction, the schools will use other rooms for overflow. At the high school, Principal Matthew Triolo anticipates use of the rooms will fluctuate day-to-day and instruction will be online. Both principals at the middle and intermediate school do not expect to need the overflow rooms, but have them if needed. Assistant Principal Sabrina Albright said overflow rooms don’t really work at the elementary level, because the age of the children. But even at that, she doesn’t think they will have a problem with overflow.

Mask breaks

Mask breaks will be left up to the teachers. The principals said the teachers will be encouraged to go outside for snacks and recess where applicable, or to hold classes outside.

“I know that it’s not a perfect option,” Howard said about the reopening plan. “But we are trying to be as flexible and creative as we can to have our students return to us. That is our number one priority.”

Wunder said, “I know the caliber of the people that put the work in behind this. I think you’ve done a very good job cobbling this together to make this work for our kids and our community.” Then he asked about the changes that led to making this possible.

“Part of the success of this plan is that you’re anticipating not everybody’s going to come back,” he said.

School board President Donna Yozwiak asked if a survey will be created to find out how many students will be returning. Howard said they will send out a survey on Friday and will ask parents to reply by 3 p.m. Monday.

School director Norman Burger asked if the students in the district’s cyber academy, other cyber charter schools, etc. will be able to return, too. Howard said they would allow it, and Burger replied that the situation could get out of control.

School district solicitor Mark Fitzgerald said the school district does have under emergency powers to require that they stay remote through the end of the marking period. The third marking period ends March 29. The beginning of the fourth and last marking period begins on March 30.

According to current reopening plans, meal distribution to students who remain online will end. Beverly Hendricks, director of Food Services, said the cafeteria staff will be serving lunches in the school and will not be able to be outside for distribution. One parent, during public comment, suggested holding distribution after school lunches are served.