Monday night’s Clearfield Area School Board committee and special voting meeting saw the board approving personnel changes prior to next week’s kick off for the 2020-2021 school year.
The board also heard updates on what the beginning of the school year may look like and heard Superintendent Terry Struble respond to an anonymous letter received recently.
Kindergarten students are scheduled to have an introduction day on Thursday. The first day of school is scheduled for Aug. 26.
Currently the district has put together a plan to allow students to have face-to-face classroom time with teachers while allowing for social distancing practices.
Students will go to school on alternating days depending on the first letter of their last name, beginning Aug. 26 with A-L and Aug. 27 with M-Z. Students will be required to wear face masks and also to be separated on buses, in classrooms and in the cafeteria.
Struble said if parents have concerns or questions, they can contact him at 765- 5511 extension 6000 and ask to talk to him directly. One issue they are aware of and want to work with parents on is siblings with different last names who may want to attend school together.
In regards to the letter, Struble said he would not normally address such a letter, but he felt the questions were relevant and of concern to a wider audience.
He said that there was a question regarding why students couldn’t continue remote learning as they had last spring, and explained that what the district did last year isn’t considered remote learning by the department of education.
For true remote learning to take place, students would need reliable internet connections, which many do not have,
There was also a question regarding the number of people in the building at one time, and Struble said that while the current state recommendation is limited to 25 people, there is an exception for academic institutions and the district has worked hard on coming up with solutions to allow for students to be at the schools while also maintaining social distancing.
For example, students will be spaced in the cafeterias and also buses will have about 13-18 students.
Struble added that they will continually be monitoring student health as well as overall cases in Clearfield and the surrounding county. If a certain number of students develop COVID-19, the department of health will mandate a 5-7 day shut down of the school.
He added that in March when the county had no cases, they were mandated to close by the department of education and will continue to follow DOE and DOH guidelines.
“No one wants to at any point or time underestimate what impact COVID-19 could have on a family or a person’s health.”
Further information about district policies can be found on the website www.clearfield.org or the district’s Facebook page.