Bristol Twp. Schools To Go Virtual For First Marking Period

The Bristol Township School District will go entirely virtual for the first marking period.

The school board voted 9-0 to approve the plan during a Monday evening virtual meeting.

When Bristol Township students return to classes on Tuesday, September 8, teachers will be providing lessons to kids virtually for the entire first marking period.

Under COVID-19 health guidelines, the district determined it would be nearly impossible to resume in-person classes to start, Superintendent Dr. Melanie Gehrens said.

The school board noted during their meeting that they recognized that all virtual classes could be a burden for working families.

School Board President James Morgan called it a “tough decision for all, but the health of all our children, workers and community was most important.”

During the school day, students will watch lessons and take part in class meetings online. They will also be assigned to do work on their own. Even the youngest students will have work assigned to them, according to administrators.

Special education students will also be learning virtually during the first marking period.

Lou deFonteny, the district’s director of special education and pupil services, said the life skills students will be learning using format similar to the one employed in the spring.

Gehrens said the district had not yet been determined whether teachers would be working from school buildings or teaching from home.

As the first marking period moves along, the administration and school board will evaluate the plan for the second semester, Gehrens said.

The school board’s health and safety plan indicates the district has plotted for a hybrid, 100 percent virtual, and 100 percent in-classroom model.

The district is working on plans for how students without devices can access virtual classes. Many district students already have school-provided devices to access classes.

Evaluations for students, including those with special needs, will resume come the new school year, deFonteny said.

The Bristol Township School District joins the Pennsbury School District in starting the year with virtual learning.

If the district moves to a hybrid model during the school year, siblings across grades would be going to class on the same days, Gehrens said.

The district’s health and safety plan calls for increased cleaning of schools, hand sanitizer stations in each classroom and common areas, increasing use of outside air in HVAC systems, and installing disinfectant electrostatic ionizers in each building for when in-person class resume. The plan also calls for arraigning classrooms to be socially distant, restrict non-essential visitors, put one student per bus seat when possible, and monitor staff and student health closely.

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