Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
The Bristol Township School Board voted down a hybrid option that proposed sending younger students back to the classrooms as soon as November.
The decision came during the school board’s Monday evening virtual meeting. School board members Barbara Bill, Kellie A Buchanan, and Amanda Geist voted in favor of bringing the younger students back, members Christopher Harkins, Donna Kelly, Gallus Obert, Constance Moore, Angela Nober, and board President James Morgan voted nay.
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Earlier this month, some special education students returned to classrooms in the district.
The plan the board voted on would see students in kindergarten and third grade return to classrooms on November 9, and first and second graders would return November 16. The district would maintain a virtual option throughout and maintain full virtual learning for all other grade levels until a later day.
The administration’s hybrid return plan would break students into two groups – black on Mondays and Thursdays and gold on Tuesdays and Fridays. Students would all be virtual on Wednesdays. Siblings will be matched on the same days.
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The district hybrid plan calls for all staff, students and essential visitors to screen themselves before entering schools. Buses would have hand sanitizer stations, masks would be worn, buses cleaned daily, and students would load and unload in a way to limit contact.
“Students who cannot comply with the mask order will not be allowed to attend in person instruction with the exception of documented medical conditions,” the hybrid reopening plan reads.
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The district would maintain physical distancing, noting that desks would be separated by the recommended distance “where feasible.” Hand sanitizer would be available in all classrooms and bathrooms, airflow considerations would be factored in, masks would be worn, seating charts would be in place for potential contact tracing efforts, and cleaning supplies would be in each classroom. In the cafeteria, meals would be free for students through the end of the school year, there would be 6-foot spacing, assigned seating, and pre-served meals would be ready for students.
The public participation portion of the meeting featured numerous parents upset about the outcome of the vote. There were also parents who worried about returning students to classrooms amid the pandemic.
The board indicated they would revisit a return to classrooms at their meeting next month. The board could schedule a special meeting or vote on a plan at one of their upcoming meetings.
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In the Levittown area, the Bristol Borough and Neshaminy school districts have returned students under hybrid models. The Pennsbury School District is set to consider a hybrid model on Wednesday evening.
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