Board Votes to Launch Hybrid Model, Sports

School buildings will open in October. And athletic competition will soon resume.

Those were the main results of the three-and-a-half hour meeting of the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District board on Monday night. Votes on both questions were 7-1, with board member Marylin Huff voting against.

Board President David Grande opened the meeting by noting that the incidence and positivity rates of COVID-19 have fallen significantly since the summer, when the board voted to open the year with all-virtual instruction. “We’re in a far better place than we were in late July and early August,” he said.

He stressed that distancing, wearing masks, and hygiene are crucial to keeping rates low.

Superintendent Lisa Palmer outlined a plan for phased reopening of schools that slightly differs from her preliminary proposal at the board’s August 14 meeting. “We are adapting as we go,” she said.  

Under the revised plan, kindergarten through second grade students who have elected the hybrid model will attend in-person school beginning Thursday, October 1. Third through fifth graders, as well as middle and high school students with complex special needs, will be allowed into buildings on Monday, October 5. All other middle and high school students will come back starting Monday, October 12.

Some families have elected to opt out of in-person school altogether, choosing what the district has dubbed the “Online Academy.” Since the hybrid model has changed since families elected how to attend school, families of middle and high school students will be given the chance to change their selection between hybrid attendance and the Online Academy when buildings reopen. Complex staffing considerations make it impossible for elementary students to switch, according to Wallingford Elementary School Principal Gabriel Savage.

More Synchronous Learning

In the hybrid plan, students attend in-person school two days a week. A September 11 meeting between administrators and some elementary teachers changed some aspects of the plan proposed in early summer, according to Director of Education Denise Citarelli Jones. The main feature of the new plan is more synchronous learning, significantly increasing the amount of time students spend with their teachers via Zoom when they are not in the classroom. “This is going to make it possible to get more curriculum out to our students,” Citarelli Jones said.

In the revised plan, students will attend school in person two days a week, joining classes by Zoom for the rest of their synchronous learning. This leaves only one day of asynchronous programming, on Wednesdays. Elementary students will have less than a full day of synchronous Zoom learning on their at-home days, while middle and high school students will follow schedules closer to usual routines. High school class blocks will remain 80 minutes, with two in the morning and two in the afternoon. 

Classes at all levels will include two groups at the same time: one in the classroom and the other on screen.

Citarelli Jones noted that models will likely be refined. “It’s important to continue to adapt,” she said.

Teacher Concerns

At least some teachers expressed concern about the new hybrid plan. Though none was willing to speak on the record, several worried that teaching the same class simultaneously in-person and online necessarily means that instruction will suffer. 

“The feeling is of being overwhelmed with expectations to be teaching in person AND remotely simultaneously,” wrote one elementary school teacher in an email.

“If we were getting something that was close to real school, I think I might risk it,” said a high school teacher, calling the hybrid model “the worst of both worlds.”

“The in-person aspect of this is going to be nothing like what we remember,” the high school teacher said. “I’m going to be in the front of my room in a little box. I’m going to stay in that box, because the laptop camera’s going to be on me, and I can’t move more than a foot in either direction. And the kids are going to be 6 feet apart.” The teacher expects problems with students at home hearing what’s going on in the classroom, and doesn’t see how to keep eyes on the room and the screen at once. “It’s going to be dystopian.” 

Board member Marylin Huff voiced similar concerns at the meeting. “It’s quite difficult to teach to both a group of live students and a group of remote students,” she said. “I’m concerned about that being as effective as the online, virtual education we have going on right now, which is actually working well for a lot of students.”

Citarelli Jones explained that, in the original model, many teachers would have been teaching the same material twice each week, to different halves of a class, whereas the new model lets them cover more curriculum. She said the new model is “far better than students learning on their own in an asynchronous way.”

In a follow-up email, Citarelli Jones explained that the elementary school teachers at the September 11 meeting sent a survey to their elementary school colleagues on September 14 to get feedback about the new proposals. 92% were in favor of the changes. Secondary school teachers were consulted through their principals. “The teachers they spoke to agreed that the changes would improve the teaching and learning,” she wrote. 

Safety Protocols

Protocols for lunch, recess, and class changeovers were reviewed. At the middle school, kids will sit two to an 8-foot table in the cafeteria, all facing the same direction, according to Middle School Principal George King. Lunch times and class dismissal times will be staggered, and kids will spend more time outside than usual. 

Criteria for acceptable masks for students and staff have been revised, said Director of Student Services Gina Ross. Masks must have multiple layers of material and fit securely over the nose and under the chin. 

If a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19, the administration will consult with the Chester County Department of Health, which will advise on procedures and conduct contact tracing. Each case will be treated individually, Ross said.

Some teachers worry these precautions will not be sufficient to keep staff and students safe. They wonder who will make sure students remain 6 feet apart in hallways and lunchrooms. Will promised increases in ventilation system airflow really work? How many classrooms have windows that open? 

In an email, Palmer wrote that “principals, teachers, and support staff will be responsible for monitoring students in halls, cafeterias, and on the grounds.” Director of Operations Ferg Abbott affirmed that “the vast majority” of windows in all buildings open. 

Sports

Athletic Director Pat Clancy explains SHHS’s plans for fall sports.

Athletic Director Pat Clancy told the board that the Chester County Health Department — which had previously recommended that school sports be postponed until at least January 1 — recently changed its guidance. Schools in the Central League, of which Strath Haven High School is a member, are working together to launch an abbreviated season. 

Clancy explained that while some sports have as few as three days of mandated practice before the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association permits them to compete, other sports require at least two practice weeks before competing. Golf will begin competition first, probably on October 2. Girls tennis will follow on October 5, with most other sports starting competition on October 17. Football will have an extra week of practice — an “acclimation week” — and be ready to compete on October 23. Volleyball, the only indoor fall sport, faces particular challenges, Clancy said. Pennsylvania prohibits more than 25 people in a room, so substitutes may have to wait elsewhere.

Championship play in its usual form is unlikely for any sport, Clancy said, mostly because teams and athletes won’t have time for the usual number of qualifying competitions. Also, many schools want to limit the number of teams they play to diminish the potential for infection. Limiting games to nearby schools also minimizes contact time on bus rides. When they do ride buses, only one person will sit in each row. Individual leagues may improvise championships, however.

As for masks, “We’re still trying to find common ground on masks during competition,” Clancy said. He cited mixed guidance from Pennsylvania and various health agencies on whether people engaged in vigorous activity should be masked. 

Before the board voted to restart the athletic program, member Kelly Wachtman introduced an amendment that masking be required in high-contact sports like football. The board unanimously approved the amendment. 

A Dissenting Voice

Marylin Huff was the only board member to vote against returning to hybrid instruction and restarting the athletic program. She noted that some schools have relaunched sports and in-person teaching safely, while others have not. “There is a difference between being safe and being lucky,” she said. “We are a policy-setting board. And crossing your fingers is not a policy.”

The next board meeting will be Tuesday, September 29, at 7 p.m. To watch it live or afterwards, go to WSSD’s YouTube Channel: swat.ink/wssd-youtube.