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UPDATED: Wyoming Area OKs re-opening plan, looks to Velcro lunch bags

PITTSTON &mdash; In a monthly meeting held virtually Tuesday the Pittston Area School Board approved a re-opening plan that intends to provide cyber learning from district teachers to all students who want that option, which Superintendent Kevin Booth said was about 16% of survey respondents.
				Other students will attend live school differently depending on grade. The district has purchased enough Chromebook computers to provide one to every student in all grades.
				Those who want in-person instruction in kindergarten through sixth grade will be in school five days a week, with class size limited to 15-18 (fewer when possible) to maintain social distancing. All unnecessary furniture will be removed and classes will be self-contained with students remaining in one room all day. Subjects such as art, music and physical education will be taught in the room by the main teacher following recommendations from the teachers who would usually handle those subjects.
				Booth said the district is using faculty in new ways to make it all work, noting some music or art teachers are also certified to teach regular classes and will be doing so to keep class size down.
				Students in grades 7-12 will be split alphabetically into groups A and B. Group A will meet in person Monday and Thursday, group B will meet in person Tuesday and Friday. Both groups will meet live virtually (students at home and teachers in the building) Wednesday. This assures all students get at least three days a week of live lessons.
				Virtual lessons will be held for all students the two days they are not meeting live, but Booth said those lessons will be recorded.
				Live online lesson will be synchronous, meaning students will take the same lesson at the same time they would get it in school. Booth said those lessons will also be recorded for future use by students who cannot sit in on the live sessions due to family scheduling problems.
				Unsatisfied with the lessons provided by a third party contractor in the spring (after the state abruptly ordered all schools closed March 16), online lessons will be conducted by district faculty using Microsoft Teams. The lessons will also use the district curriculum.
				All online resources will be provided through Schoolology, a learning management system.
				As much as possible hallways will be made one way. Parents will be asked to take a student&rsquo;s temperature and conduct a health screening before heading to school. The district has purchased thermal imaging scanners and hand-held forehead thermometers to track temperatures in school. As per Gov. Tom Wolf&rsquo;s orders, face masks or shields will be required when social distancing can&rsquo;t be maintained.
				Start and end times will be staggered, student seating will be limited in each bus, and extensive cleaning will be done daily. For younger students, the district is purchasing enough of needed equipment such as scissors, glue and markers to let each student have their own, avoiding the need to share.
				&ldquo;We are trying to make this as normal as possible in a very abnormal time,&rdquo; Booth said, stressing the plan could change and promising &ldquo;town-hall&rdquo; style sessions to give further details and answer questions.
				The board also declared and emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as other local districts have, that gives the superintendent increased flexibility in deciding how to meet the state mandate of 180 school days and a minimum of 900 instructional hours for elementary school students and 990 for high school students.

Pittston Area declares emergency, approves re-opening plan