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"Overall the day was very successful," Dr. Timothy S. Bowers district superintendent at the Williamsport Area School District, reported to the school board, referring to the district students' first day of classes Tuesday.
Bowers delivered his remarks at the school board meeting yesterday held via ZOOM.
As the district has opted to reopen in the hybrid option, only students in the B group were in class Tuesday. Bowers reported that 3,766 student had chosen to attend in the hybrid model of instruction.
The district also launched the fully remote option with 1.076 students attending classes in a full-time remote platform. He noted that the number of fully remote students has significantly grown.
"We had a few technical issues with the remote plan that we have to iron out," Bowers admitted, adding that overall it too went very well.
Bowers shared with the board that some families are still trying to decide which option they want for their child's education.
"We know that some families are still kind of flip-flopping back and forth and not really sure if they want hybrid or remote," he said. "We're trying to handle those as quick as we can."
"Be patient with us, we're still trying to make those last minute changes that were requested and we'll work diligently do that," he added.
Although the district has opted to open in the hybrid model with students alternating between in-person classes two days a week and remote classes two day with all students remote for the fifth day, Bowers cautioned district residents that this could change based on the status of the pandemic in this area.
"You know, we really do make decisions based on science and based on best practices," he said. "There are a lot of scenarios that can cause disruptions of our learning plan as we move forward," he said.
Because the county is in the moderate phase of community spread of COVID-19, the district had chosen the hybrid model as the best plan for reopening schools safely. Bowers noted that if the infections were to increase to where the county might have 100 or more, the district would then go to a total remote plan.
"I just want the community prepared. You know we'll give you as much heads up as we can," he stressed. "I just want to make sure families have that plan ABC ready. That they have childcare in place in case that happens."
He also warned that it is possible that the district could have random shutdowns of just buildings or just classrooms.
Bowers cited a scenario where if faculty and staff have been exposed and the district is ordered by the Department of Health to quarantine those people, the district may not be able to find suitable substitutes for those staff members.
"We may have to say to the community, a particular building is going to be closed for a few days until we can get through this quarantine," he said.
"Obviously our goal is to keep our building open and keep kids in front of our teachers…and that's what we work hard at doing," he added.