State College Area School District is shifting its first few days of the academic year, including pushing back the start of in-person classes by one day, Superintendent Bob O’Donnell wrote in a message to district families on Saturday.
Wednesday, Aug. 26, will now be the first in-school student day, as well as the first day for the Virtual Academy and secondary remote synchronous learning. Elementary remote synchronous learning will begin on Friday, Aug. 28.
Faculty and staff reported back on Tuesday, and since then, O’Donnell said, it became apparent more time was needed for the district to prepare for the start of school under the new COVID-19 health and safety plan protocols.
‘If you recall, we anticipated this need earlier in the summer and shifted two in-service days to this month to prepare,’ O’Donnell wrote. ‘But in the end, we found we need even more time to carry out the plan.’
O’Donnell said challenges include installation and training for new instructional technologies, secondary student schedule adjustments and changing K-12 educational model selections.
The revised opening week schedule is:
Tuesday, Aug. 25
- Kindergarten orientation remains as originally scheduled
Wednesday, Aug. 26
- Grades K-5 in-school
- Grades 6-12 A-L remote learning
- Grades 6-12 M-Z students in-school
- Grades 6-12 remote only students begin synchronous learning
- K-12 Virtual Academy students begin school
Thursday, Aug. 27
- Grades 6-12 A-L students in-school
- Grades 6-12 M-Z remote learning
Friday, Aug. 28: Grades K-5 remote students begin synchronous learning
The delay for K-5 remote synchronous learning, O’Donnell wrote, is to give teachers time to help in-school students understand the impact of the district’s health and safety plan on classroom rules, arrival and dismissal procedures and lunch and recess. Instructional coaches will be sending remote students a menu of learning opportunities for Wednesday and Thursday.
‘We sincerely apologize for this late move; we know last-minute changes are hard on families and would not have made this difficult decision unless it was extremely important,’ O’Donnell wrote. ‘After our preparations played out this week, we recognized that we simply would not be ready on Tuesday. We wish that we could have started as originally planned, but this extra time will put us in a much better place to welcome students back.’
O’Donnell also said the district will present a draft athletics plan health and safety plan to the school board on Aug. 31. Although the PIAA voted on Friday to continue with fall sports, local school boards must approve plans before teams can proceed.
State College Area High School teams compete in the Mid Penn Conference, which has already decided to delay the start of fall sports practices until Sept. 4.
