CLEARFIELD, Pa. (GANT) – Since Aug. 26, Clearfield area schools have been following a blended learning model that’s a mix of face-to-face and remote learning in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Currently, students at both the Clearfield Area Junior-Senior High and Elementary Schools go on alternating days depending on the first letter of their last name (A-L and M-Z).
At Monday’s committee meeting, Superintendent Terry Struble asked the school board to consider a possible full return to face-to-face instruction with the first grading period ending Oct. 28.
If approved, he said the district could return all students Nov. 2. He considered a “staggered” return but felt this would make for a difficult transition for families with children in different grade levels.
A full return, Struble said, would not be without a variety of concerns, as first and foremost, it would be more difficult for students to social distance on a daily basis.
He said face masks would still be mandatory and there would be fewer opportunities for “face mask breaks.” Overall, the majority of faculty and students have been very compliant thus far.
In addition, he said more students would be riding buses to/from school, particularly on shorter runs. Rosters had previously been scaled back to around 45 students on a 72-passenger bus.
At lunch, Struble said elementary students would continue to utilize both the gym and cafeteria, which would limit social distancing to three to four feet.
The secondary school would try to control food service lines, as well as spread out the 300-plus students eating at the same time but there would still be about six students at a table for eight.
“They would have their face masks off, eating together,” Struble said, “and unfortunately, if one … tests positive, then probably everyone would have to go into quarantine. That’s the wrinkle.
“We did the hybrid A/B format at the beginning of the year because of the limits on social distancing for transportation, our group areas, our classrooms. There’s only so much space.”
To date, he said the district has had one positive COVID-19 case at the junior-senior high school, which enrolls 1,052 students.
He noted there wasn’t any school transmission, even though the student played a contact sport and kept close contact with friends outside of school.
There was also one positive case in a student at the elementary school, which enrolls 1,065 students, he said, and currently there hasn’t been any school transmission.
Struble said he didn’t include staff in school-specific data, because 1 in 1,000 is already a “very small percentage. It’s been a very minimal situation.”
However, he did say both virus cases required classmates and staff to quarantine for the recommended 14 days due to having a possible exposure.
Struble asked the board to take a week to think about whether or not it was comfortable with a full return to school for all students at both campuses every day.
Or, he said, it could hold off until state data indicates the county has a low rate of transmission. Other possible options were a full return for elementary, just K-3, etc.
“You also don’t have to do anything,” Struble said, “… but there are a lot of scenarios that you could look at and I need you thinking about them.”
