ECASD to Transition to Hybrid Learning Model on January 25

Ellwood City Area School District will return to a hybrid model of learning starting January 25.

The district’s board of directors voted unanimously Thursday evening to implement a hybrid model where students will attend school in person two days a week and will attend school virtually three. Directors Norman Boots and Jennifer Tomon were absent from the meeting.

Until January 25, students will continue full-time virtual learning.

The meeting opened with a statement from Board President Jean Biehls who welcomed Wesley Shipley as the district’s superintendent. She said Shipley will have a starting salary of $150,000 and will lead the district through 2025.

“We are thankful to have him,” she said. “He has brought a sense of calm to our district during this time.”

Shipley expressed thanks to the board.

“I am thrilled to be named superintendent,” he said before outlining the plans of the January 25 return to school hybrid plan.

The plan

Families will either choose hybrid learning or Ecava.

“We are not looking to offer the amount of flexibility of choices offered at the beginning of the year,” Shipley said.

The hybrid plan includes creating two groups of students: a blue group, and a white group. Each group would will be assigned a set of students with last names A-L and M-Z.

The blue group will attend in-person classes on Mondays and Thursdays and will attend virtually the other days. The white group will attend in-person classes on Tuesdays and Fridays and will attend virtually the other days. On Wednesdays all students will attend classes virtually, allowing for a deep cleaning and disinfecting of the school facilities. Shipley stressed that cleaning does take place in all facilities daily as well.

Shipley said consideration of groups would be given to households with children of varying last names to keep those students on the same in-person class schedule.

“We want to maintain that our students and households are in the same group,” he said.

According to Shipley, if families are curious as to how a decision was made to have two groups, he said the two-group hybrid plan allows for an effective classroom setting where students are able to get in front of teachers and also allows for proper social distancing.

IEP students will be assigned a method of learning on a case-by-case basis, Shipley said.

Lunch delivery will continue throughout hybrid learning

Why those days for those groups?

Shipley said the days of in-person classes were not chosen randomly, but rather to maximize learning and time with teachers.

“Students need time with teachers with minimal days between breaks,” he said. “It will put instructional burden on teachers and learning burden on students to have too long of break between face-to-face instruction.”

Why can’t the students return now?

The reason for the January 25th date according to Shipley, is based upon a few factors including that the rate of community spread is still very high in the county, a need to ensure that learning groups are organized and concrete, an allowance of time for teachers to prepare for the transition, and the administration felt it was a good time to transition because it is the start of a new semester.

“We need to consider appropriate time for transition,” Shipley said. “Our objective is to balance safety with learning.”

He outlined three main goals in the transition: support students and staff, maintain health and safety, and provide assistance to students.

When will five days a week, in-person classes be possible?

“Ultimately the goal is to move students to five days a week face-to-face learning,” Shipley said.

How long it will take to get to that point, Shipley said, is truly out of his hands.

He said the amount of time students will have to continue the hybrid learning depends on community spread and in order to have all students return to school five days a week, social distancing mandates would have to end.

“We would have to eliminate our social distancing with all students in the building,” he said.

And according to Shipley that’s just not possible at this time.

While hybrid models of learning have a new state mandate of monitoring building spread, for a return to in-person classes full time community spread must be below 100 COVID cases per 100,000 over 14 days.

Shipley said he is hoping a return to five-day, in-person classes is in the district’s near future.

“It’s all knocking on wood, fingers crossed at this point,” he said.

Shipley said until that time, the district needs to create accountability while supporting our students and staff in learning and in safety.

Could a move back to full-remote learning happen after transitioning to hybrid?

Yes.

With the hybrid model of learning, the level of transmission will no longer be community based, but building based. Student, staff, and teacher cases will be included in the tally for monitoring building spread.

Shipley said there will be a continual monitoring of cases per building. He said two to four cases in an elementary building could spark a cleaning closure that could last between three to seven days—based on a timetable to complete cleaning. For the high school between four and 6 cases could cause a closure. Should there be five cases or more in the elementary level buildings and seven or more in the high school building, the schools would be forced to close for at least 14 days.

He described the cleaning process as a “school centric” decision. Some schools might have to close for cleaning while others stay open.

In other board and school news:

• Biehls announced a Media communications committee has been developed to convey information to the media. She said all information passed onto the media will come from Dr. Shipley or the committee. The committee members were not named at the meeting.
• Shipley announced that January is School Board Recognition Month. He thanked the board for their dedication and said they have faced many challenges this past year including guiding the district through the pandemic and hiring a superintendent. He recognized the board’s combined 44 years of board experience and that the position is volunteer.
• The board will consider approving a co-ed soccer program moving forward. Shipley said he stands behind maintaining a soccer program despite a decline in participation to give the chance for a year of development. He suggested the board implement the co-ed program at this time.

Administrative reports:

• John Sovich, high school principal, said he continues to communicate with struggling students and is excited for a return to winter sports. He said overall the school is looking to provide a safe environment for the students in their return to classes.
• Frank Keally, principal, Perry Lower Intermediate and Hartman Intermediate, applauded efforts of school staff. He said they keep smiling and doing their best. “Everybody steps up, pitches in, lends a hand,” he said. “And, I am grateful for Dr. Shipley and his leadership.”
• Daniel Parson, principal at Northside, said he is grateful for all staff does on a daily basis. “They are flexible and persevere,” he said. He also thanked students and families for their understanding and cooperation.
• Leslie Gleghorn, Director of Special Education, said her team has received early intervention reports and that they continue to work to meet the needs of the IEP students.
• Kurt Agostinelli, Athletic Director, said winter sports have started. He said the main focus is on safety. He said the district is following WPIAL guidelines when it comes to sports and although spectators are limited or prohibited, most sports will be live streamed. He said they are holding spring sports signups, working on gym times for baseball and softball, and are planning to request approval of spring coaches at the February board of directors meeting.
• Paul Pishioneri, supervisor of building and grounds, said cleaning is the main focus for his staff at this time and preparing for the students return to in-person classes.
• John Dzurina, Food Service Director, said the students will continue to be fed during hybrid learning. He reported that 1,000 breakfasts and lunches were served on average before the holiday break.