State College updates fall reopening options, extends deadline for families to decide
After hearing community concerns, the State College Area School District updated its reopening plan to include synchronous remote learning and extended deadlines for families to choose between online and in-person learning.
State College families, including those whose children attend the Delta Program, now have until Monday to select from a series of remote and in-person educational plans. The one-week extension follows a petition signed by nearly 300 parents, students, staff and alumni who voiced concern with SCASD’s initial reopening plan, which gave families the option to choose between in-person or asynchronous online learning through its virtual academy.
The petition, started by Delta Program student Grace Myersmith and her mother Carla Myersmith, calls for synchronous remote learning for Delta middle and high school students, and has gotten support from the wider SCASD community.
“We do not choose to endanger our teachers, staff and their families by sending them back to the classroom this fall,” the Myersmiths wrote. “We want our teachers to prepare and teach, to connect with our children, not spend the majority of their days policing student social distance and mask compliance and wiping down classrooms.”
Grace and Carla Myersmith organized the online petition to call attention to anxieties and concerns about going back to school for in-person classes this fall, as well as the shortfalls of virtual instruction.
“Although our teachers are willing to risk their health in the classroom, we cannot in good conscience require them to do so during a global pandemic,” they wrote. “We also choose that our teachers teach the classes they’ve prepared, and our children excitedly await. We reject the virtual academy as a replacement for this experience.”
In a series of virtual town halls and letters to parents, administrators updated families about changes since the district’s original 2020-21 reopening plan was outlined earlier this month. The most apparent change is the added option of synchronous remote learning option for grades 6-12.
All students — grades K-12 — will have the options of in-school instruction, the virtual academy or remote learning.
“This step maintains our plan for having students in school every other day, but now allows all students, regardless of their selection to have access to district faculty and curricular experiences they selected through scheduling,” Superintendent Bob O’Donnell wrote to families Wednesday.
With this change, learning will now occur every day both in-school and online rather than every other day. O’Donnell added that this option will also make an easier transition to online learning for all students in the event of another shutdown.
“Clearly, this is a hard decision for many families, and while we’ve done our best to give you the most up-to-date information available throughout this process, we know many people still have questions,” O’Donnell wrote.
More than 500 people participated in a virtual town hall held Thursday where O’Donnell and district administrators answered specific questions about the plan, scheduling and health guidelines. Recordings can be viewed on the district’s YouTube channel.
Anyone not registered for a learning option by 11 p.m. Monday will be assigned to in-school learning for the upcoming year.
“This decision is necessary to ensure we have complete data that will allow us to make accurate staffing decisions, as well as plan for the implementation of our health and safety plan protocols,” O’Donnell wrote.
