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LEHMAN TWP. — When Superintendent James McGovern made an extensive presentation at Monday’s School Board meeting on potential re-opening plans, it was full of the issues addressed by most other districts, from wearing masks to cyber options and social distancing. It also had something that exemplified how different things will be regardless of what happens: a list of “current inventory” expressly amassed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead of computers and textbooks, the district has focused on stockpiling 126 liquid hand sanitizer bottles and another 512 bottles of gel hand sanitizer, 9,275 Clorox wipes (in 265 containers), 99 non-contact digital thermometers, 3,750 nitrile gloves (15 boxes) and 10,000 latex gloves, 23,145 disposable face masks, 1,232 boxes of tissues, 7 hand-held electrostatic sprayers with eight more on order, and five mass temperature reading systems.
The presentation acknowledged “there will be staff, student and community tension as people will have varying opinions on how to re-open school,” and that “there is no plan that will be 100% risk free.
The overall plan is fluid, offering three options for students: Traditional in-person lessons at the schools with social distancing and other protocols in place, live classroom streaming for students who want to take the course at home remotely, and the Lake-Lehman Cyber system that contracts with Edmentum for high school and Accelerate Education for elementary students, coupled with guided instruction from a district teacher.
A district survey with 812 responses found 69% of parents want traditional education. Similarly, of 111 responses in a teacher survey, “the vast majority” want to return to the classroom. Asked if they would need training to teach online, 77% said yes.
Asked if they would need district transportation to school, 69% of the parents in the largely rural district said yes. Regarding how transportation will look, the district calls for no more than two students per seat on a bus, siblings sitting together, staggered bus pick up and drop off times, open windows for ventilation, driver’s wearing masks and students wearing masks unless they meet certain exceptions spelled out in Gov. Tom Wolf’s mask order.
The district is working on plans for students “struggling with coping skills in relation to returning to school” amid the pandemic, and for helping with any transition between traditional and remote learning.
Other moves under consideration are to eliminate unnecessary classroom furniture to increase space for social distancing, staggered bell schedules to minimize hall congestion, limiting non-essential visitors, use of the old high school gym as an extra dining hall, and removal of pin pads used by students at the cafeteria cashier point, replaced with the cashier using the student name.
Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish