Wyoming Area extends remote learning to Jan. 4

EXETER — The Wyoming Area School Board unanimously voted Tuesday to extend remote-only learning to Jan. 4 in all school buildings.

The district had initially planned to open in a hybrid mode, but moved to a remote-only start with plans to revisit the idea and consider moving to the hybrid mode later this year. No comment was offered on the vote to stay remote until January, but Luzerne County has seen a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases this month, particularly last week. The numbers rose so fast the state moved the county from “moderate” risk to “substantial” risk.

The state works with individual district, but broadly recommends remote-only learning for districts in a “substantial” county. Wyoming Area joined a list of county districts that either moved from hybrid to remote-only or were already in remote learning and extended it this week.

In a related move, the board tabled hiring of coaches for winter sports. Solicitor Jarrett Ferentino said they were tabled because of the uncertainty created by the resurgence of COVID-19.

The board also approved the second reading of 25 new or revised policies, but three of them provoked no votes from four of the nine members. The agenda only listed those three them as “employment of Superintendent/Asst. Superintendent,” “employment of district staff” and “employment of substitutes.”

When asked to explain the revisions to those three policies, Board Member Toni Valenti said the revisions eliminate “the nepotism part of it.” Ferrentino then noted the policies under review, including those three, are posted on the district website.

A review of those proposed policies — 302, 304 and 305 — Tuesday night showed a similar passage had been stricken from each. The paragraph with lines through the text said no employee would be hired under that policy “who is related to any member of the board or administrator as defined in statue (father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, son, daughter, step-father, step-mother, step-child, grandparents, grandchild, nephew, niece, first cousin, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, parent-in-law, foster child, uncle or aunt.”

The board voted 5-4 to approve of the revised policy with the anti-nepotism clause removed. Those voting against the revised policy were Phillip Campenni, Carmen Bolin, Kimberly Yochem and John Marianacci.