Special School Board Meeting- October 5, 2020

 Special School Board Meeting- October 5, 2020

All School Directors were present at Central Administration for the majority of the meeting. Mr Chomos left the meeting and continued participating by phone. The public could view the meeting online, but not attend in person due to COVID. Below is a summary of some of the items and issues that occurred at the Board meeting that may be of interest to our readers. This is not meant to be inclusive of all that took place at the meeting.

41 people registered to speak at the meeting and more than 20 community members called in to speak who were not registered. Board President Rick McClure initially decided to limit public comment to registered speakers only. Kevin Mahler moved to allow all community members to speak. The board compromised and voted to allow at least 18 non-registered community members to offer public comment. Rick McClure made the final decision to end public comment before all those waiting to speak had an opportunity to do so. The Board approved by a 6 to 3 vote to move to 5 days per week in person instruction for those kindergarten through eighth grade students enrolled in the hybrid flex model beginning in the second nine week grading period. Immediately following the vote to approve 5 days of in person instruction, board member Marcie Crowe motioned for a vote to be held on extending 5 days a week of in person instruction for 9-12 students. Kevin Mahler moved to table this vote as board members had not had time to prepare for the decision. The board voted to table this decision.

K-12 Parents/Guardians must complete a re-registration confirmation form selecting the in-person option or NA Cyber Academy. Re-registration will begin October 6 with a deadline of October 11. The presentation to the Board, including pictures of classroom and lunch seating can be found at https://go.boarddocs.com/pa/nasd/Board.nsf/files/BTZSSC740F5D/$file/201002_ReturnToSchoolPresentation-FiveDayInPerson%20Elem_MS.pdf Many issues/questions remain unanswered due to not knowing the enrollments in the 2 learning options, in person versus cyber school. Desks spacing will be variable depending on enrollment, but average desk space on the District models was between 2 and 4 feet, some students may be asked to change sections (teachers) depending on class sizes, and class size limits may be violated just to name a few issues.