Chester County plans to bring more students back to school. Some key details.
The Chester County School District will remodel its coronavirus education plan. A new schedule will be introduced in January.
Online or hybrid plan
Parents have until 5 p.m. Nov. 20 to request a new education model for their children.
Parents can elect to change from online school to hybrid, or from hybrid to online. This change can be made by filling out a form on the district’s website.
“We had parents that were concerned (about the coronavirus),” Public Information Officer Chris Christoff told the Herald. “And parents pushing for more in-person days.”
This new plan, he said, is the district’s way of compromising.
The district has had 24 cases of the coronavirus. Only four cases have been reported so far in November, after 17 were reported in October.
Families who want to switch their children to online must provide proof that they have high speed internet connection (25 mpbs). Parents can fill out the form and send a picture of their internet bill to Amanda Kee (akee@chester.k12.sc.us). They also can drop off a copy of their internet bill at their child’s school.
Christoff said seats in the hybrid program are not guaranteed. The district will allocate resources depending on the response from parents, he said.
The ability to accommodate requests will depend on the physical size of the classroom for that child’s class, Christoff said. If too many students request to come back, and their teacher’s classroom is too small to socially distance, the school might not be able to accommodate them all.
“We’re doing our best with what we have.”
More students will return to school
As more students come back to school, the district will have plexiglass on desks as barriers between students. Schools will be cleaned during the day and after school, with Friday set aside for “deep cleaning,” Christoff said. The schools will be sanitized following CDC guidelines.
A pilot program to install germicidal Ultraviolet lights will launch at the end of this month at Lewisville Elementary. Christoff said if the program is successful, the district will look into retrofitting all of the schools with UV.
The district will combine hybrid students in a single group. All hybrid students will attend school Monday through Thursday, with Friday remaining an online day.
These changes will go into effect on Jan. 6 for Pre-K students.
If that format works (the district will continue monitoring coronavirus cases through their online dashboard), grades 3 through 5 will switch to the four day a week schedule Jan. 19.
Middle school and high school students will subsequently begin this schedule Feb. 8.
Online Academy Continues
Online school will continue as usual with Chester’s online academy.
The Herald reported in July, about Chester’s lack of high-speed internet, but the district has made efforts to help their online students get connected.
The district received a grant in August from the South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff to provide hotspots and wired internet directly to families. The funding for this program came through the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Act. While this program was originally supposed to end in December, Christoff confirmed that it will now be extended to June 30.
If parents would like to switch to online school and cannot provide reliable internet, they can contact CCSD Chief Operations Officer Timothy Camp by email at tcamp@chester.k12.sc.us. The district may be able to help, Christoff said.
This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 9:40 AM.
