By Dani Heller
Irvington Superintendent Dr. Harrison believes that more students need to be back in school more often and the district is working on a plan to make this a reality.
In a district board meeting on February 23rd, Dr. Harrison presented his proposal to increase the daily student attendance in school. Dr. Harrison acknowledged the toll that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on students, and emphasized the importance of giving students the opportunity for more in-person learning to increase their interaction with their teachers, support staff, and peers in order to support their emotional and physical well-being.
Harrison detailed how the district was extremely successful with their original reopening plan, and hopes to expand students’ access to in-person instruction even further. To date, the district has been able to provide a 4 day/week AM/PM model for kindergarten and first grade students, as well as a two day/week cohort-based model for grades 2-12 and has had no issues with in-school COVID-19 transmission.
Harrison acknowledged that while reopening the school will be extremely beneficial, the work that needs to go into bringing in a larger number of students introduces many difficulties. The logistics behind transportation, lunch, snack and mask breaks, and changeover times are just a few of the obstacles that the administration will have to address.
Harrison added that all staff must have access to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine before expanding the student population. Although the district is unable to mandate vaccines among staff, they must be offered the choice. In regards to vaccines, the district is making quick progress: on February 15th alone, the district vaccinated approximately one third of its staff. Additionally, the school must have access to New York State sponsored surveillance testing and initiate this testing in March with the launch of high-risk sports.
Harrison explained that the District must follow the guidelines given to them by NYSDOH, WCDOH, and NYSED, specifically social distancing, mask wearing, and occupancy limits. However, Dr. Harrison raised the issue about the discrepancy of what “social distancing” entails. WCDOH recently stated they “will allow schools to implement their plans regardless of the social distancing ‘standard’ that is being applied.”
The current NYSDOH guidelines require six feet of distance or physical barriers between individuals, Dr. Harrison is proposing decreasing the six-foot distancing requirements to three feet with the use of polycarbonate dividers.
The implementation of this plan is targeted to begin by April 30th, 2021, which was not well received by the parents who made public comments at the virtual meeting. Parents expressed frustration about the lengthy timeline of this implementation. Many parents, especially those with children in Dows Lane, expressed the concern that the youngest learners need to be at school, and that Flex Wednesdays were not successful for these children with limited attention spans.
Additionally, high school parents commented on the importance of the increase of in-person learning for high schoolers; these parents believed that these four years are pivotal for the success of their children and necessary to prepare them for their post-secondary plans.
Although the meeting did not conclude with a clear consensus of what will happen in the future in terms of increasing student attendance, it seems like a positive step in the right direction. The administration is in the process of figuring out all of the logistics, and the new plan should be implemented before April 30th.
