School district to welcome high schoolers back to hybrid model, Jan. 14

PINE PLAINS — Staying up-to-date about the school its hybrid instruction model, the Pine Plains Central School District Board of Education (BOE) analyzed its status with its hybrid model as well as its plan to have students in grades ninth through 12th start the hybrid model, during its board meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 2.

The BOE convened via videoconference due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the previous BOE meeting on Nov. 18, BOE President Chip Couse reported the district has received emails from parents concerning the high school reopening as well as the metrics of student performance once it does. 

Superintendent of Schools Martin Handler said masks are being worn at all times other than when students eat breakfast or lunch. At the minimum, students will get a five-minute mask break every period or hour, depending upon on how schedules are organized. During those mask breaks, students will remain socially distanced from one another and remain in their seats in the classroom.

Handler reported that at that time, students in pre-k through eighth grade had been in the hybrid model for more than a month.

“Understand, please, that we have not had any cases of COVID in the buildings,” he said. “That is, we have not had anyone test positive for COVID while they were contagious. We’ve had some people test positive but they’ve been out of the building for sufficient amounts of time that we were not required to do contact tracing.”

Handler reported that at times, it’s been a little touch and go as far as staffing is concerned, with the district using every substitute it has on the books and having to send some support staff at the high school to Cold Spring Early Learning Center. He said they can certainly bring the high school students back with the hybrid model before Christmas if the BOE decides to do so. 

The earliest date high school students could return would be Monday, Dec. 14, since the district would need to let parents know and arrange bussing. As an alternative, the district could wait until Monday, Jan. 4, when they return from winter recess or wait until later in January. However, he said the high school presents more of a challenge since students move from class to class each period, mixing with other students and staff, which means there is a much larger group of students and staff who could be subject to quarantine. 

On the upside, Handler noted the district has managed to avoid going back and forth between the hybrid and remote learning models for students in grades pre-k through ninth, and that classes will continue to be live streamed.

Following further discussion of the logistics that would need to be bridged and sharing their own concerns about reopening, the BOE acknowledged Handler’s plan to return grades ninth through 12th to the hybrid learning schedule, starting Monday, Dec. 14, is probably best. Couse noted on a later date that this will give each cohort of students three days of school prior to the winter break, and that students who prefer learning from a remote platform may continue to do so.