Mahanoy Area to go virtual for next week
MAHANOY CITY – Students in the Mahanoy Area School District will be learning virtually next week as a coronavirus precaution following holiday festivities.
Mahanoy Area Superintendent Dr. Joie Green brought the idea to tonight’s school board meeting for approval. The school’s Thanksgiving Break was set to end Monday, Nov. 30, with in-person students returning Tuesday, Dec. 1. Under the plan, students will instead return to in-person classes on Dec. 7, with virtual learning in the interim.
“My concern, and the admin’s concern, is what’s going to happen over Thanksgiving break and Christmas break,” Green said. “I know that there are many people out there that are not going to follow social distance guidelines for Thanksgiving.”
Green says that poses a risk for the school’s 671 students who are learning in-person. 231 other students are currently learning virtually.
“We ask the families to please keep [the students] social distanced after the holidays,” Green said. “We’re talking ten days. If they would help us by keeping people safe outside, when they come back to the school the following Monday, they’re already passed the incubation period, so if they were going to get sick, that time would already be taken. We would know if they were sick and they wouldn’t come to school that following Monday.”
Green says that moving virtual brings three benefits: students would clear the incubation period before they come back to school, they wouldn’t be able to spread the virus among themselves, and the school would be able to troubleshoot their virtual program. Green also suggested moving all students to their synchronous virtual program from their in-person and asynchronous virtual programs.
Additionally, Green debunked rumors that the school would be closing until Christmas.
“We need to try to keep the kids in as much as possible, because this is where they are safe,” Green said.
Some staff and board members disagreed with removing the asynchronous virtual program.
“If we’re going all-virtual, I don’t see the reason why we can’t have [synchronous] and [asynchronous]. It’s virtual, online. I don’t see the difference between having two options,” High School Principal Stan Sabol said.
“From a teacher’s standpoint, it will be a lot easier and less stressful for the teacher to only have to deal with one [synchronous] group of people than it would be [synchronous] and [asynchronous],” Green said.
“I understand that, but they’re not doing any live instruction then. Their live instruction would be [synchronous], and then they record their video and they post that for the [asynchronous] kids. Just like they post the assignments and the kids get the assignment when it’s posted,” Sabol said. “I know there’s some kids that work to support their families. There’s some older students that are going to be making sure their younger siblings are logged on. It’s just, I don’t see where the extra work comes in for our staff having [synchronous] and [asynchronous] if we’re only doing virtual instruction.”
Green expressed concern that students on the asynchronous option could do little to no work.
“That’s not going to change whether we only have [synchronous] or not. The kids that are not doing work aren’t going to all of a sudden start doing work because they’re [synchronous] that are [asynchronous] now,” Sabol said. “That’s not going to change. We have kids that are coming to school that aren’t doing work that are [in-person.]”
“That’s just an effort thing, not an accessibility thing,” Sabol added.
A parent raised a concern regarding accessibility to devices. Green said that each student in school “had the opportunity to get a device,” and said that students who don’t need to go to a teacher to tell them they don’t have a device.
“We have devices that are ready to go, but the brand new ones are not all ready to go,” Green said. “Every student that is sitting in school right now, if they needed a device, they should’ve went to the office and said they need a device.”
Another staff member raised concerns regarding internet access, citing “many students” who have a device but no internet access.
Green said that they had looked into setting up a hotspot area on campus, which hasn’t come to fruition, and are unaware of any WiFi hotspots in Mahanoy City.
“The bottom line is, I don’t think it’s the taxpayers responsibility to provide internet access to students, to parents,” Green said. “It’s not the taxpayers responsibility to do that. It’s out there, every school is either closing at one point or another, I have no doubt that at some point we’re going to have to close, so how is that the taxpayers responsibility to pay for internet?”
“The parent has to take responsibility and get internet access for their child to be able to do their schoolwork, especially those that are already at home on [synchronous] or [asynchronous]. To us, they should all have internet access at this point,” Green added.
The staff member, whose name was unclear on the Zoom feed, stressed that they need a grading plan for students who may not have access.
Board Member Susan Scheeler said that the Mahanoy City Public Library has 10 internet-enabled computers and also allows visitors to bring their own computer to connect to the internet, raising that as a possible solution.
A motion was raised to approve the virtual learning plan as recommended, which was approved unanimously. Green added that the administration team will iron out the details regarding the two virtual learning plans.
It was added that sports would be on-hold for the closure.
In other business, the school board approved the purchase of 995 Chromebooks — 820 HP Chromebooks from Best Buy and 175 Samsung Chromebooks from North Schuylkill — along with licenses from Best Buy and GDC-IT for a total cost of $245,857.
The school had originally agreed to purchase Chromebooks for GDC-IT, though they may not be in until the New Year. In order to get the Chromebooks in the hands of students sooner, the school cancelled the order with GDC-IT and instead went with Best Buy and North Schuylkill.
In other business, the board approved:
- The purchase of social work services from Saint Clair Area at a rate of $39.75 per hour;
- A contract for social work services from Nicole Purcell, Kulpmont, at a rate of $23 per hour;
- A contract with Element Environmental, Adamstown, for a Phase 1 Environmental Study for a property at 532 Morea Road at a cost of $2,000
The purchase of five SuperNop 52 entrance carpet runners from LJC Janitorial Distributors, Scranton, at a cost of $6,150; - Three FMLA requests;
- The split of the remaining $2,411.36 yearbook advisor salary between Daniel Nester, Mahanoy City, and Amy Wislosky, Frackville, as they serve as co-advisors;
- The appointment of Allen Feliciano, Mahanoy City, as a Junior High Assistant Boys’ Basketball Coach at a salary of $2,537.67;
- The appointment of Darren Kline, Barnesville, as Head Varsity Swim Coach at a salary of $5,524;
- The appointment of Elizabeth Berezwick, New Ringgold, as an Assistant Varsity Swim Coach at a salary of $3,567.21;
- The appointment of James Mayberry, Barnesville, as Head Varsity Baseball Coach at a salary of $3,861.68;
- The appointment of Scott Alansky, Barnesville, and Ryan Fegley, Saint Clair, as Co-Assistant Varsity Baseball Coaches at a salary of $1,544.67 each;
- The appointment of Chris Karnish, Barnesville, and Jeff Bowers, Mahanoy City, as volunteer baseball coaches;
- The appointment of Daniel Lawrence, Mahanoy City, as a volunteer wrestling coach;
- The termination of Christine Wetzel, Mahanoy City, as a part-time cafeteria employee;
- The resignation of Karl Sics, Gilberton, as a part-time cafeteria employee.
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Why is it okay for this article to be published BEFORE parents are notified?
A whole slew of reasons, beginning most importantly with the fact that the information was given at a public meeting of a governmental body. A meeting which parents themselves could have — and did — attend themselves. Not sure where you’re getting the idea that the information should have been held back or why.