Norwin outlines plans for 5 days of in-person classes per week

For the first time this school year, all Norwin students will have the option of returning to class five days a week, beginning March 19, officials said.

Bringing students back to class for five days of instruction “is something that’s been very important to our students and our community members,” Superintendent Jeff Taylor said at the school board’s workshop meeting Monday.

Before that happens, though, the district will offer four in-class days to more students.

Currently, students in kindergarten through fourth grade and seniors can come to class four days a week. On Thursday, the district will extend that option to students in grades five through eight. Students in grades nine through 11 will remain in the hybrid model of two days in school and three days of remote learning.

Then, eight days later, five days a week of in-person classes will be offered to all of the district’s approximately 5,100 students.

Students will have the option of returning to the classroom at a time when the community transmission of covid has been reduced to the moderate level within Westmoreland County, Taylor said, and has slowed in the communities served by the school district — North Huntingdon, Irwin and North Irwin.

Those Norwin students not wanting to return to the school for five days of instruction have options depending on their grade level. Students in kindergarten through sixth grade can go fully remote with synchronous instruction, or be part of the Norwin Online Academy. Students in grades seven through 12 can continue in the hybrid model or opt for the Norwin Online Academy.

Students in kindergarten through fourth grade moved from the hybrid mode to four days of in-person instruction on Feb. 15, followed by seniors on Feb. 22.

The decision to bring students back to school five days a week comes as the district’s 316 teachers are scheduled to receive covid vaccine sometime over the next week through the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit. The faculty will have to travel to the IU office on Donohoe Road in Hempfield to get their shot, Taylor said.

Board member Patrick Lynn, a teacher at Woodland Hills’ Dickson Preparatory STEAM Academy, said he was “not completely on board” with requiring teachers to hold virtual lessons for a few pupils while teaching a classroom of about 25 students. The return to five days of instruction would eliminate Wednesday as the teachers’ preparation and planning day, Lynn said.

Board member William Essay, a retired Franklin Regional teacher, said the teachers need to be able to devote their focus and energy to students in class.

The district’s plan to bring all high school students back to classes five days a week was opposed by some seniors who said they are not able to keep a safe social distance now — with fewer students in the building.

Senior Zachary Moffatt said the move “won’t benefit students that much academically” by being in school where there is no social distancing in class or the lunchroom.

Other students complained that some students were not wearing masks, as required.