October 13, 2020
Dear Families:
The IASD Board of Directors has voted to continue to stay in the current hybrid model for the second nine weeks. I understand that this may not be the decision some of our families were hoping for, as this pandemic continues to present many obstacles and challenges for all of us. The safety of our students and staff are at the forefront of our decision-making process. To this point, there has been no significant change in the situation. Indiana County remains in the “moderate” designation for community spread, making a hybrid (part-time in-person, part-time remote learning) approach the PDE recommended model for instruction. Cases in PA continue to rise, and several school districts have been forced to shut down and go to full-remote instruction because of an outbreak. While we recognize that we are always at risk of that happening here as well, we know that the safety precautions we have put in place have helped keep our schools open when cases have occurred. With that being said, please understand that the District is continuously reviewing our options in regards to a gradual and complete reopening of the schools.
We are informing parents of the decision to allow families to plan accordingly. The Board of Directors has requested to add the topic of reopening as an agenda item at future Academic and Extracurricular Committee meetings so that we can make appropriate decisions based on the information we have. Furthermore, this gives us the flexibility to make adjustments as we are able. As a result, if the conditions improve, we could always revise our decision accordingly.
At the current time, we are surveying our elementary families who have selected asynchronous/synchronous learning options to gauge their interest in returning, as we have some additional space available per class that will permit us to include more students in the classroom while meeting the social distancing recommendations set forth by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH), and the governor’s office. Additionally, parents of any students who are at risk of failing or in need of additional support can contact their child’s school to inquire about attending four days a week, as long as we can maintain social distancing. We will continue to do all we can to accommodate our families and their wishes to the best of our ability/capacity while adhering to the recommendations set forth by the aforementioned organizations.
I realize that many of us are eager and excited to get our schools fully reopened and so are we. We look forward to the day we can bring all of our students back every day. Continued patience and adherence to the safety recommendations of the experts are needed now more than ever, so that day comes as soon as possible.
Mr. Michael J. Vuckovich
Superintendent of Schools