West Chester Schools To Reopen With Options

WEST CHESTER, PA — The West Chester Area School District plans to offer full-time, in-person classroom learning for students, or a cyber school option for fall 2020's reopening. WCASD is in its third and final round of task force meeting this week. The district will present the findings of parent and staff subcommittees to the public next week.

The public presentation of task force findings is scheduled for Tuesday, July 21 at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom. The report on reopening and the final safety plan will be sent to the school board and made public on the school district website Thursday, July 23, before the school board votes on that plan Monday, July 27 at 7 p.m.

In a broad summary of the school district's reopening plan to date, the WCASD website says it will offer in-person schooling to "all students, 5 days a week, full days, with 3 feet of separation, masks, and numerous other health and safety procedures in place."

The announcement notes that "school space only allows for 3 feet of separation in our classrooms if we are at full capacity. Six feet of separation would force us into some kind of split schedule, such as one day on, one day off for students, creating tremendous barriers and challenges for working parents."

At the same time, the school district will offer an alternative to in-person schooling. Its K-12 online option, the WC Cyber Program, is available to all students. The school district notes, "This will be very different from our spring remote pandemic learning."

The district website reopening page explains that the cyber program will consist of mostly recorded lessons, to provide a flexible schedule, with some live interaction, taught in real time by West Chester Area School District teachers. Online Open House sessions to learn about the cyber school option are happening July 14 and 16. Parents can register for the sessions here.

The school district said it has been working on the program for more than a year, assuring it follows best practices in distance learning. The district expanded its plan for a remote learning option in the event that schools are closed again, if the pandemic worsens, and has a plan to provide remote education for students who may have to quarantine.

All Chester County School Districts are collaborating on similar plans. Superintendent of Schools Jim Scanlon said,"There are may unknowns and we are doing our best to keep up."

Enrollment in all schools is open as of July 15. Parents will be able to enroll their children after the school reopening plan is presented on July 21, and enrollment will remain open through early August.

"We will be sending more details to parents in the next few weeks," the district said, "We are working to anticipate a wide range of parent questions and concerns."

All WCASD teachers will return to work on Aug. 24 and students will return to school, in whatever form is approved and chosen, on Aug. 31. A timeline of the WCASD timeline toward reopening can be found here.