Pennsbury To Return To 4-Day, In-Person School

FALLSINGTON, PA — All students in the Pennsbury School District will be allowed to return to in-person classes four days a week under a plan adopted Thursday by the district's school board.

Under the plan, elementary school students in grades pre-K through 5 will return to a four-day, in-person schedule on Mondays through Thursdays on March 29.

Middle and high school students in grades 6-12 will return to the same four-day schedule on April 12.

For all students, Fridays will continue to be a remote-learning day. Also, families of students of all ages who wish to do so may continue to choose fully remote learning.

In a letter to the Pennsbury community, Superintendent William Gretzula said Gov. Tom Wolf's announcement of a plan to vaccinate teachers and other school workers, combined with declining COVID-19 numbers allowed for the changes.

Gretzula said the delay in shifting to the new schedule is needed to make the transition safely. Leading up to the four-day schedule, there will be the following changes to the elementary-school schdedule:

• Monday, March 22 (Cohort A reports)
• Tuesday, March 23 (Cohort B reports)
• Wednesday, March 24 (Asynchronous day for all elementary students)
• Thursday, March 25 (Asynchronous half-day in the morning/. Parent-teacher conferences in the afternoon)
• Friday, March 26 (Students off. Parent-teacher conferences all day)

Currently, Pennsbury uses a hybrid model that lets most students attend school in-person two days a week. That model will no longer be available when the four-day schedules begin.

As the four-day return approaches, families will get a survey that will ask them to lock in their student's schedule choice for the rest of the year. That survey will be open Monday, March 8 through Thursday, March 11 for elementary students and March 15-18 for secondary students.

Gretzula said principals have worked to measure learning spaces to allow for social distancing.

"This has been a challenging 12 months, but together we are coming out of it with a spirit of hope and optimism for brighter, healthier days ahead," Gretzula said in the letter. "It also goes without saying that many innovative ideas in education have advanced quickly that will forever change the way we teach and learn."

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