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The first day of school at Perry County School District is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a date that raised a few questions when the district released its reopening plan last week.
In its 36-page “Roadmap to Reopening,” the district detailed plans for students whose parents chose the “Pirate on Campus” option to participate in online learning on Wednesdays, giving district staff the opportunity to deep clean facilities.
That’s still the case, said PCSD communication director Kate Martin, except for the first week of school.
“All Perryville Primary Center and Perryville Elementary School students will attend school Wednesday-Friday, Aug. 26-28,” Martin said Saturday in a statement responding to queries from the Republic-Monitor regarding the first-week schedule.
Martin went on to clarify that students assigned to the “A” Group at Perry County Middle School and Perryville High School will attend school on Aug. 26, while those in the “B” group will then attend class on Thursday-Friday, Aug. 27-28.
“Teachers and custodians will clean and use sanitizing sprays to disinfect desks and high-touch areas on Wednesday evening,” Martin said. “However, not all areas may be disinfected with electrostatic sprayers in that time.”
Beginning Monday, Aug. 31, all Pirates On Campus students will begin following the plan laid out in the district’s plan.
At Perryville Primary Center and Perryville Elementary School, students will attend classes on campus on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Wednesday will be an online learning day.
The A Group at Perry County Middle School and Perryville High School will attend on-campus classes on Mondays and Tuesdays, with online learning Wednesday-Friday, while the B Group will attend classes Thursdays and Fridays, with online learning Monday-Wednesday.
Martin said parents of middle an high school students will be informed of their children’s group assignment and class schedule no later than Aug. 20.
All students enrolled in Pirates On Campus will be issued a Chromebook to use at home, along with paper packets for online learning days, and will have the opportunity to sign up for their necessary support options on Wednesdays, including teacher conferences, counseling sessions, academic labs and so forth.
The other option offered under the district’s reopening plan, “Pirates At Home,” will begin Aug. 26, and students enrolled in the program will be assigned a Chromebook and charger to use at home while enrolled in the district’s online learning option.
According to Martin, students are required to use the assigned Chromebook, which will allow the district to monitor the device for safety, push notifications, and provide some remote technical support services.
“Pirates At Home will not “watch” classroom instruction for eight hours per day,” Martin said. “Those students will receive age-appropriate and grade-level aligned curriculum through the district’s online platforms. This will vary by grade level, with primary students expected to complete about an hour of instruction per day plus reading time, and high school students expected to complete up to three hours of instruction per day plus all assigned work and lessons.”
Martin said that Pirates At Home students will be enrolled in “100-percent online instruction” for the first semester, and those students will also be given opportunities for necessary support on Wednesdays in a similar manner to on-campus students.
Martin encouraged parents with additional questions about their child’s instructional program to contact their child’s building principal directly.
