Masking requirements, cyber options, and personnel assignment approvals will be sought at next week’s Valley Grove School Board meeting ahead of the start of a new school year.
Updates to the district’s health and safety plan are ongoing and are based on guidance from the Department of Health and other state-level agencies, district Superintendent Kevin Briggs said at Monday’s school board workshop session.
For the most part, said Briggs, sections of the plan related to masking and social distancing remain intact, and with clear language, but are provisional and meant to be implemented based on state guidelines.
The Valley Grove policy, said Briggs, will be that masking outside the realm of transportation will be “encouraged but optional,” and language in the plan allows Briggs the discretion to adjust the district’s masking requirements as needed in response to the changing virus transmission picture countywide.
The board also heard details about the planned agreement between Valley Grove and Titusville school districts to provide cyber education services to Valley Grove students who choose that option.
“I like the idea of partnering with a neighbor that has invested considerable resources on this program,” said Briggs.
The program allows students who are struggling to engage with an online learning experience the option to visit a separate part of the brick and mortar school in Titusville, called the “launchpad”, to get caught up and figure out ways to make online learning efficient and educational.
The launchpad is also available to parent coaches who, the board said Monday, will need to be as active and engaged in an online curriculum as their students are.
The board will also look at approving assignments for contracted bus drivers, van drivers, and substitute drivers, along with elementary and secondary-level professional and support staff.
The administrative position would be created new within the district, Briggs explained to the board last month. Next week, he said, the details of the position will be shared and approval for the position will be sought from the board.
In other business Monday, the board discussed approval of first and second readings of several district policies, family-purchased damage insurance for student-issued, district purchased devices, and agreements with Riverview Intermediate Unit 6 for special education services and programming.
The board will hold its regular monthly meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Valley Grove Elementary School.
