HARRISBURG, Pa. — Central Dauphin School District, the 14th largest school district in Pennsylvania, voted Monday evening for a staggered return to full in-person learning at its schools. The vote passed 5-3.
Elementary schools in the district will transition from a hybrid program of online and in-person learning to in-person learning five days a week on Oct. 13. Middle schools will start Nov. 2 and high schools will start Jan. 4.
With more than 12,000 students, Central Dauphin is one of Pennsylvania's largest school districts. The outcome at the district could influence how other schools across the state transition back to the classroom.
The school board voted down a motion to postpone the vote until they reconvened for their November meeting.
About a dozen parents had staged a protest Sept. 14 against hybrid learning, citing the district’s low case count.
The district reported five positive COVID-19 cases between Aug. 24 and Oct. 2.
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Prior to a board meeting on Oct. 5, several dozen teachers, parents and students marched outside Central Dauphin East High School to stay the course, in which students attend school two days a week, in staggered groups.
“They’re in there two days, they’re able to social distance,” said Howard Sherr, a Lower Paxton resident and father of a student at Central Dauphin High School. “We say if something’s working, let’s keep doing it.”
Central Dauphin High School senior Kyle Stevens started a petition to continue hybrid learning. As of Oct. 5 it was signed by nearly 2,000 people.
“The one thing I want to get straight with everybody is that hybrid really isn’t ideal for anybody,” Stevens said. “It’s not that we don’t want to get back to full in-person school; we do. We just think that it would be better to do it at a safe and sustainable pace.”
Eighty-five percent of teachers polled by the Central Dauphin Education Association wanted to remain in a hybrid model, Mountain View Elementary School teacher Mike Williams said at the Oct. 5 meeting. Williams is also one of the district’s representatives to the Pennsylvania State Education Association.
School board members reiterated at the meeting that if transmission rates go up, they can return to hybrid learning.
That possibility concerned some teachers.
“I just worry for the students’ lack of consistency in education and my own personal safety, as well as my other coworkers’,” said Candice Fallon, a second grade teacher at South Side Elementary School.
The return to in-person classes goes against Pennsylvania state guidelines, which recommend districts in moderate transmission risk counties, including Central Dauphin, use a hybrid model. However schools are not required to follow those guidelines.