CARBONDALE, Pa. — Just one month into her new job as Superintendent of the Carbondale Area School District, Holly Sayre has joined the thousands of school officials across the country grappling with when, and how to send kids back to school.
Carbondale Area originally chose to go with a hybrid model with some virtual and some in-person classes but changed course this week.
"We did another survey in July where we surveyed the parents and the staff this time and the majority of the staff and the parents were looking at wanting to come back in a total remote learning environment," said Sayre.
That decision led to another by Carbondale Area Athletic Director Larry Gabriel and the school board, who broke ranks with the Lackawanna League, to postpone the start of the fall sports season indefinitely, rather than delaying it by a few weeks.
"We always refer back to the phrase student-athlete and we'd all feel that we could comfortably and safely provide academics in person yet, so we don't feel we have the student part completely figured out. So we felt that trying to figure out the athlete part first was sort of like putting the cart before the horse," said Gabriel.
Some early studies show that young kids do not get infected with the virus as easily as adults, and if they do, they don't get as sick.
Other studies show that children do not spread the virus as easily as adults either.
"We took that sort of information into consideration but I think we're all concerned about every student, even if it's just that one that gets it," said Sayre. "We're really not sold that they don't transfer the virus to our coaches, to our faculty, staff."
Just because the school district is starting out all virtual doesn't mean it will stay that way for the entire school year, or even the entire semester.
The district will continue monitoring the situation closely with the goal of getting kids back in the classroom as soon as possible.
The same goes for the sports season; both decisions will be reevaluated.
In the meantime, the district will be making sure students are set up with the necessary technology, and monitoring their progress in school to ensure no one falls behind.