Staff writer
WELLSBURG At a special meeting Friday, the Brooke County Board of Education voted to return to a mix of in-person and remote learning next week, reversing its decision earlier this week to keep students home for remote learning for the remainder of the month.
All cited an order Wednesday by the West Virginia Board of Education that all students in grades K-8 return to some level of in-person classroom instruction and for those in grades 9-12 return unless their counties have been designated red for COVID-19 on a state map maintained by the state Department of Health and Human Resources.
Utica schools began the year with remote-only learning, but with plans to move fairly quickly into a hybrid learning plan, a change that still hasn’t taken place.
“The biggest issue we are facing,” said Steven Falchi, administrative director of curriculum and instruction K-12, in an email, “is the rise in the number of teachers and staff who are impacted by quarantine and isolation due to the virus. Being able to teach remotely has helped with this significant challenge as teachers have been able to provide consistent instruction to their students from home.”
It’s right that school districts make these decisions based on their own circumstances, according to the New York State School Boards Association.
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Miguel Cardona remembers how overwhelmed he felt when he walked into school for the first time as a student.
The son of parents who moved to Meriden, Conn., from Puerto Rico as children, he lived in public housing and didn’t speak English as a young child.
“I remember my first day of kindergarten at John Barry School,” the nominee for U.S. secretary of education said at a virtual farewell celebration with Meriden leaders earlier this month, referring to an elementary school in his home city.
“That day, I ended up in the nurse’s office crying, and I had to go home early. I never wanted to go back. Here I am, 40 years later, and I’m having mixed emotions about leaving the place I love.”