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WHEELING -- The Ohio County Board of Education voted Friday morning to return to a hybrid or blended method of educating its students, utilizing both in-person and remote learning opportunities.
The county largely will return to the plan it implemented at the start of the current school year, with just half of the students attending school on Mondays and Thursdays and others on Tuesdays and Fridays. Wednesdays will remain a day for remote learning
In grades kindergarten through eighth grade, half of the students -- or Group B -- will return to the classrooms Tuesday.
Wednesday will be a remote day.
The second half of students --Group A -- will come to school buildings beginning Thursday, with Group B coming again on Friday. The plan will continue forward beginning with Group A coming to school on Monday, Jan. 25.
Elementary and middle school students will abide by the in-school schedule regardless of the status of the county’s designation on the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources map.
Students At Wheeling Park High School will remain remote next week to complete their finals. If the county is not designated “red” in terms of positive COVID cases, in person learning will resume at the school the following week.
Group A at the high school will return to their classrooms on Jan. 25, and Group B on Jan. 26.
The school district also is providing for those students wanting to remain at home.
The Schoology online learning platform will continue to be used for instruction, grading and communication among teachers, students and parents.
All students will remain with their scheduled teachers, and all current classes will be included in the curriculum, according to school district officials.
Students wanting to stay at home and learn remote must make a nine-week commitment to the plan. The deadline to enroll as a remote student has been extended to Jan. 22, and those interested in remote learning should contact the school district office at 304-243-0400 to commit to the program.
Attendance for both in-school and remote students will be required.
Remote learners will be tracked, and those with failing grades will be asked to return to in-person schooling, according to Superintendent Kim Miller.
“We wanted the opportunity to listen to several delegations, and parents spoke passionately about their plans," Miller said. "They spoke passionately how wonderful our platform is, and how it is meeting the needs of our students.
The plan approved will allow students and staff to interact, while still keeping them socially distanced, Miller said.
As of Friday,approximately 38.9 percent of Ohio County Schools staff has received their first-round of COVID-19 vaccinations, according to Miller
Other school districts have announced plans for their re-entry to in-person education:
— Marshall County Schools announced Friday students will return to school on a hybrid schedule, with pre-kindergarten to eighth grade students spending two days in school and three days remote.
Beginning Tuesday, students whose last names begin with A-K will attend during the first half of the week, and students L-Z will attend in the last half.
High school students will continue learning remotely for each week the DHHR map indicates that Marshall County is red. If the county is not red on any given Sunday, classes will resume in person the following Monday on the hybrid schedule. High school students are currently slated to remain on remote learning through Friday, Jan. 22.
"Remote learning is difficult; hybrid is difficult. Students need classrooms, teachers need kids and kids need teachers, and there's nothing that can replace face-to-face instruction by a teacher," said Superintendent Shelby Haines.
Parents may choose to have their student voluntarily participate in remote learning through the Calvert or Edmentum systems. Those parents should reach out to the school's principal.
— Brooke County has selected a hybrid form of education in which students with last names starting with A through L are at the school on Mondays and Tuesdays, and students M-Z are there on Thursdays and Fridays. They would do remote learning on days they are not there, and Wednesdays would be the cleaning day at the schools.
High school students would learn remotely so long as the county is coded “red” on the DHHR map. Once the level drops to “orange” or “gold,” the students would follow the hybrid model schedule. Under “yellow” or “green” designations, high school students would be in school five days a week.
A virtual learning option will be available for students wanting to learn from home, but it will not involve a teacher at a school delivering instruction. Families interested should contact their building principal if they are interested in this option.
— In Hancock County Schools, Tuesday will be a scheduled professional meeting day for all staff, and the first day at school for students will be Wednesday.
Students in grades pre-kindergarten through eighth grade will have in-person learning five days a week.
High school students, meanwhile, will not resume in-person instruction five days a week until the WVDHHR map does not designate Hancock County as "red". So long as the county is “red,” students will do remote learning.
Students also have the option of doing all remote learning through the West Virginia Virtual Schools program, but this is only open to students who achieved a 2.0 GPA or higher
in all core and required classes for the first semester of this current school year, according to information provided by Hancock County Schools.
— Tyler County Schools will continue with the same model it had at the start of the school year, according to Superintendent Shane Highley. All students will go to school four days a week, with Wednesdays being a day for remote learning. The exception will be high school students, who won’t have in-person schooling if the county is in "red."
— The Wetzel County Board of Education voted Friday to not have students return to in-person learning until Thursday, giving teachers time to prepare for what they termed “a second first day of school.”
The school district then will operate on an “A-B” four-day-a-week schedule with half of the students reporting on days when the county is designated as “red,” “orange” or “gold.”
There will be a four day a week schedule for all students when the designation is “yellow.” The district plans to return to a five-day a week schedule when the county is designated as “green.”
Staff writer Alan Olson contributed to this report.