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WHEELING -- Ohio County Schools continues to discuss a plan to retain its four-day school week, but those discussions should wrap up very soon.
A decision on whether the school district will seek a waiver from the West Virginia Department of Education from resuming five-day a week in-person instruction will be made today, according to Assistant Superintendent Rick Jones.
"We are discussing that now and will likely know by the end of the day (today)," he said.
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore-Capito is calling for the return to a five day school week.
The State Board of Education on Tuesday voted to return students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade to in-person classroom education five days a week beginning March 3, while requiring older high school students to come to school unless their county is listed in red.
The BOE mandate, however, does permit individual counties to apply for a waiver to the five-day rule.
Ohio County Schools indicated this week they would like to remain with the four-day a week model, as 30 percent of the county's students are doing all remote learning this nine-week period.
Having school buildings closed on Wednesdays permits teachers to create extra lesson plans for those learning on-line, Superintendent Kim Miller explained.
The county plans to survey the students and parents of those learning remotely to determine whether they would be interested in returning to school.
Capito, R-West Virginia, on Wednesday joined other senators on the Senate floor in speeches calling out the new three R's for education — respecting science, reopening schools safely, and then returning students and their teachers to their classrooms.
"A year ago -- almost a year to this date -- we were only starting to realize what COVID was about," she said. "No one would have foreseen that children would leave their classrooms, and still not return fully by March 2021."
But America has come a long way during the past year in its knowledge about the disease, and how it spreads, Capito said. Experts now have an idea of how it spreads within a school environment.
"At the end of January, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) published data showing the in-person education for students with limited COVID-19 spread is indeed possible," Capito said. "The schools studied adhered to the public health practices many of us have followed — wearing a mask, social distancing, washing hands, avoiding large groups and quarantining after exposure to the virus."
Since the study, the CDC has issued additional guidance for reopening schools, Capito said. It focusses on many of the same public health strategies, while also calling on schools to improve ventilation within their facilities.
"In addition to the improved knowledge on how COVID-19 affects our schools, we also have safe and effective vaccines," Capito said. "By enabling our teachers and other education professionals to have these as a priority measure, we can forge ahead with opening our schools."
She commended West Virginia "coronavirus czar" Dr. Clay March for doing "an outstanding job" in the role.
She quoted him as saying classrooms in the state "are a safe place to be," and that there is even data to suggest "being there is safer than being in the community."
"While data we see suggests we can get children safely back into the classrooms with the right mitigation, other realities make it even more necessary," Capito said.
Many children seeking to learn at home by computer face connectivity issues.
"Despite robust funding from Congress for these issues, the digital divide is very real," Capito said. "It begins to exacerbate the have and have-not phenomenon. As a result, these children could be affected for years."
In many areas, parents have had to drive their children to their schools or elsewhere with Wi-Fi capabilities just so they can download their lessons, she said.
Others don't have very strong internet at home, and students and their parents also working at home have to share limited connectivity.
"Parents helping their children on school work can only go so far, and personal attention is absolutely necessary. It's something the internet can't solve through a Zoom meeting, or a video meeting… or where there is nobody to interact with," Capito said.