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Ohio County Schools Plan on Going Back to 5 Days March 15

WHEELING — Ohio County Schools announced Thursday plans to resume a five-day in-person school week beginning March 15.

The announcement comes after school officials said Monday they intended to continue with a four-day school week.

The new plan calls for a five-day school week with a two-hour delay on Wednesdays so teachers can plan online lessons for students who continue learning remotely. The plan still must be approved by Ohio County Board of Education members when they next meet March 8.

“We didn’t really change our mind, we just needed to work through it,” Assistant Superintendent Rick Jones said. “We considered a couple of options — and we settled on this.”

Administrators considered the recent decrease in the number of local COVID-19 cases, and that more people are being vaccinated for the virus, he said.

They first thought about starting school an hour earlier each day to give teachers time to prepare, or having an hour earlier dismissal.

After speaking with teachers, the decision was made to have the two-hour delay on Wednesdays, according to Jones. It is the day already established as the odd day for teachers, parents and students, and wouldn’t interfere as much with childcare plans and other arrangements, he said.

“We’re just going to try and make it work and get everybody back in the classrooms who are here five days a week and still have a remote platform available to everybody who is remote,” Jones said.

Superintendent Kim Miller told board members Monday night that 30 percent of Ohio County Schools students were learning remotely. Jones said after further research, it was determined the number was closer to 20 percent and most of the remote students are high school students.

On Tuesday, the West Virginia Board of Education passed a motion calling for all students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade to resume in-person instruction five days a week by March 3. The same mandate would apply to high school students so long as their county wasn’t listed as red on the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources County Alert map.

School districts were given the option of applying for a waiver if they did not wish to return to a five-day school week.

Ohio County Schools will apply for an interim waiver to remain on the four-day platform until the five-day platform begins, according to Miller.

“Our intent is to move into the five-day model for the last 11 weeks of school,” Miller said. “It’s very exciting to make that happen. We are doing everything possible to do what is best for our students, and we believe they need to be in schools.

“We still have a significant population of remote learners, so it’s very important that we maintain the remote piece for the students who need it,” she added. “And our teachers have done an excellent job with the remote learning they’ve prepared for their students.”

She thanked the school system’s teachers and staff members “for their excellent work and dedication under such difficult circumstances.” She also thanked parents of Ohio County Schools students and the community for their patience.

“There will be obstacles, but we have time to prepare,” Miller said. “This is important, and we are going to move forward in the best interest of our students.”

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