Special school board meeting scheduled for Feb. 8

Julie Reichle

Piedmont Middle School

A special school board meeting to approve in-person/hybrid middle and high school reopening plans has been scheduled for Monday, Feb. 8 at 6 p.m.

In a memo to the board, PUSD Superintendent Randy Booker says he plans to recommend having PMS 6th grade students return to campus for in-person instruction on February 23 and he is also recommending the board approve the in-person/hybrid middle school and high schools learning models as outlined below. According to his memo, these plans have been negotiated with the Association of Piedmont Teachers and a tentative agreement has been reached.

State guidelines say secondary students (grades 7-12) may return to campus for in-person learning when county-level COVID-19 infection rates drop below 7 cases per 100,000 for five consecutive days.

Parents were asked to fill out a survey indicating their preference for hybrid or distance learning by Feb. 8.

The middle school plan:

Single grade levels on campus during “2 period blocks”

  • 2 periods of cohorted in-person learning- 1x a week
    • Students who choose to attend in-person classes will no longer be mixing with 7 different classes/rosters throughout the week.
  • 5 periods of Distance Learning, 2 periods of In-Person Instruction

The memo says that PMS administrators will hold a parent night on Thurs. Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. to explain details of the model and will also discuss parts of this plan during the February PMS Parents Club Meeting on Friday, Feb. 12.

The high school plan:

The memo says PHS and MHS principals have sent letters to families explaining the following plan.

For PHS
  • Only two grade levels on campus each week during “2 period blocks”
  • 9th /10th grade on campus = 422 students throughout the day, but only 211 students on campus at any given time.
  • 11th /12th grade on campus = 470 students throughout the day, but only 235 students on campus at any given time.
  • Students who choose to attend in-person classes will no longer be mixing with all grade levels throughout the week.
For MHS
  • MHS students are invited to attend ALL of their MHS classes in-person for the weeks their grade levels are on campus.
  • Weeks 1, 3, 5, etc: Grades 9 and 10 will be invited for a full Tuesday – Friday week of in-person MHS classes. During that week students in grades 11 and 12 will do all classes online via distance learning.
  • Weeks 2, 4, 6, etc: Grades 11 and 12 will be invited for a full Tuesday – Friday week of in-person MHS classes. During that week students in grades 9 and 10 will do all classes online via distance learning.
  • For MHS students taking PHS classes, they will have the option either to attend their PHS classes in person according to the small cohort they are assigned to at PHS or to attend their PHS classes online from a supervised classroom at MHS.

You can view the full agenda HERE.


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