The Salisbury Township School board held a special meeting Jan. 6 to review potential plans for a return to in person learning.

The meeting marked the first with Lynn Fuini-Hetten in attendance as the newly instated superintendent of district schools. Upon convening, the board members oriented discussion around the tentative date of Jan. 19 for the district’s youngest students in grades to return to face-to-face learning, which had been determined at a previous meeting.

Fuini-Hetten provided a brief presentation regarding current levels of virus spread in the region, noting Salisbury is still in the substantial spread category, with a change to moderate not clearly in view for the next week at least. New information presented included data on anticipated staff shortages in the various buildings.

For the elementary school, currently it is known the staff will be down by one comprehensive support teacher and five instructional assistants. About 15 other staff members in different areas of the building are anticipated not to return as well, while they have not officially made this change.

The middle and high schools are currently down by two instructional assistants with an anticipated, but unofficial, loss of eight professional and support staff members.

The nursing staff includes two full-time nurses and three part-time nurses, who aim to create a “sick space” and a “well space” for each building. There are anticipated issues in the event a nurse needs to quarantine and a call has been put out for additional nursing support with only one applicant currently in the queue.

Staffing concerns also exist regarding additional daily absenteeism - when combined with COVID-19 related absences; this will challenge the number of substitutes available. In addition to the need for subs in the district, Fuini-Hetten pointed out the need for secondary large-group workspaces for students when coverage is not available for individual classrooms.

Other potential complications include the need to shift last minute to full virtual learning due to quarantine, which may lead to inconsistencies for learners, programmatic changes for students as certain programs, courses, electives and Advanced Placement sections do not have staff to cover them and the possible need to shorten the length of the face-to-face school day.

The buildings stand at the ready, with masks, face shields, hand wipes and sanitizer purchased already, as well as technology for livestreaming classes.

The HVAC systems are in good working order to provide proper ventilation and airflow. However, William Brackett, director of facilities for the district, mentioned opening additional dampers in the buildings would be desirable to allow more fresh air into the buildings, but will create temperature-regulation issues that may not allow buildings to maintain comfortable temperatures for students and staff and will also increase energy costs.

During periods of substantial spread, the current state guidance informs the district small schools such as those in Salisbury, must close for 14 days for every five cases and three to seven days if cases are between two to four over the course of a rolling 14-day period.

With the current case numbers in district schools, using this as a guideline, buildings would not be allowed to open. The board agreed to vote on a hard and fast return to school date of Jan. 26 for students in kindergarten and first grade and Feb. 8 for the balance of students in the district.

There were comments from each board member, with some speaking out against a return to school under current conditions, such as Rebecca Glenister. She acknowledged the virus is approaching an apex and that while the students have been out of school for a long time, the virus doesn’t care about that. She urged the board to use “data not emotions” when making a decision.

Board member Mary Zeigler pointed out, “Everyone is fearful. We have let fear drive our decisions.” She was in favor of the students returning to school.

When a vote took place, only two board members entered no votes, allowing the motion to return Salisbury school district students to in person learning starting at the end of January, should cases not continue to accrue in school buildings.