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July 29, 2020

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Last evening the South Fayette Township School District Board of Directors approved the District’s Health and Safety Plan for reopening our schools this fall. The plan is designed to be responsive to the changing conditions of the COVID-19 crisis and is divided into three phases.  The District will be using CDC guidelines and Allegheny Health Department data and restrictions to inform decisions whether to move from one phase to another.

If there is no to minimal community spread of the coronavirus in Allegheny County, as was the case in mid-late June, we would open in the green phase, which would include full five-day instruction with a full-time cyber option (Cyber Academy) for families not yet comfortable with their children being in the buildings. Safety measures would be in place to mitigate risks of COVID-19 spread.

If there is moderate community spread of the coronavirus in Allegheny County with the potential for rapid increase in cases with restrictions in place by the Allegheny County Health Department, we would open in the yellow phase, which would include a hybrid model, where students would be divided into two groups and come to school on a rotating basis. Group 1 would come Mondays and Tuesdays, and group 2 would come Thursdays and Fridays, with the groups alternating Wednesdays. The days the groups are not in school, the students would log into the District’s learning management system at home and work remotely with assignments, activities, tutorials, and instructional videos designed by their teacher(s). As in the green phase, there would be a Cyber Academy option for families not yet comfortable with their children being in the buildings. With the current conditions, if we were to open schools today, we would do so with the hybrid/cyber academy option.

In the red phase, if there is substantial community spread of the coronavirus in Allegheny County with a continued high number of cases, then the District would begin school all online. However, online learning would look much different than it did in the spring when the District was abruptly forced to move its in-person program to be fully online. Students would log into the District’s learning management system daily and follow their regular schedules. Instruction would be delivered in a blended fashion and would include a mix of live interactions with their teacher(s) and peers with activities, virtual tutorials, teacher-created videos, computer applications, etc. Students would receive feedback and be graded much as they would be in the brick and mortar setting. Grades would NOT be pass/fail as in the spring.

We ask that parents review the District’s Health and Safety Plan, South Fayette Return to School Plan, and the South Fayette Return to School FAQs and then complete the South Fayette 2020-2021 Enrollment Form  by August 5, 2020, where you will be asked to select either an in-person or cyber option for the green and yellow phases described above. The data we collect will help us organize and allocate our human resources for both the in-person and online scenarios. We are asking for 100% participation  in completing the enrollment form.

We understand the stress related to these decisions, and our principals and central office administrators are available to answer any questions to help guide you with your choices. The Return to School Plan was developed over the last few months with a diverse group of stakeholders that included teachers, parents,  principals, central administrators, school services directors, school board members, and healthcare professionals and was further shaped and developed through community input. We will continue to update the FAQs on our website as we  receive feedback. We appreciate the partnership with the community in helping us provide the best education while balancing the safety and welfare of our faculty, staff, and students.

Sincerely,

Dr. Ken Lockette, Superintendent of Schools