The Butler Area School Board approved an “Enhanced Green” school reopening plan and a new calendar setting Sept. 1 as the first day of classes for elementary students and the start of a soft opening for secondary students, who begin classes Sept. 8.

The enhanced reopening plan, which was added to the district's health and safety plan, was approved Monday in an 8-1 vote.

The reopening plan for kindergarten through grade four includes social distancing, staggered recess times and hand-washing breaks. Also, students will remain in class during the day while a core group of teachers shifts between rooms.

At the middle school level, the plan calls for placing students in academic teams tailored in size and location for social distancing. Teachers will travel between classes.

Intermediate and senior high students will follow their regular class schedules. Any student who is unable to wear a mask in situations where social distancing can't be maintained will be asked to attend class in an alternative, remote location.

The swimming pool and locker rooms won't open. Lockers will be assigned, but not required to be used.

Live streaming may be used when a class is split into multiple locations for capacity purposes.

The district is also offering Flexible Traditional School for secondary students. This “Learning Pathway” allows students to physically be in class twice a week and attend from home on three days.

Students will be required to wear masks or face shields while they are in school.

The district's initial three Learning Pathways — in-person, online/cyber and hybrid — remain available.

Superintendent Brian White said he wants to make Aug. 19 the last day for parents and students to select the cyber option, so the administration knows how many students will be coming to school and can plan for social distancing.

Before voting against the plan, board member Bill Halle said he believes the part of the plan that requires parents to reveal personal information to have their children exempted from having to wear masks due to a medical or mental health condition or disability will be legally challenged.

“I'm concerned about the legality of it. I'm concerned about the morality,” Halle said.

He said the district's infectious diseases policy does not require parents to disclose personal information.

Calendar revised

The revised calendar calls for students in kindergarten through sixth grade to begin classes Sept. 1.

During the soft opening Sept. 1 for grades seven through 12, laptops will be distributed to students and virtual training for the devices will be conducted, White said. That time will also be needed to clean the area in the high school where a renovation project is wrapping up and return the furniture, he added.

When classes begin, temperature checking cameras in each school will be used to check students' temperatures. The cameras can check 30 students per second and send alerts when a high temperature is detected, White said.

Each elementary school will have one camera and the middle school, intermediate high school and senior high school will have two each.

The cameras were purchased using a Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency health and safety grant.

State guidance

In addition, the district is reviewing the latest school reopening guidance from the Pennsylvania Department of Education to determine whether it must be followed in order for the district to maintain its liability insurance.

The guidance recommends basing the model of instruction on the number of new COVID-19 cases and the percent of people with positive test results in each county.

Once a week, the department will publish a list of the community transmission levels, or the number of new cases, in each county from the most recent seven-day reporting period.

A county with 10 or fewer cases per 100,000 residents and a positivity rate of less than 5 percent would be given a low-level community transmission rating in which an in-person or blended instruction model is recommended.

Blended learning is any model that allows for 6 feet of social distancing among students.

A county with 10 to 100 cases per 100,000 residents or a positivity rate of 5 to 10 percent would be given a moderate transmission level rating in which a blended or full-remote learning model is recommended.

A full-remote learning model is recommended in a substantial transmission level rating when a county has more than 100 cases per 100,000 residents or has a positivity rate of 10 percent or more.

The board also approved seven change orders totaling $50,547 for the high school library and administration office renovation project. About $82,251 in change orders were approved in July. The original project cost was $2.52 million.