The Butler Area School District modified the metrics-based guidance for teaching models recommended by the state and approved a plan to respond to COVID-19 cases among students and staff.

In addition, the school board authorized Superintendent Brian White to begin planning for possibly moving the ninth grade from the intermediate high school to the senior high school next year.

Last week, the Department of Education provided new guidance for reopening schools that recommends basing the model of instruction on the number of new cases and the percent of people with positive test results in each county.

The department said it will publish a list identifying the community transmission level, or the number of new cases, in each county from the most recent seven-day reporting period.

The district modified the plan to base the incidence rate on people who have ZIP codes in the district instead of using the state-recommended countywide incidence rate and changed the transmission level categories.

This is an excerpt from a larger article that appears in Tuesday's Butler Eagle. Subscribe online or in print to read the full article to learn what other changes were made.