The South Butler County School District has changed its reopening plan with fewer than two weeks to go until the first day of school.

The school board on Wednesday voted 6-3 to change from a five-day return to school for all students to a partial hybrid plan when school begins Aug. 31.

In the new plan, all elementary school students can return to school five days per week, while students in the middle school and high school will follow the hybrid plan initially approved for all students.

Secondary students will be divided into two groups.

One group will attend Monday and Tuesday, the schools will be sanitized Wednesday without students present, and the second group of students will attend school Thursday and Friday.

Superintendent David Foley said social distancing would not be possible in the secondary schools if all students were to return full time, as students get up and move around the school every time classes change.

He said elementary students will return full time for several reasons.

This is an excerpt from a larger article that appears in Thursday's Butler Eagle. Subscribe online or in print to read the full article here.