Officials in the Mars Area School District fielded questions from parents and residents Thursday night during a special virtual meeting for approving personnel.

The district is preparing for a start date of Aug. 31 for students. The health and safety plan, approved earlier this month, allows students to return to school in any of three ways: in person, via live stream interactive (LSI) instruction or enrolled in Mars Area Cyber Academy.

Mark Gross, superintendent, said the district is sending home information to families to let them know what's expected of them during LSI. Other back-to-school information is posted on the district website.

Gretchen Wright, a district resident, said she wanted to know why the district hadn't planned a hybrid approach to the school year.

Citing neighboring districts that have offered a hybrid model, Wright said alternating students between school days could cut down on exposure.

“It's definitely a lot safer,” Wright said.

Gross said the district originally developed the health and safety plan under the state's old red-yellow-green system for counties.

Now, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is using a new “metric” system that defines how schools can open in areas with low, moderate or substantial levels of community transmission.

According to PDE's new chart, Mars Area is permitted to hold classes in person or via a blended learning model.

“If we get into a substantial (classification), obviously our plans would change,” Gross said.

Wright said she understood the district's position, particularly because the community outbreak at the moment is low. Still, she said she's concerned students won't be able to social distance in school.

“It's very high-risk,” Wright said. “The social distancing looks pretty tough.”

Gross said he understood students might not have the space to social distance in school at all times. But the district and the Department of Education are depending on pandemic safety measures, including the face-covering requirement.

“If someone is not comfortable, we respect that,” Gross said. “The overwhelming number of emails we get are (to) not move to a hybrid model.”

Another parent, Kelly Matheis, asked why the district isn't offering advanced math at the sixth- grade level. Matheis said she was “frustrated” to see the course wasn't included on her son's 2020-21 schedule.

“I was looking forward to getting him pushed this year,” Matheis said.

Gross said the district doesn't have current “data points” reflecting students' mathematical aptitude. Students' abilities can change dramatically between grades or even semesters, according to Gross. The spring semester was disrupted enough to make data collection problematic.

Going “too far back in time” to retrieve grade data could inaccurately reflect a student's math level, Gross said. Without the information, students would have been randomly assigned to an advanced course.

“In the absence of those data points, we didn't do the advanced math,” Gross said. “The fact that we would have to be arbitrary in selecting who goes in and who goes out, we thought it'd be safer.”

Gross said the district is looking into different avenues for measuring students' abilities as the year progresses. The district wants to meet students where they are, Gross said.

“Just bear with us,” Gross said. “We're trying to rectify that.”