The idea of moving Seneca Valley School District's primary students to a blended learning model was a contentious topic at last week's school board meeting, and ultimately was not voted on.

On Monday, however, the district announced that kindergarten through sixth-grade students would shift to its “cohort” model, while all secondary students will learn wholly remotely until 2021.

In a letter to parents, guardians and staff Monday, the district said because Butler County entered its second week of “substantial” COVID-19 transmission — and “due to significant increases we are seeing in the public data” — the learning model for all roughly 7,000 students will change until, tentatively, Jan. 4.

Tuesday is the last day of the blended learning model for Ryan Gloyer Middle School and intermediate high school students, who have been in that model since Nov. 9. Senior high school students have already shifted to full-remote education, as the building had been closed through Nov. 13.

It is also the last day of full-time, in-person education for students in the district's elementary schools as well as Haine and Evans City middle schools. Beginning Wednesday, students with last names beginning A through L will attend Mondays and Wednesdays, and those with last names starting with M through Z will go to school Tuesdays and Thursdays. Fridays will feature online livestreaming for all students.

Special education life skills students in all grades will attend four days a week in both the blended and online learning models, and the district will continue to transport Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School students.

Athletics will continue in person — with “strict adherence to ... health and safety protocols” — but all sports that can move outside must do so, the district said. Other extracurriculars will only meet virtually.

Superintendent Tracy Vitale said one significant contributor to the learning model shift is the number of students and staff in quarantine, which is dictated by the state Department of Health and not the district. According to data on Seneca Valley's website, 509 students are currently quarantined, along with 18 staff members. If 25 teachers are quarantined, according to Vitale, the district will not be able to staff its buildings. With the large number of quarantined teachers in additional to normal absences, Vitale said, principals are already covering for classes nearly every day.

Moving to full remote and cohort learning models for different groups of students should, she said, reduce the potential of large, classwide quarantines mandated by the health department, in addition to whatever, if any, school transmission is occurring.

“One COVID-positive student or teacher in a school can disrupt entire classrooms or entire school buildings,” Vitale said. “Large quarantines will continue to happen if we stay at full capacity at our elementary schools and they will happen more frequently now due to the case escalation in our county and local ZIP codes.”

While learning remotely part time might affect the mental health of students — this was one of the main reasons the district returned to in-person education in early October — Vitale said being in school two days a week is better than not at all.

“It is my opinion that a 14-day quarantine has a significant and potentially negative impact on our children's mental health; and bear in mind, they could have multiple quarantines,” she said. “Therefore, we need to cut down on the amount of quarantines if possible.”

Although the widespread transmission of the virus in the communities is well beyond the school district's purview, spacing students out more to reduce the risk of transmission and quarantine is something well within Seneca's control.

Additionally, the departments of education and health — as promised last week when the county was in its first week of the “substantial” designation — no longer recommend blended learning, now telling districts it behooves them to move to full remote education. It is, of course, still a voluntary, local decision and not one made by the state agencies themselves, which is why the district will educate its primary students in the cohort model.

The current dates for return to school are tentative. Elementary students could also be moved to full remote learning before Jan. 4 if the number of cases in the county continues to exponentially rise, Vitale said. She, like county officials and Butler Health System physicians last week, urged those in the community to do their part to stop the spread of COVID-19.

“As we move through this critical time, we once again ask that everyone please heed the warnings/advisories medical experts are sharing with gatherings of groups and visits to hot spots,” the letter reads.