Secondary students in the South Butler County School District will return to school five days per week as the school board voted 6-3 Wednesday to abandon the hybrid school reopening plan implemented Aug. 31, the first day of school.

The district began school with all elementary students returning five days per week and secondary students split into two groups.

Group A attends Monday and Tuesday, the buildings are sanitized Wednesday and Group B attends classes Thursday and Friday.

The secondary students, who are in grades six through 12, attend online classes on the three days they are not in school.

The new plan, which will see all students attending classes five days per week, will take effect Sept. 21.

Superintendent David Foley said before the vote that he really didn't have a recommendation regarding whether the board members should vote to approve a full-time return to school.

He said half of the teachers he has talked to want to get back in front of their students face to face, while the other half feels nervous about so much prolonged interaction during a pandemic.

Foley acknowledged that the remote learning program being used by students at home is not the best way to learn, as it is difficult for students to get extra help in subjects where they struggle or ask questions about material.

Regarding illness, Foley said some students have been sent home because of the district's policy for students who have two or more symptoms of COVID-19.

Students who are sent home with a fever must then stay home for 10 days.

Foley said no students or faculty have tested positive for COVID-19.

He also looked at other school districts in the county where students have returned five days per week and no outbreaks have occurred. Those districts include Butler Area, Karns City Area, Moniteau, Mars Area and Slippery Rock Area.

Yet he cited Slippery Rock University, where an escalating number of cases has been reported.

Foley also consulted with a doctor from the Butler Health System about checking student temperatures when they arrive at school, but the doctor said clustering students in proximity to one another as they wait to have their temperatures taken is too dangerous.

He said administrators have a plan to social distance secondary students as much as possible, and that all students are obeying the mask mandate as they move through their school day.

No more than two students are permitted per bus seat, and students must wear masks on the bus, Foley said.

Foley, who has worked since March to make the best decisions possible based on consultations with other superintendents, doctors, state Department of Health officials and others, did not make a recommendation on the impending vote to return to school for five days.

“I'm done,” he said. “I don't know.”

Voting against the measure were Rebecca Boyd, Debra Miller and William Gebhart.

Miller said she is not comfortable with the opportunity for students and staff to follow social distancing guidelines at this point.

“I'm not willing to send the kids back five days per week,” she said before the vote.

Boyd said while she was slightly heartened when Foley said social distancing guidelines will be followed, she is concerned about the school board changing its plan yet again and forcing parents to alter their schedules once more to accommodate their students' school week.

“I just think it's amazing, what they do,” she said of South Butler parents.

She also wanted to give the hybrid plan more time.

“You want to do the right thing and that takes courage,” Boyd said.

The board voted 6-3 on Aug. 19 to change from the five-day reopening plan it had earlier approved to a hybrid plan for secondary students.

In that vote, board members George Zacherl, Matt Cimbala and Dale Fennell voted against sending secondary students to campus two days per week.

The school board members who voted in favor of the hybrid plan Aug. 19, but changed to support full-time class attendance on Wednesday, were Donna Eakin, board president, Jill McDonald and David McRandal.

Two parents spoke during the public comment section before the online meeting began Wednesday.

Both gave their reasoning for advocating for five-day school for secondary students, which included recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics for students to return to a normal school schedule.