Mt. View plans for virtual return following winter break

Students in the Mountain View School District will not immediately return to the classroom following the winter break.

Superintendent Dr. Michael Elia said, at the Monday, Nov. 23, board meeting, that the district will move to fully virtual classes for the first two weeks in January 2021. Students will return to a hybrid schedule on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, following the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday observance.

 “If people are going to travel, it gives them to opportunity to quarantine,” Dr. Elia said. “The safest thing for the faculty, staff and students is to go virtual after the break.”

Moving forward with winter sports was approved by the board in a 5-3 vote. Board members David Schulte, Sondra Stine, and Dr. Christine Plonski-Sezer voted against the move, with one board member absent from the meeting.

The winter sports season is scheduled to begin on Dec. 4. For more on PIAA and Lackawanna League discussions and recommendations about the season, please see the story in SPORTS on page 15.

Schulte, Stine and Sezer cast votes opposing the amended resocialization of sports plan, which includes recommendations for winter sports season.

Also in a 5-3 vote, with Schulte, Stine and Sezer dissenting, the board passed a motion to pay coaches a prorated stipend – based on weeks – if the season is cut short due to COVID-19 concerns.

High School principal, Dr. Mark Lemoncelli explained that, based on recommendations from the state, each athlete will be allowed two spectator tickets for each home game.

“This is similar to what other schools in the county are doing,” he told the board.