Susquehanna Community to return to 4-days of in-person classes

After following a hybrid model that provided for two days per week of in-person instruction for most of the year, Susquehanna Community School District will be moving to an instructional model that allows for students to be in their classrooms for four days each week, beginning on March 1.

The board voted, 8-1, at the Wednesday, Feb. 3, meeting to approve modifications to the district’s Health and Safety Plan.

Superintendent Bronson Stone said that under this model, the average class size in the elementary school will be about 13 students. In the high school, the class size average will be nine students.

The district is offering three instructional models for families: the four-days of in-person instruction; complete synchronous instruction; and total asynchronous virtual instruction through the VLN program.

Students participating in the in-person model will receive four-days of instruction with 20 percent of those participating in synchronous learning (livestreamed virtual classes) on one day each week.

Stone outlined the plans in a letter to parents on Feb. 4. In the letter, he stated that the district’s goal is to keep the day a student is learning from home the same as it is under the district’s current two-day in-person hybrid education model. Parents will be notified by Feb. 19 as to which day of the week a student will not be attending class on the campus.

Stone told the board he hoped the move to more time in front of teachers would help offset the downward trend of student performance the district is seeing this year. He noted studies from Stanford and Penn State universities that compare student success rates between in-person instruction to virtual learning models.

“We are seeing more student failures than ever before,” Stone said. “More time in front of the teachers is the best remedy for the issue.”

He said the district will also be offering a summer school program and an after-school program next year to address the issue.