(3/25) Parents were informed by the Fairfield Area School District (FASD) in a letter dated March 24 that all grades, kindergarten through 12th grade, will return to in-person classes beginning April 12.
District Superintendent Michael Adamek wrote that the district will remain "under the guidance of the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) and Pennsylvania Department of Education for quarantine and building closures for positive COVID cases. If a student or staff member has a positive result from a COVID-19 test, the district has to report it to the DOH. The DOH will give guidance/actions that the school must follow."
Adamek noted that, as the number of students increase in the district buildings as the district returns to five-day, in-person instruction, "it is very important for our parents and staff to follow the COVID-19 guidelines for staying home."
Prior to the district’s decision, more than 150 FASD students, parents and other family members had signed a petition that has been circulating since February 27 - calling for the district to re-institute in-person classes five days per-week.
Some involved among the protestors had suggested that parents should have the option of having their student or students take classes virtually, but that it should not be mandated.
Due to fluctuating numbers of reports of confirmed cases of COVID-19 among students and school-staff among the middle-school and high-school grades, the school has experienced various attendance formats from hybrid (a mix of in-person and virtual classes) to solely virtual.
According to the most recent COVID-related data posted by the district, there were no positive cases of coronavirus among the district’s circa-585 students and staff, while five individuals in the elementary school and 12 individuals in the middle and high schools remain quarantined.
Petition organizer Rich Phillip stated that the challenges faced by district community members "has been unprecedented, to say the least," adding, "The hardest impact has been and continues to be to our children. The FASD administration and members of the (school) board (need) to stop making excuses and put FASD children back in school."
He said that neither the district-superintendent, Michael Adamek, nor the school board had responded to the petitions that have thus far been submitted.
Parents have expressed concern over a number of issues related to virtual, at-home learning, including having to have an adult or family member at home to oversee the virtual experience, as well as the potential negative impact on student grades, and last but not least, the psychological impacts on students who cannot socialize with their school -friends and teachers or are not physically or mentally equipped to handle virtual learning.
Kelly Campbell Wivell has one student attending classes in the district high school. She said she is not concerned about her student’s grade-level "because she is a great student," but has heard from other parents having difficulties.
