By Ekjot Khurana

After holding lots of meetings and making tough decisions, Garnet Valley School District has finally announced reopening its physical buildings!

Starting in late September  a select number of special education students will be brought in. Throughout the end of September and beginning of October the grades will start coming in on a phased schedule starting with kindergarten. Finally, on October 19th, the district will bring in 6th-12th graders. Our superintendent Dr. Bertando quotes, “As we have said many times, this plan is subject to change based on updated data, guidance, and feedback.” Essentially, our re-opening dates might vary and change from analyzing and receiving upcoming data!

Schedules:

From what was said in the handouts, students from grades 1-12 will follow a virtual schedule from home every friday! Kindergartners and the 85 special education students will be in school for live instruction all five days of the week. However, students from grades 1-12 will utilize a hybrid and virtual Friday schedule. They will follow the same schedule proposed over the summer:

• Students with a last name from A-K will attend the school in person on Monday and Wednesday
• Students with a last name from L-Z attend the school in person on Tuesday and Thursday
• All students will follow a virtual Friday schedule from home

Health and Safety:

All students are required to wear face masks while on school property and when using school vehicles. 

Transportation:

All students are required to wear masks on the buses. Drivers will also wear masks and buses will be disinfected after the end of each run. 

As excited as we are to return to school under this schedule, we must keep in mind that these are uncertain times, and as such, the schedule is subject to change depending on what new developments arise. If you want more information, please look at this page: https://www.garnetvalleyschools.com/news/what_s_new/phased_reopening_of_schools

Best of luck to everyone this year!