MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Officials from the Monongalia County Board of Education say they will resume blended, hybrid instruction Thursday, January 21. The decision is in response to a mandate handed down by the West Virginia State Board of Education this week.
Mon County students in blended learning in grades k through 8 with last names A through L will return to their classrooms January 21. K-8 blended learning students with last names beginning with M through Z will return to the classroom Friday, January 22. Blended learning students in grades 9 through 12 will return and attend according to the k through 8 model if Monongalia County’s COVID status is orange or better.
Prior to the order by the state school board, school board members voted to extend distance learning for all students through February 12. According to a press release, officials say the state directive supersedes the local boards’ decisions.
Mon County Schools Superintendent Dr. Eddie Campbell has requested a waiver from the West Virginia Department of Education on behalf of Mon County BOE President Nancy Walker.
“We had based our February 16 return-to-classroom decision on several factors,” Dr. Campbell said. “We anticipate that most of our 50 or older staff will have received their second COVID inoculations by that date. We also would have had time to accurately gauge the impact of WVU’s Jan. 19 return to in-class instruction on the county’s COVID incidence by that time. But the primary rationales supporting our continuing distance learning were a desire to ensure consistency in student instruction and to allow our blended learning students’ families time to prepare for the shift back to the hybrid model.”
Campbell also noted that parents who prefer their previously blended-learning children continue distance learning rather than return to the classroom two days a week may do so. He requests they notify their children’s school principal of their decision as soon as possible.