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BUCKHANNON -- Upshur County Schools has submitted a waiver to the state Department of Education asking to have four days of in-person learning per week in the county's schools, as opposed to the five-days of in-person learning recommended Tuesday by the state Board of Education.
Upshur Superintendent of Schools Dr. Sara Stankus explained the school system's position during Tuesday evening's Board of Education meeting.
"It's recommended (by the state Board of Education) that students 9 through 12, in counties that are not red, attend school five days per week," Stankus said. "We agree right now ... We'll follow mitigation strategies, be hyper-vigilant about our cases."
The Board of Education agreed during Tuesday's meeting to send the waiver to the state.
"I believe, as I was listening to the state board today, they said that they would allow us that waiver, and we're going to ask, because we understand that our teachers are going over and above," Stankus said.
"(The waiver will) ask for that four days, and the 2 p.m. dismissal, while the other counties around us are going back five days a week. We have elected to work with our families and allow those who wish to stay remote to remain remote."
Upshur County currently has 917 full-time remote students taught by Upshur County teachers, officials said, adding that having no in-person classes Wednesdays and a 2 p.m. dismissal four days per week are needed to allow teachers the time to serve the needs of all students.
The four-days-per-week schedule will begin Monday in Upshur County. Remote learning will remain an option for students, but officials said they hope all students will return to in-person classes.
During the public comment section of the meeting, Brittany Westfall, a parent with children in the school system, said she "reached out to teachers to get their opinions" on social media about the state BOE's decisions Tuesday afternoon.
"About 25 teachers" responded, she said, and "all of them that reached out to me ... said that they would like to see Upshur County take the fully remote students away from the in-person teachers.
"They said, 'We would rather, instead of this four-day-a-week, 2 p.m. dismissal, we would rather go five days a week until 3:15 p.m. and have these fully remote students either on West Virginia Learns or have a specific teacher delegated for the remote students.' It would take a lot off their plate," Westfall said.
"As a parent... we just want to make sure that our teachers aren't overworked and overwhelmed."
Also during Tuesday's meeting, the Upshur BOE gave Stankus a satisfactory evaluation, but did not decide whether or not to extend her contract, which will expire later this year.