County schools meeting on plans for 2021

Warren superintendent says officials waiting on virus data to make decision on return

WARREN -- Trumbull County school superintendents are expected to meet around Dec. 22 to plan for what remains of the school year after the holiday break.

Warren Superintendent Steve Chiaro told the board of education Tuesday that while all Trumbull County schools went to remote learning through December, the officials will meet on what to do after the break and the start of 2021.

He said school districts will wait to see if current health advisories by state and county health departments either are lifted or extended based on coronavirus data.

Chiaro said superintendents each Wednesday meet virtually with the county health department officials, as do nurses on Fridays, to review the schools' situation.

"At this time we have no knowledge of what will happen, but the data is not improving with the number of COVID-19 cases. The data this week and last is not getting better," Chiaro said.

He said many area school districts are being impacted by staff quarantining or out waiting for test results with no substitutes available to cover absent staff.

"This is what is impacting education. The governor said that close to 50 percent of students are online and remote learning. I would anticipate that if the data does not improve, Warren City Schools will be looking at extending this two weeks at a time. We are planning to be back in person Jan. 4, but if the data does not change from what we have been seeing, then it will be extended two weeks so we would not be back in person until Jan. 18," Chiaro said

Board President Patricia Limperos said it is important to follow the safety guidelines and to keep students and their families safe.

Chiaro said high school juniors and seniors will be coming into the schools at designated times to take end-of-course exams for graduation requirements. Students will be at the school today through Dec. 17 and eight days in January.

He said whether students are learning all remote or hybrid, students still are responsible for meeting graduation requirements. Students will bring their district-issued laptops with them for testing.

"There will be testing areas in the school where students can take end-of-course exams. This was carefully coordinated for safety with six students in a classroom at a time," Chiaro said.

He said all safety and health guidelines are being followed during the testing.

In other business, Chiaro said a $125,000 grant from the Ohio Collaborative was acquired by the district in collaboration with Inspiring Minds. He said the funds will be used to help where needed with remote learning and educating of middle school and high school students.

Chiaro said the Ohio Collaborative is made up of both local and statewide organizations along with the Ohio Department of Education pulling resources and money together.

"It will be a great opportunity to get this grant opportunity moving forward to help support the students and staff,'' he said.

In other action, the board:

• Accepted a $1,500 grant from the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley Fund for Women and Girls to be used for providing programming for the Girl Power program at all four PK-8 schools and the high school;

• Set the organizational meeting for 6 p.m. Jan. 5 followed by the regular meeting, both via Zoom. Limperos said meetings will continue to be held virtually into 2021.