More kids will be eligible to return to Philly schools in late April, district says

More city students will be eligible to return to Philadelphia School District classrooms in late April, the district announced Thursday night as it disclosed its latest step to return to regular schooling.

Students in Grades 3 through 5 and those with complex needs in Grades 6 through 8 can opt in to hybrid learning beginning April 26, the district said. Parents will have the option to keep their children learning fully virtually, as they have been since last March, if they choose.

The district is defining “complex needs” as students with autism, multiple disabilities, and visual impairments, and children who are deaf or hard of hearing. English-language learners do not fall in the complex needs group.

The reopening news came as the school board adopted the broad outlines of a $3.2 billion district budget for 2021-22 and heard details of how officials are proposing to spend over $1 billion in federal stimulus money on summer and after-school programs, tutoring, capital projects, and other areas over the next two years.

To date, about 7,000 children in prekindergarten through second grade in all but one elementary school — Spruance, in the Northeast — have returned or are about to return to face-to-face learning two days a week. (Spruance has undisclosed environmental issues the district and teachers’ union are still investigating.)

“We’re excited to be at this point and look forward to having more students and staff back in our schools,” chief of schools Evelyn Nuñez said at a news conference earlier Thursday.

Keeping the next phase of reopening to elementary-age children and kids with special needs up to eighth grade will allow the district to adhere to 6-foot social distancing in classrooms, Nuñez said.

» READ MORE: Even with new CDC distancing guidelines, getting more kids back in Philly-area classrooms is a ‘monster undertaking’

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shifted its recommendations, saying 3 feet of space is adequate between students in most situations, including elementary schools. But an agreement between the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and district requires the union to sign off on changes in distancing requirements.

Staff who work with the children returning April 26 will report to school buildings April 12 to prepare for the shift to hybrid learning.

» READ MORE: ‘This is a crisis’: Philly principals say student needs are increasing and the district needs to get more dollars into schools

Whether students in 6th through 12th grade will be permitted to return to buildings at all this school year remains up in the air.

Nuñez said the district hoped it would be able to offer in-person education to as many students as possible, but “we need to slowly bring our students and staff back in order to maintain district health and safety protocols that we’ve implemented with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.”

Thomas Farley, the city’s health commissioner, has said ultimate reopening decisions rest with the district but “whatever guidance [the CDC] is saying, I will go with.”

Whether students take standardized tests at all this year also remains an open question.

The Biden administration is requiring states to administer exams but said the results cannot be used for accountability purposes. In Pennsylvania, third through eighth graders take the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) and 11th graders take Keystone Exams; they cannot be given remotely.

Philadelphia is “definitely considering the timeline” for test administration, and may need to move exams into the fall, as permitted by the state, Nuñez said.

Parents in the eligible groups will be able to opt their eligible children into classroom learning beginning Tuesday. They’ll have until April 12 to make decisions about whether to return kids to in-person learning or keep them virtual.

In addition to the 7,000 children now in buildings, 2,000 more prekindergarten through second-grade students will return to face-to-face instruction April 5. The majority of prekindergarten through second-grade students remain fully virtual — in all, only about 35% of families eligible to return children to classrooms chose that option.

About 29,000 more children are eligible for return in the April 26 round of reopenings.

Nuñez and Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. have said they also want to prioritize for return students in career and technical programs. Those students often work on specialized equipment not available to virtual learners, and take exams needed for career certifications and federal grants.

Hite on Thursday night also gave the board a first look at the district’s $3.2 billion budget. He and chief financial officer Uri Monson laid out a first-blush proposal of how the school system plans to spend stimulus dollars.

“This has obviously been an unprecedented year in terms of social and emotional trauma,” Monson said, and the district will act — and spend accordingly.

The district must use the federal funds for one-time expenses “that maximize short-term pandemic response and achieve long-term impact,” Monson said.

To that end, the district plans to spend $350 million over four years on summer learning and after-school programs and tutoring. It is committing $325 million over that term on capital projects, in addition to money it had already allocated for building costs. All told, the district will spend $2 billion over the next six years on capital projects.

An additional $150 million will be spent on social services, increasing the number of counselors, and discretionary funds, particularly for needy schools.

Leveling, the process of moving teachers around weeks into the school year to account for shifts in enrollment, will largely be ended next year as a result of the new money; schools that have unexpectedly large numbers of students will get new teachers to ease overcrowding, but under-enrolled schools will not lose teachers in October as they usually do.

There will also be more supports for English-language learners and an increase in the number of school administrators. Teachers will also get $200 in reimbursement for supplies they purchase for their classrooms, up from $100.