The state is scheduled to decide next month what path it will tell districts and charters to take as they formulate school reopening plans.
But one district is already delaying the start of its school year to have more time to implement its plan.
The Brandywine School District school board voted Monday night to open the upcoming school year on September 16th.
The district, like every other in the state, still does not know if students will be allowed to go to school full-time at the start of the school year, will learn from home, or if there will be some sort of hybrid between the two. Gov. John Carney has promised an answer to that question in early August.
But Brandywine School Board President John Skrobot says the current uncertainty prompted their decision to push the student start date back.
"The superintendent [Lincoln Hohler] made the recommendation reviewing the recent DOE guidance - and we've been planning this since March - just to allow an extra two weeks," said Skrobot. "[It]will provide our staff extra time to plan and allow us to pivot based on any guidance provided by the governor or the DOE in the August update."
The teacher start date of August 24th remains the same. And Skrobot adds that gives them time to properly prepare for whatever form of learning will be employed.
"It would give additional time, professional development, technology needs, and anything that would be required for the in class or hybrid or remote environment," said Skrobot.
The late start will not impact the district’s scheduled end date in June 2021.
Last week, the state's largest teacher's union, the Delaware State Educaton Association, expressed concern that schools will not have enough time after Gov. Carney's planned August deicision to implement the state's guidance and open school campuses safely. It suggested starting with remote learning to give districts amd charters "enough time to implement these ideas and these guidelines.”
