Four temporary classrooms and a bathroom have arrived at Merion School (among the five grey rectangular stuctures that are lined up, the bathroom that the staff and kids will use is the first one, on the left – not the port-o-potty in the foreground).
Amy Buckman, Director of School and Community Relations for Lower Merion School District, responded to questions about the temporary classrooms.
Q. Will there be new teachers for each the new classrooms?
A. Teacher and class assignments for the upcoming school year will be completed in August, as registration is ongoing and staffing has not been finalized.
Q. What grades will be using the temporary classrooms?
A. This is still under consideration. Enrollment (which is increasing) will have an impact, as will retirements and any upcoming leaves of absence by staff members. With everything involved with sanitizing the building and getting it ready for social distancing that will be required for the upcoming school year, the goal will be to make as few moves as possible. If a new section is created for a grade, that may be a section that would be a candidate to move into a modular classroom.
Q. How many students do you expect to be enrolled in the grades that will be using the temporary classrooms?
Again, registration for the upcoming school year is ongoing. That decision is not so much based on a grade level per se, but rather enrollment in grades that require additional sections. It’s likely there will be classrooms in the modular structure that span more than one grade level. Currently, as of this moment, grades 1-5 are all over 100 students, and some of them well over 100.
Q. Will the temporary classrooms be connected to the school, so that students and staff won’t have to go outside when they go back and forth from the cafeteria, gym, assembly, etc? Do they have bathrooms?
A. The modular classrooms have their own bathroom facilities. Students will travel outside between the modular classrooms and the main school building, remaining in a securely fenced area. However, due to COVID-19, there will be no assemblies and use of the gym and cafeteria will be limited to enforce social distancing. It is likely most elementary students will be eating lunch in their classrooms during the 2020-2021 school year.
Q. Do you expect that the temporary classrooms will be removed when the new middle school opens?
A. The intention is to remove the modular classrooms when they are no longer needed. At this time, it is anticipated that will occur once the new middle school is fully populated and 5th graders are moved out of the elementary schools.